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Show 484 ADJUDICATION OF WATER RIGHTS IN WATERCOURSES administrative needs of the particular division or portion thereof. He shall have separate priority lists so that only those water rights and conditional water rights which take or will take water from the same source and are in a position to affect one another will be on the same priority list.I241' (b)(i) In determining the priority of a water right in relation to other water rights deriving their supply from the same common source, the following procedures and definitions shall apply: (ii) A common source shall mean and include all of those waters in a water division, either surface or underground, which if left in their natural state would join together to form a single natural watercourse prior to exit from the water division. (iii) As among water rights decreed in the same water dis- trict I2421 in the same adjudication suit, the historic date of initiation of appropriation shall determine the relative priorities, beginning with the earliest right. (iv) As among water rights decreed in the same water district in different adjudication suits, all water rights decreed in an adjudica- tion suit shall be senior to all water rights decreed in any subsequent adjudication suit. (v) As among water rights decreed in the various original adjudication suits in the various water districts of the same water division, the decreed date of initiation of appropriation shall determine the relative priorities in numbered sequence, beginning with the earliest right. (vi) As among water rights decreed in the various supplemental adjudication suits in the various water districts of the same water division, the actual priority date of any decree in any district shall not extend back further than the day following the entry of the final decree in the preceding adjudication suit in such district. (vii) If the preceding principles would cause in any particular case a substantial change in the priority of a particular water right to the extent theretofore lawfully enjoyed for a period of not less than eighteen years, then the division engineer shall designate the priority for the water right in accordance with historic practice.243 These tabulations shall be used for administrative purposes and for the purpose of preparing the following later tabulations.244 By July 1, 1974, and July 1 of each even-numbered year thereafter, anew tabulation of all water rights and conditional water rights in each water division shall be prepared by the division engineer with the State Engineer's approval. 241 A provision similar to this quoted paragraph is applicable to 1974 and subsequent tabulations discussed below. See id. § 148-21-28(1). 242 The water districts and water divisions referred to in this and succeeding subsections (iii to vii) relate to the previously existing 70 water districts and seven water divisions which were repealed in 1969. See the discussions at notes 183 and 215-216 supra. 243 With respect to interrelationships among decreed water rights under prior legislation, see the discussion at notes 197-201 supra. 2421 Colo. Rev. Stat. Ann. § 148-21-27(5) (Supp. 1969). |
