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Show Chapter 9 EXERCISE OF THE APPROPRIATIVE RIGHT DIVERSION, DISTRIBUTION, AND STORAGE WORKS Some Features of Waterworks Diversion and Distribution Works A common phenomenon in the West.-The familiar system of artificial works for diverting water from a stream and conveying it to the place of use is a common phenomenon in the irrigation-conscious West. In parts of the southwestern region, this has been so from time immemorial. In a typical case, a dam built across a stream diverts water into and through a headgate, from which it flows in a canal or ditch to the area to be served. In common parlance, "canal" and "ditch" are often interchangeable, "canal" being more usually applied to the larger and longer artificial waterways. The next subdivision includes "laterals," which branch off from the main ditch into smaller and smaller arteries. In 1951, the Colorado Supreme Court, having occasion to decide whether a particular ditch was or was not a "lateral," stated that: "A ditch normally has its headgate in a stream or other primary source of water supply. A lateral is a branch ditch which has its headgate in the main ditch and not in a natural watercourse."1 Many main ditches, particularly the large and long canals, are lined to reduce transmission losses and to facilitate maintenance. The system may include flumes and pipes for conveying the water; and there may be pumping plants for lifting water over the streambank or out of a sump at the place of diversion, or for boosting diverted water from a lowline to a highline canal. Statutory mention of works.-Some of the water appropriation statutes specifically mention kinds of physical works by which water may be taken from streams and conveyed to places of use. For example: "To effect the beneficial use, the person or the state of Arizona or a political subdivision thereof appropriating the water may construct and maintain reservoirs, dams, canals, ditches, flumes and other necessary waterways."2 Appropriable waters "may be held or stored by dams, in lakes or reservoirs, or diverted by means of canals, ditches, intakes, pumping plants, or other works."3 Wheels or other machinery may be placed on banks of streams for the purpose of raising water to the level required for its use in irrigating land.4 In the process of lNewMulta Trim Ditch Co. v. Patch, 123 Colo. 444,447, 230 Pac. (2d) 597 (1951). 2 Ariz. Rev. Stat. Ann. § 45-141(B) (Supp. 1969). 3Tex. Rev. Civ. Stat. Ann. art. 7468 (Supp. 1970). 4Oreg. Rev. Stat. § 541.410 (Supp. 1969). (590) |