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Show 216 PROTECTION OF WATER RIGHTS IN WATERCOURSES (4) Prior to 1969, the adjudication statutes of Colorado provided for conditional decrees. On satisfactory proof of partial completion by the claimant, he received a conditional decree under which application of the water to beneficial use had to be made within a reasonable time thereafter. The final decree in a subsequent proceeding fixed a quantity of water not in excess of the maximum fixed in the conditional decree. In this way, rights of partially completed appropriations were safeguarded pending completion and final adjudication, or forfeiture and cancellation, as the case might have been.137 In 1969, the Colorado Legislature enacted the "Water Right Determination and Administration Act of 1969" which, among other things, provided for determinations of conditional water rights and the amounts and priorities thereof, including a determination that a conditional water right has become a water right by virtue of a completed appropriation.138 REMEDIES FOR INFRINGEMENT A number of western courts have indicated that all or numerous legal remedies may be invoked for the protection of water rights,139 although certain legal remedies may not be available under the circumstances of particular cases. In the latter regard, see, for example, the subsequent discussion under "Injunction or Damages or Both." The remedies discussed below primarily involve court litigation to protect private water rights under the prevailing principles applicable to such rights in the different States. The application of such general principles as between certain parties may be altered by such complicating factors as voluntary contractual agreements, condemnation, prescriptive rights, and estoppel, which were involved in some of the court decisions discussed in this chapter. The latter factors are discussed in chapter 14, "Loss of Water Rights in Watercourses." In addition to relief through court litigation, water rights may be protected by various actions of administrative agencies or governmental officials. Mandamus actions that may be brought to compel agencies or officials to act 137Colo. Rev. Stat. Ann. § § 148-10-6 to 148-10-9 (1963), repealed, Laws 1969, ch. 373, § 20. 138Colo. Rev. Stat. Ann. § 148-21-18(1) (Supp. 1969). For further discussions of this and other provisions of this legislation, see, in chapter 8, "Inchoate Appropriative Right-Conditional Decrees and Water Rights in Colorado." See also chapter 15 and the State summary for Colorado in the appendix. 139Regarding appropriative rights, see Hoffman v. Stone, 7 Cal. 46,49 (1857);McDonald v. Bear River & Auburn Water & Min. Co., 13 Cal. 220, 232-233 (1859); Hill v. King, 8 Cal. 336, 337 (1857). Regarding riparian rights, see Crawford Co. v. Hathaway, 67 Nebr. 325, 340, 93 N.W. 781 (1903). More recent Nebraska court decisions are discussed later under "Injunction or Damages or Both-Some State Riparian- Appropriation Situations." |