We’re behind

We’re behind in responding to some of your recent comments/questions, but hop to get to them later today.  Also due to an onslought of spam we’ve had to temporarily resort back to moderating comments.

Blame Kim Lawrence and Forrest Leaf. (Update: Good job Kim Lawrence)

We want to preface this by reminding our viewers that our last posts are simply meant at driving home a simple point about Colorado’s water law:  The power does not rest in the individual water user, though it should.

Jones Ditch: Who’s to Blame

The Jones Ditch decision (Central Colorado Water Conservancy Dist. v. City of Greeley) is, in our view, the worst decision ever handed down by our Supreme Court, for several reasons.  We won’t go into those now, but we want to make it clear to everyone who is to blame.  Think you know? 

Weekend preview

Saturday morning we reveal the name of the person responsible for the worst decision ever made by the Colorado Supreme Court (insofar as water matters are concerned).  Sunday evening we reveal the two people responsible the Ground Water Management Subdistrict of the Central Colorado Water Conservancy District’s extremely limiting augmentation plan decree.  Think you know who these people are?  Think again…

More bad news for NISP: Over 426,000 ac-ft of senior conditional rights

We just looked at how many senior conditional water rights are decreed downstream of Glade Reservoir.  There’s about 426,000 acre-feet of water decreed which, once developed, would have to be satisfied before Glade could divert; most of this is on the mainstem.  But wait there’s more bad news…

Arkansas Basin Efficiency Rules

First, huge KUDOS to our new State Engineer, Dick Wolfe, for taking a step back and talking to the water users before trying to promulgate rules.  But the fact that the State wants to punish water users who want to improve irrigation efficiency just doesn’t make sense to us.

Contest!

Describe our state’s system of water allocation, administration and adjudication in five six words or less.  The winner gets….  we’ll have to think about that one, but you’ll get something, or not.  And no, “FUBAR” is not a word 🙂

Updated to allow plays on “First in Time, First in Right”…

Today on the Hypocrisy Front: Boulder

A lot of you will say, “well duh” to the headline, but this is kind of funny and a lot of you will appreciate the hypocrisy of it…

Effects of “illegal” expansions

There are a few parties out there that are going after “illegal” expansions of use under ditch systems as they come up in change cases.  But what’s the actual effect of doing so?

Contact us… site news… contribute

Our “programer” – there really isn’t much to “program” here but he’s the only one who knows how to do it – is heading out this weekend so there will be no posting, or light at best, or the rest of us will destroy the site trying.  

Anyway, email us at waterlaw2010@hotmail.com with your thoughts etc.  We’re looking for good essays on the real impact of Colorado’s “model” water law, and what the real “model” water law might look like and how it might function.