Once every ten years a comet is visible in the night sky, the census counts every person living in the United States, and your water rights are at risk of abandonment in Colorado. Water is Colorado’s most precious natural resource. Colorado’s proposed decennial abandonment lists were published online on July 1st. Over four thousand water rights were listed, including over 630 rights in Division 3. This is a marked increase from decades past.
Put another way, the lists prepared by the Division Engineers at the
Colorado Division of Water Resources could result in a significant
number of water rights being declared abandoned throughout the state.
The Rio Grande Basin has been over appropriated since the 1890’s with
groundwater resources depleted throughout much of the basin. The
Colorado Water Plan projects the basin will need an additional 180,000
acre feet (AF) by 2050. As a result, protecting existing rights is more
important than ever. Water right owners should check the lists online at
http://water.state.co.us
to determine whether their rights are at risk. The lists will also be
published in the local papers of record throughout the state in July and
August.While the agency is required to notify the “last known owner or
claimant” of a water right included on the list by July 31st, the
State’s ownership records are not always up-to-date. In an arid climate
like Colorado, water rights are highly coveted and highly valued. Losing
a water right to abandonment can be catastrophic. It can also directly
impact the bottom line and the market value of your property. Water
right owners have multiple opportunities to protest inclusion of a right
on the abandonment lists. Under Colorado water laws, abandonment
requires both an overt act (typically non-use) and intent. Good
record-keeping, personal knowledge and extrinsic evidence like Google
Earth imagery can help protect valued water rights. Lands protected by
conservation easements may have other good arguments to employ...
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