Case Title: Colorado River W. Conserv. Dist. v. Rocky Mt. Pow. Co.

Citation: 406 P.2d 798

Docket Number: 

State: colorado

Court: Colorado Supreme Court

Date: 1965-11-08T00:00:00Z

Document:
406 P.2d 798 (1965) The COLORADO RIVER WATER CONSERVATION DISTRICT, Plaintiff in Error, v. ROCKY MOUNTAIN POWER COMPANY, a corporation, Defendant in Error. No. 20925. Supreme Court of Colorado, En Banc. October 25, 1965. Prayer of Rehearing Granted November 8, 1965. Kenneth Balcomb, Frank Delaney, Glenwood Springs, for plaintiff in error. John B. Barnard, Jr., Boulder, Charles F. Brannan, Denver, for defendant in error. MOORE, Justice. Plaintiff in error, to whom we will refer as the district, claimed certain water rights in a statutory supplemental adjudication of water rights which was conducted in the trial court. The defendant in error, hereinafter referred to as the power company, protested allowance of the claims made by the district by filing a motion to dismiss them. The trial court granted the motion, denied the motion of the district for a new trial, and entered an appropriate judgment to review which the district is here on writ of error. The claims were three in number and asserted rights in and to (1) waters of the South Fork of White River and its tributaries; (2) waters of Wagonwheel Creek and its tributaries; and (3) waters of Buck Creek and its tributaries. The language contained in each of the claims, which is pertinent to the question to be decided, relates to the nature of the beneficial use to which the water in dispute has allegedly been applied. The allegation is that: In each of the claims the areas along the streams where the water rights were allegedly initiated were described, together with the volume of water claimed, measured in cubic feet per second of time. The date claimed for the initiation of all the appropriations is set forth as June 7, 1937. The claims all contain the assertion that the streams involved, " * * * have been a habitat for fish and the propagation and preservation thereof for over 40 years, and have been used by the public to fish and for *799 the recreational activities connected therewith during all of said period of time." The district appeared in the adjudication proceedings and filed the disputed claims under the powers allegedly conferred by C.R.S.1963, 150-7-5(10) which, among other powers placed in the district, includes the following: As grounds for reversal of the judgment counsel for the district assert that: On behalf of the power company it is argued that: For the purpose of determining this controversy it is unnecessary to treat the arguments advanced under paragraphs numbered 2 and 3 above. The argument of the attorneys for the district consists of two basic propositions. One is that the use of flowing water in a stream is an appropriation of water; and the second is that such a use of water is a "beneficial use." Numerous opinions *800 of this court have defined the essential requirements of an "appropriation" of water. We direct attention to City and County of Denver v. Northern Colorado Water Conservancy District, 130 Colo. 375, 276 P.2d 992, in which we find the following pertinent language: In Board of County Commissioners v. Rocky Mountain Water Company, 102 Colo. 351, 79 P.2d 373, we find the following: This case was cited with approval in City and County of Denver v. Miller, et al., 149 Colo. 96, 368 P.2d 982. There is no support in the law of this state for the proposition that a minimum flow of water may be "appropriated" in a natural stream for piscatorial purposes without diversion of any portion of the water "appropriated" from the natural course of the stream. By the enactment of C.R.S.1963, 150-7-5(10) the legislature did not intend to bring about such an extreme departure from well established doctrine, and we hold that no such departure was brought about by said statute. Cases relied on by the district, in which it is held that the diversion of water into retaining ponds for fish culture is a diversion for a beneficial use, are clearly distinguishable from the case under consideration. The case of Schodde v. Twin Falls Land and Water Co., 224 U.S. 107, 32 S. Ct. 470, 56 L. Ed. 686, contains language applicable to the instant controversy. In that case the controversy arose in Idaho. Plaintiff was the owner of certain land on the banks of the Snake River and an appropriator of certain quantities of water for use on said lands. The amount appropriated was alleged to be 1250 miner's inches. The water was diverted from the stream by means of a waterwheel or wheels in the river which would lift the water to a sufficient height for distribution to the land. There was a total of eleven of such wheels varying in height from 24 to 34 feet. The flow of the river, controlled by wing dams, would power the wheels causing them to revolve and carry the water in buckets to the height where it would be emptied in flumes and taken by ditches to the lands of the appropriator. The defendant constructed a dam across the river at a point about 9 miles below plaintiff's land. This water was utilized for irrigation of about 300,000 acres of land and supplied the needs of about 5000 people. The plaintiff alleged that the backing up of the water caused by the dam deprived him of the power by virtue of destroying the current in the river by which the waterwheels were used to raise the water to permit the irrigation of his lands. The contention of the plaintiff that he was entitled to have the flow of the stream maintained in such manner as to power the waterwheels by which he raised the water, was rejected by the supreme Court of the United States. It was pointed out in that opinion that the right to the maintenance of the "flow" of the stream is a riparian right and is completely inconsistent with the doctrine of prior appropriation. We quote from the opinion the following: The opinion quotes from Hutchinson v. Watson Slough Ditch Co. Limited, 16 Idaho 484, 101 P. 1059, the following pertinent language: The foregoing is dispositive of the controversy and there is no need to discuss the other arguments which are ably presented by counsel for both sides. The judgment is affirmed.