Opinion ID: 1134606
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 7

Heading: decree for change of use as well as change of place of storage

Text: Highland has contended that the 1965 transfer decree merely changed the place of storage of the Model Storage Right to Trinidad Reservoir and did not change to storage the winter direct flow use of the Project ditches. This change of use was set forth as a part of the plan in House Document 325 and the Operating Principles, both of which were incorporated by reference in the decree. The clear effect of the transfer decree was to make the change as set forth in those documents. So far as the persons who are bound by that transfer decree are concerned, the effect was to change both the place of storage and the use of winter direct flow. We recognize, as did the trial court, that the Project ditches assigned their management rights and did not convey to the District the ownership of the water rights themselves. The court, however, misapprehended the effect of the decree when it stated: Except for the Model Storage Right, none of the water rights owned or controlled by the [Project ditches has] storage rights decreed to [it].