Opinion ID: 2515357
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Historical Administration

Text: We first affirm the water court's finding that, although NSID has historically operated the reservoir on a low-point basis, its rights have been administered consistent with a fixed, November 1 water year. Although evidence of the official administration of NSID's rights is sparse, the water court's conclusion has record support and we are thus bound by it. See City of Black Hawk, 97 P.3d at 956. The historical basis of the November 1 policy is evidenced by the annunciation of the policy as early as 1936 in the Hinderlider Letter and by numerous references to the policy in state government records. Our own caselaw recognizes the November 1 date as representing the generally accepted start-date for the administrative water year. Bd. of County Comm'rs of County of Arapahoe v. Crystal Creek Homeowners Ass'n, 14 P.3d 325, 343-44 (Colo. 2000); Upper Gunnison, 838 P.2d at 852. We agree with the water court that any discrepancy in the record between the November 1 year and operations maintained by NSID can be explained by historically loose administration on the South Platte River prior to 2002. Because officials were rarely asked to honor or record a call, NSID and the Engineers were able to maintain two parallel accounting systems: NSID's accounting system for reservoir operations based on the irrigation season, and the Engineers' accounting system for administration based on the November 1 water year. Current and former Division 1 water officials testified at trial that, to the extent they administered NSID's rights, they applied the November 1 policy. With the possible exception of one instance in 1978, records of NSID's historical diversions are consistent with a November 1 water year. A 1989 letter from a former manager of NSID to the division engineer objects to the November 1 policy, establishing that the policy was in effect at least by that time. These facts refute NSID's contention that the Engineers recently initiated the November 1 water year for the benefit of junior water rights. Because NSID's rights have historically been administered consistent with a fixed water year, NSID has not demonstrated any legal injury associated with a change in administrative policy. In any event, such a claim of injury would not be cognizable, as NSID's decrees do not address how diversions are to be accounted for under the one-fill rule. Where storage decrees are silent with respect to the administration of the one-fill rule, the Engineers have authority under sections 37-92-501 and 502 to determine how to administer Colorado's one-fill mandate. In times of short supply, water users depend on the Engineers to curtail undecreed uses and decreed junior uses in favor of decreed senior uses. Empire Lodge Homeowners' Ass'n v. Moyer, 39 P.3d 1139, 1149 (Colo.2001). Here, the Engineers have implemented a fixed water year in order to prevent the undecreed use of water in excess of the one-fill rule and thereby attain the security of other adjudicated water rights. This action is within the authority conferred upon them by law. [3]