Opinion ID: 2612687
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: extent of federal reserved water rights doctrine

Text: The extent of federal reserved water rights is controlled by the intent of Congress and the purposes for which the lands are reserved. The water claims in these appeals represent a broad cross-section of Congress' many goals and purposes in reserving public lands. Each congressional or executive pronouncement reserving federal lands presents us with a different analysis of the extent to which water rights are reserved. The federal reservations in these appeals deal with five categories of public lands: (1) national forests, (2) national monuments, (3) national parks, (4) public springs and waterholes, and (5) mineral hot springs. In addition to its disposition of these issues, the water court's ruling addressed the manner in which reserved water rights are to be implemented and administered. For the reasons set forth below, we affirm in part and reverse in part the water court's determinations of the extent of federal reserved water rights. We also remand the case to the water court for modifications of its decree and supplemental proceedings in accordance with this opinion. [33]

The federal government claims that the water court improperly subordinated federal reserved water rights to appropriations made pursuant to Colorado law. The water court awarded reserved rights for the national forests subject to the condition that the rights shall be and are subject to water appropriations under Colorado law for domestic, mining, milling, and irrigation beneficial uses, as provided by the Organic Act of 1897, codified in pertinent part at 16 U.S.C. ง 481. Additionally, whether the priority date was before or after the federal reservation was held to be immaterial. The United States argues that federal reserved waters are not subject to private appropriations. We agree. Section 481 of the Organic Act of 1897, 16 U.S.C. งง 475 et seq. (1976) provides: All waters within the boundaries of national forests may be used for domestic, mining, milling, or irrigation purposes, under the laws of the State wherein such national forests are situated, or under the laws of the United States and the rules and regulations established thereunder. The water court concluded that the statute authorizes appropriation of federal reserved water. We believe that interpretation of section 481 misconstrues the Organic Act of 1897 and the case law which has interpreted federal reserved water rights. In Cappaert v. United States, 426 U.S. 128, 96 S.Ct. 2062, 48 L.Ed.2d 523 (1976), the United States Supreme Court held that the federal government's reserved water rights had a priority date which vests at the date of reservation and are superior to the rights of future appropriators. 426 U.S. at 138, 96 S.Ct. at 2069. Accordingly, any appropriative rights established after the reservation date of a national forest are subordinate to the reserved right. Only water in excess of the minimal amount needed to fulfill the purposes of the national forests is available to subsequent appropriators. See also Winters v. United States, 207 U.S. 564, 28 S.Ct. 207, 52 L.Ed. 340 (1908) (reserved water exempt from appropriation under state law). In United States v. New Mexico, 438 U.S. 696, 98 S.Ct. 3012, 57 L.Ed.2d 1052 (1978), the Supreme Court found that the Organic Act of 1897 reserved water for the purposes of conserving water flows and maintaining a continuous timber supply (confirming the findings of the New Mexico Supreme Court in Mimbres Valley Irrigation Co. v. Salopek, 90 N.M. 410, 564 P.2d 615 (1977)). Section 481 of the Organic Act of 1897 would frustrate the purposes of the national forests if it were read to allow private appropriation of reserved water essential to accomplish those purposes. [34] We do not believe Congress granted private appropriators the ability to take water necessary to fulfill the purposes of the national forests. The water court's order would give private appropriators the power to divert national forest water even if it meant that the timber supply would diminish or that water flows would be disrupted. Section 481 is more sensibly read to express Congress' concern that national forest reservations should not preclude future private appropriations. The section confirms the coexistence of federal water rights and private appropriation under state law. Congress was well aware of the role water plays in the economic development of the West when it enacted the Organic Act of 1897. It sought to strike a balance between federal stewardship and state economic development. Thus, any water in excess of that needed to fulfill the purposes of the national forests was made available by Congress to subsequent private appropriators. 438 U.S. at 712-13, 98 S.Ct. at 3020. We reverse the water court's decree insofar as it subordinates national forest reserved rights to subsequent appropriations. Federal reserved water rights have a vested priority dating from the initial reservation. The reserved rights decreed by the water court to the federal government are necessary to fulfill the purposes of watershed and timber protection. They do not conflict with the limitations of section 481, which guarantees that excess waters remain available to private appropriators. The federal purposes, however, cannot be subverted by state and private water diversions which jeopardize the existence of the national forests. The water court's decree shall therefore be modified so that the federal government is granted sufficient water to fulfill the purposes for which the national forests were established. All excess water is available to other appropriators under the dictates of section 481.
The federal government claims that it has a reserved water right for instream water flows necessary to fulfill national forest purposes. The water court found: (1) that the United States has no instream flow rights for recreational, scenic, and wildlife protection purposes; and (2) that since the United States did not claim any instream flow rights for the Organic Act of 1897 purposes of watershed and timber protection, the court could not award such water rights. We agree with the water court's determinations. The United States Supreme Court expressly found in United States v. New Mexico, supra , that the Organic Act of 1897 does not provide for instream flows for recreational, wildlife, and scenic purposes. Id. at 705, 98 S.Ct. at 3016. The water court decision is in accordance with that interpretation of federal law. The United States has also failed to demonstrate that the instream flow right it claims is necessary to fulfill the national forest purposes. The United States has shown sparse evidence to support its claim that instream flows serve the national forest purposes of watershed and timber protection. [35] It is more likely that Congress did not wish to enlarge the consumption of water arising on national forest lands by protecting minimum instream flows when it established the national forest system in 1897. See Bassman, The 1897 Organic Act: A Historical Perspective, 7 Nat. Resources Law. 503 (1974). The Supreme Court in United States v. New Mexico, supra , emphasized that Congress intended to provide large quantities of water for the economic development of the West when it passed the Organic Act of 1897. Id., 438 U.S. at 711-12, 98 S.Ct. at 3019-20. The national forest purposes in the Organic Act of 1897 are essentially non-consumptive. By the time national forest water is available for appropriation from streams or lakes, it has already serviced most of the national forest purposes. Congress intended that the remaining water was to be used for domestic and commercial purposes as allocated under state law. See, e.g., 16 U.S.C. ง 481 (1976). [36] Congress' goal of enhancing the quantity of water available to western appropriators would be undercut by enlarging federal reserved rights to include minimum instream flows. 438 U.S. at 713, 98 S.Ct. at 3020. Nowhere has the United States shown that without instream flows the purposes of the national forests would be defeated. On the contrary, congressional policies to further the economic development of the West would be frustrated if we were now to hold that the many private appropriators in the national forests must relinquish their long-utilized water rights to downstream appropriators so that the federal government can maintain unneeded minimum stream flows. Many public and private appropriatorsโ cities, industries, farmers, and ranchersโ have depended on water diversions from national forest lands high in the Rocky Mountains. Minimum flow rights would upset these long-held expectations in favor of junior appropriators downstream and outside the national forest reservations. We therefore find that the United States does not have an instream flow claim for reserved water rights in the national forests. [37]
Counsel for the United States claims that the Multiple-Use Sustained-Yield Act of 1960, 16 U.S.C. งง 528-31 (1976) (MUSYA), reserved additional water for the existing national forests with a 1960 priority date for recreational and wildlife conservation purposes. The master-referee concluded that MUSYA broadened the reservation purposes of existing national forests so that water sufficient to satisfy outdoor recreation, range, and fish and wildlife purposes was reserved. Subsequent to the master-referee's report, but prior to the water court's ruling, the United States Supreme Court decided United States v. New Mexico, 438 U.S. 696, 98 S.Ct. 3012, 57 L.Ed.2d 1052 (1978). The water court, relying on New Mexico, held that MUSYA reserved no additional water for the national forests, beyond that amount reserved in the Organic Act of 1897 establishing the forests. Thus, the federal government was awarded no water rights for maintenance of minimum stream flows and lake levels necessary for the MUSYA purposes. We agree with the water court's ruling that New Mexico forecloses any claims for reserved water rights based on MUSYA and, accordingly, affirm its decision. The United States claims in these appeals that it never had the opportunity in New Mexico to argue that MUSYA effected an additional reservation of water with a 1960 priority date for existing national forest lands. Instead, MUSYA had been presented in New Mexico as support for the federal government's argument that Congress always intended broad purposes for national forests. The United States also takes the position that the MUSYA declaration in the majority opinion in New Mexico is dictum. That position is in accordance with the dissenting opinion in New Mexico which contended that the MUSYA issue was not argued on appeal and therefore could not be a basis for the Court's disposition. [38] Whether the MUSYA declaration in New Mexico technically is dictum is immaterial now; the majority opinion in New Mexico directly addressed the issue and we are bound by the pronouncement of the United States Supreme Court on this point. MUSYA codified the long-standing practice that the national forests should be administered for the greatest good of the greatest number in the long run. [39] Congress was convinced that modern principles of multiple use and sustained yield would lead to better management of public forest holdings. MUSYA was intended to provide authority for the forest service to broaden its forests management practices. See H.R. Rep. No. 1551, 86th Cong., 2d Sess. 3 (1960), U.S.Code Cong. & Admin.News 1960, p. 2377; see generally Coggins, supra note 5. Section 528 of MUSYA provides in part: [I]t is the policy of the Congress that national forests are established and shall be administered for outdoor recreation, range, timber, watershed, and wildlife and fish purposes. The purposes of this Act are declared to be supplemental to, but not in derogation of, the purposes for which the national forests were established as set forth in the Act of June 4, 1897. 16 U.S.C. ง 528 (1976). Section 528 makes it obvious that Congress intended to expand the purposes for which the national forests are administered. Congress made it equally clear, however, that the 1897 Act purposes โsecuring favorable conditions of water flows and furnishing a continuous supply of timberโwould not be expanded by the 1960 legislation. [40] Against that statutory background, the United States Supreme Court held in New Mexico that Congress did not intend in enacting MUSYA to reserve water in existing national forests for the additional purposes there established: While we conclude that the Multiple-Use Sustained-Yield Act of 1960 was intended to broaden the purposes for which national forests had previously been administered, we agree that Congress did not intend to thereby expand the reserved rights of the United States.       Congress intended the national forests to be administered for broader purposes after 1960 but there is no indication that it believed the new purposes to be so crucial as to require a reservation of additional water. By reaffirming the primacy of a favorable stream flow, it indicated the opposite intent. 438 U.S. at 713-715, 98 S.Ct. at 3020-21 (footnotes omitted). The Supreme Court based its conclusion on two factors. First, it found that Congress intended MUSYA only to supplement the original national forest purposes of timber protection and conservation of water flows. The additional MUSYA purposes were not to impair effectuation of the original purposes of the national forests. See 16 U.S.C. ง 528. The Court concluded that if the MUSYA purposes were used as a basis for instream flow rights to the federal government, then a substantial amount of water would be lost for irrigation and domestic use. As a result, minimum flow rights for recreational or fish habitat purposes would be in derogation of the original national forest purposes of securing favorable conditions of water flow. 438 U.S. at 715, 98 S.Ct. at 3021. The Court was convinced that Congress intended to reserve water for the primary purposes of existing national forests (the Organic Act of 1897 purposes), but no water was reserved for secondary purposes added by MUSYA. Id. [41] Second, the Supreme Court concluded that Congress intended to defer to state water law unless a clear contrary intent to reserve water could be found. Nothing in the legislative history or language of MUSYA indicates any intent to reserve additional water. The Court was hesitant to expand a doctrine built on implication without strong legislative support. Id. Congress recognized the severe water shortages in the West and limited its reservation of water to the traditional national forest purposes. Id. We are convinced that the implied-reservation-of-water doctrine must be narrowly construed. Additional federal water rights in Colorado may reduce water available to satisfy long-held adjudicated water rights, especially in streams which have been fully appropriated. [42] When Congress passed MUSYA, it was aware of the reserved rights doctrine. See, e.g., Federal Power Commission v. Oregon, 349 U.S. 435, 75 S.Ct. 832, 99 L.Ed. 1215 (1955); Winters v. United States, 207 U.S. 564, 28 S.Ct. 207, 52 L.Ed. 340 (1908); United States v. Rio Grande Dam & Irrigation Co., 174 U.S. 690, 19 S.Ct. 770, 43 L.Ed. 1136 (1899). Congress, however, chose not to reserve additional water explicitly. In the face of its silence, we must assume that Congress intended the federal government to proceed like any other appropriator and to apply for or purchase water rights when there was a need for water. The federal government has the power to act in condemnation proceedings if its wishes to obtain water outside the state appropriation system for additional national forest purposes. [43] Our reading of United States v. New Mexico and MUSYA is bolstered by the Department of the Interior's interpretation of the same case law and statutory materials. A recent Department of the Interior memorandum opinion interprets the reserved rights doctrine as we do: The unavoidable conclusion to be reached from [the reserved rights] cases is that Congress gave the states broad power to provide for the administration of water rights which would only be limited where necessary to accomplish the original purpose of a congressionally mandated reservation or to protect the navigation servitude. As a result of this implicit grant of power, the presumption is that state law will control all non-reserved claims unless Congress provides otherwise. If Congress wishes to abandon its historical practice of deference it must explicitly exercise its power. While the Congress has retained the right to amend these laws and reassert legislative control over a portion or all of the remaining unappropriated water in a state, it has chosen not to do so. In construing land management statutes, this deference to state law rises to a presumption that the United States and its agencies must acquire water rights in accordance with state substantive and procedural law unless necessary for the original purpose of a reservation.  88 Interior Dec. 1055, 1064 (1981) (footnote omitted) (emphasis added). The interpretations of the Supreme Court and the Department of the Interior on the applicability of MUSYA to federal reserved water rights dictate the result. While we are sympathetic with the environmental, aesthetic, and recreational goals which prompted these requests for federal reserved water rights, we read United States v. New Mexico, supra , as dispositive of the claims of the United States. We conclude therefore that MUSYA does not reserve additional water for outdoor recreation, wildlife, or fish purposes. We believe that Congress intended that the federal government proceed under state law in the same manner as any other public or private appropriator. Accordingly, we affirm the water court's determination.

The United States claims that it has a reserved instream flow water right in the Yampa River for recreational boating within Dinosaur National Monument. It argues that recreational boating is a purpose for which national monuments are established and that an implied water right exists in an amount necessary to fulfill the purpose. The water court concluded that the establishment of Dinosaur National Monument did not reserve water to the federal government for recreational boating. The water court also held that an instream flow water right may exist to preserve fish habitats of historic or scientific interest; that question, however, must await determination of the specific purposes for which Dinosaur National Monument was established. We affirm the water court's conclusions with modifications. National monuments may be created by presidential proclamation to preserve public lands of outstanding historic or scientific interest. 16 U.S.C. ง 431 (1976). In 1915, President Wilson established Dinosaur National Monument on an eighty acre tract of Utah land for the purpose of preserving an extraordinary deposit of Dinosaurian and other gigantic reptilian remains. Presidential Proclamation of Oct. 4, 1915, 39 Stat. 1752 (1915). In 1938, the Monument was expanded into Colorado to include canyon lands formed by the Yampa River. The 1938 proclamation noted the presence of objects of historic and scientific interest in its reservation of 200,000 Colorado acres. Moreover, the proclamation placed the Monument under the supervision, management, and control of the National Park Service. Presidential Proclamation of July 14, 1938, 53 Stat. 2454 (1938). In 1960, the Monument's boundaries were again slightly modified by Congress. To ascertain if there is an implied reservation of waters for recreational boating, we must determine whether Congress intended to establish a recreational purpose when it established the Monument. The issue is particularly important in this context because of the enormous potential economic impact of minimum stream flows on vested and conditional Colorado water rights. [44] We do not believe that Congress intended to reserve water for recreational purposes under the legislation allowing for the creation of national monuments. Dinosaur National Monument was originally established to preserve impressive prehistoric fossils. There is no question that the 1915 proclamation and the underlying legislation on which it is based, the American Antiquities Preservation Act of 1906, 16 U.S.C. งง 431 et seq. (1976), were primarily concerned with scientific and historic purposes, not recreational purposes. See, e.g., H.R.Rep. No. 11016, 59th Cong., 1st Sess. (1906) (national monuments have narrower purposes than national parks). The federal government argues, however, that the provisions in the 1938 proclamation, which place management of the Monument under the National Parks Service Act of 1916, [45] carries with it an implied reservation of water for purposes recognized under the 1916 Act. Purposes under the 1916 Act include the conservation and enjoyment of scenic, natural, and historic objects. The United States' argument places recreational purposes (including instream flows for river rafting) under the rubric of enjoyment of scenic, natural, and historic objects. We cannot accept the federal government's assertion that the National Park Service Act expands the purposes for which national monuments are granted reservations of water. Acceptance of this argument would mean that Congress has, sub silentio, eliminated all basic distinctions between national monuments and national parks. We are, in effect, asked to treat monuments as having the same recreational and aesthetic purposes as national parks. Our review of the statutory and legislative record convinces us that Congress intended national monuments to be more limited in scope and purpose than national parks. Nothing in the National Park Service Act or its legislative history indicates any intent to modify the purposes for which national monuments are established under the Antiquities Act or expand the reserved water rights claimed for them. National monuments were included in the National Park Service Act for administrative purposesโto provide for their management by the National Park Service within the Department of the Interior, rather than by the Forest Service within the Department of Agriculture. See H.R.Rep. No. 700, 64th Cong., 1st Sess. (1916). The Act itself acknowledges differences between the various components of the national park system. National parks and monuments are interrelated, though not identical; each monument or park is distinct in character. Although the areas are cumulative expressions of a single national heritage and are to be regulated consistently with the fundamental purposes expressed in the Act, the values and purposes for which these various areas have been established still control their administration. 16 U.S.C. งง 1a-1, 1c (1976). [46] Thus, we must look to the purposes for which the monument was established, not to the purposes for which national parks were established, in determining the necessity for reserved water rights. That conclusion is supported by United States Supreme Court precedent. In Cappaert v. United States, 426 U.S. 128, 96 S.Ct. 2062, 48 L.Ed.2d 523 (1976), the Court construed the availability of reserved water rights in a national monumentโDevil's Hole National Monument. The Monument, like Dinosaur National Monument, was established by presidential proclamation pursuant to the Antiquities Act of 1906, 16 U.S.C. ง 431 (1976), and is also under the control of the National Park Service. The Court found an implied water reservation necessary to protect a rare desert fish based on the 1952 proclamation establishing the monument: Here the purpose of reserving Devil's Hole Monument is preservation of the pool. Devil's Hole was reserved `for the preservation of the unusual features of scenic, scientific, and educational interest.' The Proclamation notes that the pool contains `a peculiar race of desert fish ... which is found nowhere else in the world' and that the `pool is of ... outstanding scientific importance....' The pool need only be preserved, consistent with the intention expressed in the Proclamation, to the extent necessary to preserve its scientific interest. The fish are one of the features of scientific interest. The preamble noting the scientific interest of the pool follows the preamble describing the fish as unique; the Proclamation must be read in its entirety. Thus, as the District Court has correctly determined, the level of the pool may be permitted to drop to the extent that the drop does not impair the scientific value of the pool as the natural habitat of the species sought to be preserved. The District Court thus tailored its injunction, very appropriately, to minimal need, curtailing pumping only to the extent necessary to preserve an adequate water level at Devil's Hole, thus implementing the stated objectives of the Proclamation. 426 U.S. at 141, 96 S.Ct. at 2070 (emphasis added). The Supreme Court analyzed the extent of reserved water rights based on the explicit purpose evidenced in the establishing proclamation and not based on the purposes found under the National Park Service Act. The same analysis must be used in determining reserved water rights for Dinosaur National Monument. In United States v. New Mexico, supra , the Supreme Court further directs us to examine carefully the purpose for which federal land is withdrawn. Congress has conferred substantial responsibility for water resource allocation upon the states. 438 U.S. at 701-02, 98 S.Ct. at 3015. It would defeat that long-standing policy of congressional deference to state water determinations to interpret loosely federal reservations of scientific and historic lands. Further, the Court emphasized that Congress impliedly reserves only that amount of water necessary to fulfill the purpose of the reservation, no more. Id. at 700, 98 S.Ct. at 3014, quoting United States v. Cappaert, 426 U.S. at 141, 96 S.Ct. at 2070. The excess water was left to public and private appropriators. We believe that Dinosaur National Monument was established for the purpose of preserving outstanding objects of historic and scientific interest. Recreational boating is not a purpose for which the 1938 acreage was implicitly or explicitly reserved. The federal government therefore is not entitled to a reserved water right for minimum stream flows in the Yampa River through Dinosaur National Monument for recreational purposes. The water court expressed a willingness to grant some stream flows for the purpose of preserving fish habitats of historic and scientific interest. It rested its conclusions on the language of 16 U.S.C. ง 1 which states that conservation of wildlife is a purpose for which national monuments will be administered. See supra note 45. As we have discussed above, the National Park Service Act should not be used as a basis for expanding the monument purposes which support a reservation of water. In our view, the relevant reservation document is the presidential proclamation of 1938, which enlarged Dinosaur National Monument to protect objects of historic and scientific interest. 53 Stat. 2454 (1938). However, the water court was correct in ordering the master-referee to determine whether the 1938 proclamation intended to reserve water for fish habitats of endangered species of historic and scientific interest, and if so, to quantify the minimal amount of water necessary to fulfill that purpose. We therefore remand to the water court for further proceedings on the issue of fish habitats.
The federal government appeals the water court's determination that quantification of the amount of instream water which is necessary for Monument purposes must be concluded within six months following a final decree in this case. We do not think that six months is an unreasonable period for the federal government to quantify its water rights, especially in view of our decision to remand the issue of rights to instream flow for fish habitat purposes. Six months is ample time for the United States to quantify its water needs for protecting endangered fish species in the Yampa River. If unexpected difficulties arise during quantification, the federal government may seek an extension of time from the water court. There are important considerations for finishing this litigation as expeditiously as possible. This case began in 1967. Since 1971, the federal government has known of its obligation to quantify reserved water rights. United States v. District Court for Eagle County, 401 U.S. 520, 91 S.Ct. 998, 28 L.Ed.2d 278 (1971); United States v. District Court for Water Division No. 5, 401 U.S. 527, 91 S.Ct. 1003, 28 L.Ed.2d 284 (1971). The tremendous uncertainty that minimum flow rights will inject into the existing state appropriation scheme makes any further delay unjustifiable. Holders of decreed and conditional water rights cannot plan or develop sizeable water projects until they are certain of the extent of the federal government's claims. Moreover, the limited purposes for which water must be quantified and the need to quantify only a single stream in Dinosaur National Monument support the water court's six month quantification period. We believe that the expeditious resolution of this issue will best serve the interests of all parties affected by this litigation.
Rocky Mountain National Park was created from previously reserved national forest lands which were transferred to the Park in 1915 and again in 1930. The water court held that the priority date of any reserved water rights for Rocky Mountain National Park was the date on which the national forest lands were transferred to national park status. The United States argues that, for reservation purposes common to national forest lands and national park lands, the priority dates should be fixed by the dates of the initial national forest reservation. We agree that the earlier date is the proper benchmark. The lands reserved for national parks have purposes consistent with the lands reserved for national forests. National parks exist for the purposes of protecting watershed and timber resources (also the national forest purposes), in addition to broader purposes of, inter alia, conserving scenery, historic and scientific objects, and wildlife. See National Park Service Act of 1916, 16 U.S.C. ง 1 (1976). The purposes for which the national forests are administered were not rescinded by the simple reclassification of the lands. The reclassification changes the status of the lands from national forests to national parks, but the original purposes of timber and watershed protection continue even though the land is placed under National Park Service administration. There is no reason to believe that the transferral of national forest lands extinguishes the purposes of timber and watershed protection established by the Organic Act of 1897. Therefore, to the extent that the purposes of the national forests and national parks overlap, the federal government has reserved water rights in the amount minimally necessary to effectuate the purposes of the national forest lands. See United States v. New Mexico, supra ; Cappaert v. United States, supra . Reservation of water for other purposes, however, will have a priority date from the time the national park was established. The water court has decreed various water rights in Rocky Mountain National Park with priority dates of 1915 and 1930. The water court must reexamine its decree and award the United States water rights sufficient to meet the purposes of watershed and timber resources protection with a priority date based on the date the transferred lands were reserved to the national forests.
The federal government claims on appeal that it has a reserved water right for the entire yield of all waterholes and springs, whether tributary or nontributary, which are located on lands withdrawn from the public domain by a 1926 executive order entitled Public Water Reserve No. 107. The water court ruled that Public Water Reserve No. 107 reserved water rights limited to an amount necessary for stockwatering and drinking uses from nontributary springs or waterholes and that the United States has four years to quantify those rights. We affirm the water court's ruling subject to several modifications. The extent of the federal government's reserved water rights for public springs and waterholes is determined from the reserving documents. Cappaert v. United States, supra . The over 1,500 springs and water holes involved in this litigation were reserved by executive order issued in 1926 pursuant to section 10 of the Stock Raising Homestead Act of 1916. 43 U.S.C. ง 300 (1976). [47] The executive order, Public Water Reserve No. 107, provides: Every smallest legal subdivision of public land surveys which is vacant, unappropriated, unreserved public land and contains a spring or waterhole and all land within one quarter of a mile of every spring or waterhole, located on unsurveyed public land, be and the same is hereby withdrawn from settlement, location, sale or entry, and reserved for public use in accordance with the provisions of Section 10 of the Act of December 29, 1916. That executive order does not expressly state an intention to reserve water in public springs or waterholes and to withdraw it from appropriation under state law. Cf. Cappaert v. United States, supra (express reservation of water pool by proclamation). The water court, however, found that subsequent Department of the Interior regulations enacted pursuant to 43 U.S.C. ง 300 reserved an amount of water minimally necessary to prevent the monopolization of vast land areas in the arid states by providing a source of drinking water for animal and human consumption. We agree that the federal government has reserved rights to provide a watering supply for animal and human consumption. The Stock Raising Homestead Act of 1916 gave the Department of the Interior authority to regulate public springs and waterholes so that no person could monopolize or control vast areas of western land by homesteading the only available water supply. [48] Regulations later enacted by the Department of the Interior recognized the limited domestic drinking and stockwatering purposes of the 1926 reservation. [49] It is also significant that the Department of the Interior, under the legislation providing for public water reserves, construed its authority as only granting control of access to the lands withdrawn. [50] The law of prior appropriation still governs the allocation of excess waters. It appears to us that the reservation documents indicate no intent to reserve the entire yield of public springs and waterholes involved here. Nothing in the statute or its legislative history indicates a congressional intent to open public springs and waterholes to the many public uses which the United States is now claiming. The federal government's assertion, therefore, that the entire yield must be reserved is not well-founded. The purpose of the reservation was to prevent monopolization of water needed for domestic and stock watering purposes. The water court correctly ruled that the federal purposes could be satisfied with a quantifiable amount less than the entire yield of the springs and waterholes. The reserved rights doctrine only takes that amount of water necessary to fulfill the purpose of the reservation, no more. 426 U.S. at 141, 96 S.Ct. at 2070. Here, as the water court found, the necessary amount is less than the entire yield. Reserved water from public springs and waterholes is available for the purposes of human and animal consumption in the amount necessary to prevent monopolization of the water resources. We conclude that the water court has properly decreed sufficient water rights, subject to quantification, minimally necessary to fulfill those purposes of the reservations. The language of Public Water Reserve No. 107 expressly reserves every tract containing a spring or waterhole. The water court limited that reservation to non-tributary waterholes and springs. We are aware that seepage from springs and waterholes on public lands makes an important contribution to the flow of natural streams which are subject to appropriation. However, the reservation documents fail to distinguish between tributary and non-tributary spring waters. The focus of Public Water Reserve No. 107 was on the surface manifestation of spring water, not on fine hydrological distinctions of tributariness. There is also nothing in the statute or the legislative history which would support the water court's exclusion of tributary water. Such a conclusion is likely to frustrate the legislative purpose of preventing monopolization and control of arid western land. [51] Monopolization of public waterhole or spring waters is prevented when no one appropriator has complete control of the resource. Any amount in excess of the amount needed to prevent monopolization is not reserved water. The water court reasonably concluded that the federal purpose was satisfied under its decree. [52] We therefore modify the water court's ruling to include those springs or waterholes reserved under Public Water Reserve No. 107 which are tributary to natural streams. The federal government, claiming it cannot quantify its minimal needs for waterhole and spring waters within the four-year time period granted by the water court, seeks a one year extension of that period. The record reflects no evidence to support a claim that the federal government will be unable to accomplish quantification within four years. As we discussed above, see supra Part C, subsection 2, the United States has had notice of its obligation to quantify since 1971. There appear to be no insuperable obstacles to the government's accomplishment of that task. Should unforeseen difficulties arise during quantification, the federal government may request an extension of time from the water court. Accordingly, we do not disturb the water court's ruling on that issue.
The water court granted the federal government reserved water rights for use in connection with hot springs withdrawn pursuant to the Pickett Act, 43 U.S.C. ง 141 (1976). See supra note 47. The water court awarded reserved water rights to the hot springs for leasing purposes pursuant to 43 U.S.C. ง 971 but ruled that power production was not a purpose of the reservation. [53] On appeal, the federal government claims that it additionally has a right to make use of water from mineral hot springs for geothermal power production purposes under the Geothermal Steam Act of 1970, 30 U.S.C. งง 1001 et seq. (1976). We do not find any reserved water right for geothermal power production under the Geothermal Steam Act of 1970 and therefore affirm the water court's ruling. In essence, the United States claims that the Geothermal Steam Act reserved geothermal water resources in all federal lands subject to the Act with a 1970 appropriation date. The Geothermal Steam Act, however, is principally a leasing statute and is not a reservation of water for energy production purposes. Section 1002 of the Act provides: Subject to the provisions of section 1014 of this title, the Secretary of the Interior may issue leases for the development and utilization of geothermal steam and associated geothermal resources (1) in lands administered by him, including public, withdrawn, and acquired lands, (2) in any national forest or other lands administered by the Department of Agriculture through the Forest Service, including public, withdrawn, and acquired lands, and (3) in lands which have been conveyed by the United States subject to a reservation to the United States of the geothermal steam and associated geothermal resources therein. The Act was primarily a response to the Department of the Interior's concern that it had no authority to dispose of geothermal resources on public lands. See H.R.Rep. No. 1544, 91st Cong., 2d Sess., reprinted in 1970 U.S.Code Cong. & Ad.News 5113, 5115. No express or implied purpose to reserve water for the development of geothermal resources appears in the Act. Instead, Congress provided that leases issued pursuant to the Act should not conflict with the primary purposes for which the public lands were reserved. [54] It is reasonable to conclude that state appropriation law should govern until the United States has actually leased the geothermal resource. It is also significant that the federal government has complete control over access to federally held geothermal resources and can therefore fully regulate water appropriation. Utah Power & Light Co. v. United States, 243 U.S. 389, 37 S.Ct. 387, 61 L.Ed. 791 (1917); Snyder v. Colorado Gold Dredging Co., 181 F. 62 (D.Colo.1910). We conclude that the Geothermal Steam Act of 1970 provides for the leasing of federal lands for geothermal energy production. We do not find that any reservation of water was implied by Congress or is necessary to accomplish the purposes of the Act.

The water court ruled that adjudicated reserved rights could not be used by any permittee, licensee, or concessionaire of the federal government. We see no reason why the federal government cannot control the disposition of reserved water through private contractors and therefore reverse the water court's ruling. The purposes for which water was reserved must be determined by reference to the various documents creating the reservation, statutes, and case law. United States v. New Mexico, supra . The only limitation properly placed upon use of reserved waters is that the water be used only for reservation purposes and in amounts necessary to fulfill those purposes. Id. The 1916 National Park Organic Act, 16 U.S.C. งง 1 et seq. (1976), allows for permit and lease agreements to augment the usage and accessibility of public lands. There is no reason why the federal government should be forced to abandon a proven, efficient, and congressionally-sanctioned system employing private contractors and instead hire government employees to perform the same functions. Of course, use of a federal water right pursuant to a lease, license, permit, concession, or other agreement will not enlarge that right in any way. Accordingly, we modify the water court's order to permit the federal government to fulfill reservation purposes by use of private contractors.
The water court ruled that the federal government must make a quadrennial showing of its progress in applying reserved water not currently in use. The United States argued on appeal that the ruling could cause it to lose reserved rights. We do not believe the water court intended to cause the forfeiture of federal reserved claims if the United States failed to use reasonable diligence in developing its proposed appropriation. See section 37-92-301(4), C.R.S.1973 (conditional water rights must be reduced to absolute decrees in a reasonably diligent fashion). Federal reserved water rights are immune from Colorado's non-use requirement to the extent necessary to fulfill the purposes of the reservation. United States v. New Mexico, supra . See also United States v. California, 332 U.S. 19, 67 S.Ct. 1658, 91 L.Ed. 1889 (1947). Once the federal right has been quantified, that amount is then outside the state appropriation system. It is reasonable, however, to require the United States to appear quadrennially to report its progress in applying reserved water to beneficial use.
The water court restricted the water source for reserved water rights decreed to accomplish the purposes of particular land reservations to waters on, under, or touching the reserved lands. The federal government argues that there may be circumstances in which water not adjacent to a reservation could be reserved and in which off-reservation use of waters flowing on a reservation may be justified. These issues are presently hypothetical. We decline to resolve them in a case where there has not been a specific factual claim presenting an actual case or controversy. We are aware that a pending case involving naval oil shale reserves presents these issues in a proper factual context and will reserve our judgment accordingly. See In the Matter of the Application for Water Rights of the United States of America, No. W467 (Water Div. No. 5 filed Dec. 31, 1971).
The federal government argues that federal reserved rights are junior only to prior properly adjudicated water rights. It is true that Cappaert v. United States, supra , held that the federal government has a right only to unappropriated water at the time of the reservation. 426 U.S. at 138, 96 S.Ct. at 2069. State law determines what water is unappropriated. At this time, however, there are no parties before this court who have claimed water rights in conflict with the federal government's priority. We will resolve such a conflict when it arises.
The federal government agrees with the water court that it must follow Colorado law when and if it seeks a change of use or change of point of diversion for reserved water rights. It objects, however, to the water court's ruling that no future change of use shall be granted unless the change effectuates a valid reservation purpose. At this time the United States has made no application for a change of use and we therefore decline to decide the issue until it has been properly brought up on appeal.
The United States has stipulated that it agrees to water court determination of federal reserved water rights. That position comports with the McCarran Amendment, 43 U.S.C. ง 666 (1976), and United States v. District Court for Eagle County, supra . Additionally, it agrees that water rights ultimately adjudicated to it are subject to administration by the State Engineer.
The federal government argues that the water court improperly refused to consider certain omitted reserved and appropriative claims. We agree with the water court's conclusion that it lacked jurisdiction to consider the claims until the United States had filed proper applications which will give notice to potential objectors. Breckenridge v. Denver, Colo., 620 P.2d 1048 (1980). The United States is free to file a new application and prove the factual basis for the claims.