Legal Updates

On May 25, 2017, the Colorado legislature passed House Bill 17-1990 addressing the 2015 Colorado Supreme Court decision of St. Jude’s Co. v. Roaring Fork Club LLC denying a private club’s ability to obtain an instream water right. Colorado, as a prior appropriation state, requires its water users to demonstrate that the water will be […]

Last Year, WSMT blogged about whether water could be lawfully appropriated for Marijuana cultivation.  2/11/16 blog post.  We provided three arguments why that would be allowed. Almost exactly a year later, the Division  water referee agreed In Re High Valley Farms, LLC, 14CW3095 with two of the reasons we set forth in our blog from last […]

The Colorado Supreme Court’s recent ruling in Upper Eagle Reg’l Water Authority v. Wolfe, 2016 CO 42 creates opportunities for owners of more than one conditional water right to make those rights absolute in advance of demonstrating the need for both, and the “catch” or court-imposed limitation may not have a practical effect in some […]

The question has become important to marijuana growers after the Colorado Supreme Court’s decision in Coats v. Dish Network, LLC, 303 P.3d 147 (Colo. 2015), where the Court held that an activity is only “lawful” if it violates neither state nor federal law. The issue has now arisen in the water context before Water Division […]

The Colorado Supreme Court has now determined the standard for quantifying water rights that have already changed from one use to another in a prior case. This is an issue that has been very unclear for some time, and many water users have been uncertain about how this issue would be addressed, until now. In […]

Plan Ahead – In Colorado, a complex set of laws and regulations govern when and where water can be taken and used. The process of determining whether water is available for your needs and obtaining a legal water supply can be a lengthy process. Need Water Quickly? – The best option in this case may […]