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 recently addressed two previously unsettled issues that will impact other water users in Grand Valley Water Users Ass’n v. Busk-Ivanhoe, Inc., 14SA303 (2016). First, the Court held that imported transbasin water may not be stored in the basin of import prior to first use unless the decree expressly authorizes it. The […]
In late March, the Colorado Supreme Court ruled in County of Boulder v. Boulder & Weld County Ditch Co., 367 P.3d 1179 (Colo. 2016). While this case did not involve any novel questions of Colorado water law, it did provide a clear warning to applicants for changes of water rights that they must be prepared […]
The United States Forest Service (“Forest Service”) manages 193 million acres of public lands that provide 20 percent of the nation’s clean water supply worth an estimated $7.2 billion per year. Management of public lands by the Forest Service includes issuance of special use permits for 122 ski area operations in thirteen states. 116 of […]
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 […]
Pretrial discovery (where a party to a legal proceeding can see the evidence the other side will use) has been undergoing big changes in Colorado. One of the most significant recent changes to the Colorado rules of civil procedure is that draft expert reports and communications between experts and attorneys are now protected […]
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 […]