North Sterling Irrigation District v. Simpson Issued March 2, 2009
On March 2, 2009, the Colorado Supreme Court issued its decision inNorth Sterling Irrigation District v. Simpson, 202 P.3d 1207 (Colo. 2009). In that case, the North Sterling Irrigation District (“NSID”) had appealed the water court’s order affirming the State and Division Engineers’ (the “State”) authority to require administration of NSID’s decreed water storage rights on a fixed water year. The Supreme Court affirmed the water court, holding that that NSID’s ability to divert water into reservoir storage is properly limited by the “one-fill” rule and the State’s implementation of a fixed water year does not impose a limitation on NSID’s decreed storage rights.
