Public Service Company of Colorado v. Meadow Island Ditch Company No. 2
Issued April 3, 2006

In an application for approval of a plan for augmentation to allow diversions for industrial use through various junior wells, PSCo sought to make various changes in the use of various water sources, including water owned by Meadow Island but that PSCo had acquired a contractual right to use subject to various contractual restrictions. On appeal, PSCo sought to overturn a water court ruling that PSCo could not seek to change the decreed use of water from irrigation use where it only had a contractual right to use such water. The Supreme Court upheld the water court, noting that a contractual right to use water is "far different" from a water right that is obtained through appropriation, diversion and beneficial use. Because the contract under which PSCo had the right to make use of the water did not specifically grant PSCo the right to change the use of the water, the Supreme Court determined that the contract's silence on this issue did not grant such a right. On cross-appeal, Meadow Island requested that the Court overturn the water court's ruling that operation of PSCo's proposed plan for augmentation did not involve a contractually-prohibited change in point of diversion where the water at issue would be used to replace water diverted through upstream wells. The Supreme Court, however, upheld the water court and held that the plan for augmentation did not involve a change in point of diversion and therefore did not violate the contractual prohibition on such changes.

See the Supreme Court decision