State Engineer v. Bradley
Issued September 9, 2002
The Applicant in this case sought to change the point of diversion of an existing irrigation well to a well located on another portion of his property. The Water Court approved the requested change in point of diversion and found that the Applicant had met his burden of demonstrating the historic use of the water right to be changed, based solely on the expert testimony of the Applicant's brother. The State and Division Engineers appealed the Water Court's ruling. On appeal, the Colorado Supreme Court reversed the Water Court's decision, characterizing the case presented by the Applicant at trial as "a conceptual failure to distinguish actual historic use from the face amount of the decree, and therefore a failure to even attempt to establish the historic use of the well-water, separate and apart from historic use of the applicant's surface water."
