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Colorado holds the unique distinction of being the first state to provide for the distribution water by public officials. In 1879, the legislature created a part of the present administrative system. It provided for the division of the state into ten water districts, nine of which are in the South Platte valley, and one in the Arkansas drainage. |
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In Idaho, prior to May 20, 1971, there were two ways in which a right to surface water could be established. The first way was to simply divert water and apply it to beneficial use. The second way to establish a right to surface water was to comply with the statutory method in effect at the time the water right was established. As of May 20, 1971, there is only one way to establish a right to surface water, and that is by following the application/permit/license procedure. |
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Borrowing from rules worked out in mining camps that established rights to divert water to wash ore, most western states, Montana included, adopted the Doctrine of Prior Appropriation. In 1973 Montana passed the Water Use Act, which reformed the historical water rights process. This act adopted a central records system, a new permitting process to acquire water rights, and a process to resolve disputes about claims to water. |
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The movement or diversion of surface
water flows for floodwater farming were witnessed
when the first Spaniards conducted explorations in what is now New Mexico in the late 1500s. The territorial laws, written in the late 1800s and later
adopted by New Mexico through its constitution and
statutes, were based on Western mining laws and
embraced the concept of "prior appropriation". |
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Organized water resources management and planning activities have a longer history in Utah than in most other western states. Beginning in 1847 with the settlement of the Salt Lake Valley, groups were sent out to settle what would later become the state of Utah and the surrounding region. The leaders organized water development crews and oversaw water appropriations for the benefit of the entire community. |
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In the United States, there are two divergent systems for determining water rights. Riparian water rights (derived from English common law) are common in the east and prior appropriation water rights are common in the west. Water rights are generally established pursuant to State law, but there are exceptions, most notably, the concept of federal reserved water rights. Reserved water rights are rights that are established when the federal government reserves land for a specific federal purpose. |
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Wyoming’s water laws have often been an example to other western states for their ability to keep order in the use of all the varied water supplies within her borders. Although somewhat of a latecomer among the western states to have her water supplies undergo widespread development, Wyoming was a frontrunner in pioneering concepts for the innovative handling of the complex process of bestowing the use of her water to her citizens.
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