“No water. No business,” stated Glen Austin of Austin Farms in Paonia, Colorado . Water, the lifeblood of Western Colorado, has been a hotly debated topic since the West was settled. Access to clean water is something that people take for granted. However, to ensure that there will be enough clean water for residential, recreation, municipal, and agricultural use, the water in Western Colorado is heavily regulated. These regulations are necessary to ensure that there will be enough clean water for everyone in Western Colorado for generations to come. While having water is a right in Western Colorado, water users must ensure they are using their water responsibly. Federal and state water laws are designed to ensure responsible water usage.
The basics of Colorado Water Law are important to know before a full understanding of this topic can be reached. The people own the water but individuals own rights to use it . The water of every natural stream is public property but it can be apportioned for personal use; water users own the right to use the water . “First in time, first in right,” is also important to Colorado Water Law . Senior water rights have precedence over junior water rights . A senior water user could shut off a junior user’s water until the senior user’s need was met . For example is one user has a right to the water from 1869, that right would be considered senior to a right from 1904. Colorado Water Law is extremely complex but understanding the basics makes it easier to comprehend.
Water for Western Colorado comes from precipitation, and snowfall. Precipitation in Western Colorado comes from the Pacific Ocean . Western Colorado averages only 8-14 inches of rainfall per year . Snowfall is the largest contributor...
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...tructure built perpendicular to the flow of water . Flumes are shaped, open channel flow sections that force water to accelerate . The flume size determines the amount of water that can be let through . Having efficient measurement devices is essential to using water responsibly.
Discussing the rights and responsibilities regarding water usage in Western Colorado is akin to poking a large stick into an angry beehive. Many questions regarding responsible usage are met with no answers or very little information. The right to use water is often tied to the land and taken for granted. Without water the valleys of Western Colorado would look much different and the economic benefits of agriculture would not be as important. Water has been very instrumental in shaping the way of life in Western Colorado. It is an important resource that must be respected and protected.
Going forward, the Court of Appeal’s decision in Garetson Brothers v. American Warrior will stand for the proposition that Kansas water laws mean what they say. Rather than consider any economic considerations, the only relevant factors will be who has the senior water right and whether an impairment has occurred. As groundwater becomes scarcer in Kansas, senior water users will likely find that Kansas laws will serve to protect their use over any junior water
Without multi-state agreements concerning changes in usage patterns, this could bring about intervention by the Federal courts that would effectively halt Atlanta’s development until the usage disputes were resolved. By comparison, some western states water lawsuits have lasted for decades, typically freezing usage patterns “as is”. (Barr, 1999) The southeast can ill afford to have Atlanta – the region’s single largest engine of economic growth – brought to a standstill because of this issue.
Fact: Arizona is in a 10-year drought. Fact: The city of Phoenix has a water problem that has nothing to do with lack thereof. A hundred years ago or more humans would just drink from a river or stream, but today we need purified, cleansed, and filter water. We do, as a state have a water treatment system in place but the faculties periodically need maintenance and must be shut down to receive it. The Water Department and their puppet master Frank Fairbanks the city mangers have been playing Russian roulette with the citizen of Phoenix. The bet you ask, will the shut down of facilities due to maintenance leave the citizens of Phoenix with a contaminated water system. We learn the answer to that question on the 25 of January the city council and water department both lost that bet. The water supply was contaminated, water had to be boiled to make in safe and long showers were not advisable. How can we as voters keep this from happening again? The short answer is building another water treatment facility, for the details read on.
Water has long been a controversy in countless places worldwide and Colorado is no exception. The water rights in Colorado involve different stages within the Prior Appropriation Law; the senior and junior water rights. Senior water rights are privileges that were the first to be issued on unappropriated streams in Colorado and are to be filled before the junior water right holders. Junior water rights are similar to senior water rights, but are filled after the senior water holders take their allotted amount (Wolfe Prior Appropriation Law). The water in Colorado is just that; Colorado’s water, owned by the people and restricted by the state. However, Colorado is required by law to send over 30 million acre – feet of water to seven western states (“Missouri River”). An acre – foot is “The quantity of water required to fill one acre with one foot of water and is equivalent to 43,560 cubic feet or 325,850 gallons” (“Missouri River”). The State enforces all water laws in Colorado even though they are not straightforward and are riddled with loopholes. These water laws came into effect “As early as 1879” (Hundley, Jr. 53). In the laws, there are even more constraints and idiosyncrasies including; owning ground water, owning surface water, senior rights and junior rights, and the use and reuse of rainwater or graywater. Water users in Colorado need to familiarize themselves with the laws and regulations involving water in order to receive the allotted water and the reasoning behind that number.
Texas, with its abundances of natural resources, is facing a new demon, one that doesn’t even seem possible, a shortage of water. Water, without it nothing can survive. Texas is the second largest state for landmass in the nation and ninth for water square miles. Within the borders of Texas are more than 100 lakes, 14 major rivers, and 23 aquifers, so why has water become such an important issue for the state? Politicians and conservationists all agree that without a new working water plan, the state could be facing one of the most damaging environmental disasters they have ever seen. The issues that shape the states positions are population growth, current drought conditions, and who actually owns the water.
Americans today tend to believe that the Colorado River drought has been a recent occurrence, although drought relief strategies have been implemented since early 1997. To summarize, in the book The Colorado River Basin Drought Planning and Organizations, Colorado is named as the original state to acquire a drought relief plan. For instance, various assume water levels are diminutive in the Colorado and blame is due to the previous ten years of drought throughout the United States. Although it is true that water levels are at a record low, initial plans in the early 1920’s to introduce manufactured structures into the water basin is the original reason Colorado’s water system began to be compromised. It follows, then the supplementary natural
Humans need water. In a world that is overpopulated, we use a lot of water and other natural resources. Currently, in our world, clean water is getting scarce. Recently, for example, Flint, Michigan, had a water crisis. In early 2016, the water was discovered to be tainted with lead and other toxins. Long before that, the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services, and Governor Rick Snyder along with his council, knew about the lead, but to save money for the city of Flint in early 2014 Snyder had changed the city’s water source to the Flint River which had corroded pipes, causing people of all ages to be sick from the high amounts of lead
For about five years California has experienced above average temperatures and a lack of rain. This lack of rain and snowfall has caused California to become increasingly dry, starting arguments over whose right to water is more important and who needs to be more mindful with their use of water. Farming in California truly began during the gold rush when water was redirected to land where food was grown for those looking for gold (Siegler, 2015). The farmers that have stayed on that land now have senior water rights (“Water wars”, 2015). Farmers that settled their land before 1914 are those with senior water rights (Terrell, 2015). Governor Jerry Brown has called for a cut in water use by one-quarter percent to people living
Water is essential to life. By being so important it is crucial to keep it maintained and preserved. Our water supply is affected by environmental, economic, and legal issues. In Oklahoma water is very sacred to its people especially to Native Americans. Both Choctaw and Chickasaw nations are suing the state of Oklahoma for the regulatory authority over Sardis Lake and the water resources it holds. The Choctaw and Chickasaw nations deserve the rights over Sardis Lake because it is their main water supply and they own the rights through the treaty of the Dancing Rabbit Creek of 1830.
---. “The Clean Water Act—Is it Successfully Reducing Water Pollution?- Final Draft.” UTSA: WRC 1023, 11 Apr 2014. Print.
Drinking water is essential and indispensable to life itself possible on the face of the earth, it is much more than a well, a resource, a commodity, drinking water is specifically a human right of first order and an element essential national sovereignty itself and, most likely, whoever controls the water control the economy and life in the not so distant future.
I had the pleasure of kayaking about fifteen miles of the Arkansas river, in Colorado, this summer. Flowing from its headwaters near Buena Vista, the Arkansas is a virgin river. Only a trickle during the winter, "The Ark," is reborn every spring with the life bearing waters of fresh mountain snow melt. The greening of river valleys throughout Colorado occurs during the month of June, and traveling from the east I realized how vital the snowmelt waters are to life in the western United States. Without water, something which we take for granted even in brutal summers, life in the west is a struggle.
Water is pure and a transparent liquid that is vital for all humans, plants and animals on the planet. In the United States, people have access to clean drinking water and clean sanitation systems, not like in other parts of the world where clean safe drinking water is getting scarce. A lot of people don’t have access to it, and many regions are suffering severe drought. Yet, humans take it for granted, they don’t appreciate that a reliable clean supply of water is essential to human health, economy and agricultural prosperity. Having clean and safe potable water is a right and not a privilege. Some individuals don’t appreciate the advantage of having clean water available at
One main causes of water scarcity is water mismanagement worldwide. Water mismanagement has become a crisis of governance that will impact heavily ...
The United States of America is founded on the idea that all men and women are created equal with certain unalienable rights. These are the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Americans are confused on what to prioritize: making a profit for personal happiness or the unalienable right to life. Water is a necessity for life. Therefore, clean water is a right that has been taken advantage of, and used as a commodity.