Hobbs, Greg2019-09-252019-09-252010-11-022009http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12424/175865"In 1861 at the outset of the Civil War, Congress carved Colorado out of four preexisting territories at the headwaters of four great watersheds: the Platte, Arkansas, Rio Grande andColorado. Today, eighteen states and the Republic of Mexico rely upon spring melt from the snows of Colorado winters. Nine interstate compacts, two equitable apportionment decrees of the U.S. Supreme Court, and two treaties between the United States and Mexico allocate the waters of the Great Divide. As a result, Colorado has two primary duties: to deliver almost two thirds of these waters to places outside of the state and to make the optimal use of the one third the state is entitled to consume. Each state has developed its own set of water laws to allocate and administer the public’s water resource. Colorado utilizes water courts to adjudicate every application for a decree confirming a new water right, changing an existing water right, or putting into place an augmentation plan that allows an out of priority diversion to occur without injury to other water rights. Applicants include Indian tribes and U.S. agencies. Each application proceeds separately on its merits. Appeals proceed directly from the water court to the Colorado Supreme Court. This accelerates obtaining a final judgment in the case. The final judgment controls administration of the water right vis-à-vis all other state and federal decreed water rights." (p. 1, 7)engWith permission of the license/copyright holderwaternatural resourcesPolitical ethicsEnvironmental ethicsEthics of lawRights based legal ethicsResources ethicsArticle