Mark Twain is credited with saying, “whiskey is for drinking and water is for fighting.” That quote has always rung particularly true in the arid West where water is our most precious and fragile resource.
Colorado’s constitution recognized and adopted the prior appropriation doctrine, which is based upon first-in-time, first-in-right use. Colorado’s model recognizes the principle that water must be used for a beneficial purpose and that the first users cannot claim more water than what is needed.
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