Concerning the Application for Water Rights of the City and County of Denver, Acting by and Through Its Board Of…

Summary

The court affirmed the water court’s determination that properly quantified transmountain lawn irrigation return flows may serve as substitute supply for Denver’s previously decreed exchanges. It held that such return flows are legally indistinguishable from reusable transmountain effluent and that junior appropriators may not claim injury based solely on the proper operation of those senior exchanges. The court reviewed the legal questions de novo and concluded that the existing decree and Denver’s established intent encompassed successive reuse of imported Colorado River water in this form.