Concerning the Protest of Tom McKenna and McKenna Ranch to the Revised Abandonment List of Water Rights in Water…

Summary

The court held that the statutory deadline for the Division Engineer to prepare a decennial abandonment list is directory rather than jurisdictional, so a brief delay did not deprive the water court of authority. It also upheld the finding that the Applicants abandoned the Sanchez Ditch water rights because decades of nonuse created a presumption of abandonment that the Applicants failed to rebut with credible evidence of beneficial use or intent to resume such use. The judgment was affirmed and the case remanded for further proceedings consistent with the opinion.