Recently retired from the Colorado Supreme Court, Justice Greg Hobbs joins The Water Values Podcast to share his knowledge of western water law, specifically the doctrine of prior appropriation and its impact on how the West developed. Justice Hobbs uses his deep and broad knowledge of water law to explain how the doctrine of prior appropriation developed, stretching his explanation of water in the West all the way back to the reservoirs the inhabitants of Mesa Verde used and up through the Spanish and Mexican influences in the West. He provides an eye-opening analysis of water law and contrasts differing versions of prior appropriation (Colorado with California; court adjudicated rights versus administratively granted rights). Finally, Justice Hobbs discusses his involvement with the Colorado Foundation for Water Education and its many programs.

In this session, you’ll learn about:

What the doctrine of prior appropriation is
Why the doctrine of prior appropriation is an economic policy at its core
How water law developed in the West
How water law, specifically the doctrine of prior appropriation, impacted development in the West
Why certain water rights pre-exist statehood
How Mexican and Spanish influences are present in the doctrine of prior appropriation
The difference between prior appropriation in Colorado versus California
The difference in systems between court-adjudicated water rights and administratively granted water rights
How a water right is established in Colorado, a court adjudicated system
How water is used multiple times as it moves through a system pursuant to the doctrine of prior appropriation
How John Wesley Powell viewed water and its relation to development in the West
Who came up with the idea for using the U.S. Constitution’s compact framework to establish interstate water appropriation agreements
How interstate compacts for water appropriation work
Some current interstate controversies
The Colorado Foundation for Water Education and its diverse publication and program offerings

Resources and links mentioned in or relevant to this session include:

Primer on Colorado’s prior appropriation law
Wikipedia entry for acequia
A great in-depth look at acequias by H2O Radio
American Society of Civil Engineers webpage for prehistoric Mesa Verde reservoirs
National Park Service website for Hovenweep
National Archives website on the 1848 Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo
Powell Museum webpage on the Life of John Wesley Powell
1922 Colorado River Compact
Colorado State University webpage on Delph Carpenter
Website for Colorado’s Water Courts
The Colorado Water Conservation Board website
TWV Podcast #033 What’s an Augmentation Plan? With Dave Nettles of the Colorado Division of Water Resources further describing elements of Colorado’s prior appropriation law