ABSTRACT
Colorado is one state that is attempting to face head-on the problems of conflicting values in water use. Colorado water law allows the free transfer of private water rights, subject only to conditions which prevent the impairment of third party rights. Colorado's statutory changes in the area of instream water use are particularly interesting because they have created an institutional structure whereby the noneconomic values associated with instream water use can be accommodated within the existing, market-institution fostered by Colorado water law. The Colorado Department of Agriculture has estimated that between 1959 and 1974 the Denver metropolitan counties lost 55,000 acres of irrigated land to other uses. At present, many new demands for water are being placed upon Colorado's water supply. To accommodate these new water demands, present patterns of water use will change. Often these changes will be found to be detrimental to the present stream flow since they may involve a change in use or point of diversion.
