THE WESTERN FARMER 's WATER RIGHT. 5 
approval returned to the claimant. These filings, like those in 
county offices, are merely notices of intention to divert and use water, 
and the approval of the engineer conveys only the authorization to 
proceed with the other steps necessary to the acquirement of a right. 
Thus the approval of the engineer is no proof of the existence of a 
right. As is the case with filings in the counties, the rights repre- 
sented by plans approved by the State engineer in Colorado may be 
good, but the approved plans alone are not conclusive evidence of 
that fact. 
In many of the arid States rights to water are defined by the 
courts, and when rights have been defined certificates are issued to 
the holders thereof, stating the volume of water to which each is 
entitled, the dates of the rights, and the numbers of the rights in 
the order of their priority. These certificates are proof that the 
persons holding them had, at the time the adjudications were made, 
rights to the volumes of water set forth in the certificates. They 
do not, however, show that there is water in the stream to supply 
these rights. As previously explained, these rights are to be sup- 
plied in the order of their dates, and if the stream does not supply 
water enough for all rights those of late date receive no water. A 
certificate showing that a court has confirmed a right to a certain 
amount of water from a given stream is no evidence that the holder 
can get the given amount of water. The value of the right depends 
upon the relation between the, volume of rights of earlier date and 
the flow of the stream. A further element of uncertainty is added 
by the fact that rights are forfeited by nonuse, the period of non- 
use which brings about such forfeiture being fixed by law in most 
of the States. A right certified to by a court and good at the time 
may have been lost by abandonment or forfeiture, although the cer- 
tificate is still in the hands of the former holder of the right. 
In other arid States rights to water direct from streams are repre- 
sented by certificates from the State, setting forth the dates, extent, and 
locations of the rights. Such a certificate is conclusive evidence that 
the holder had a right to the volume of water named in it for use 
on the land specified, but like a certificate from the court, it does 
not carry any guarantee that there is or will be water in the source 
named to supply the right for any considerable part of the season 
or that the right has not been lost by nonuse. There may be enough 
prior rights to water from the same source to use all the water 
in ordinary stages of the supply. As with rights represented by 
certificates from a court, rights represented by a certificate may be 
lost by abandonment or may be forfeited, without the surrender of 
the certificate. 
