17 
illegal" :um1 to be condemned. It is a delicate matter to determine 
when and how much water is necessary t<> a piece of land; to step in 
and say only so much water is needed, when the court has determined 
that much more i- needed. Only in the most flagrant cases is it 
possible for the water officials to interfere with what is conceived to 
be "established rights." Fortunately, much of this water is returned 
as "•seepage," or. more properly, "waste" water. So prevalent i- 
this waste that it has become a recognized and reliable source of sup- 
ply and is almost synonymous with seepage. Nearly all filings, which 
claim seepage water, claim as well storm and waste water. 
In tin 1 table below are given the claims for water tiled during the 
last thirteen years on the Big Thompson, showing the activity in the 
different lines during the different years. 
Filings for water mi Big Thompson River, 1888-1900, as shown by Qu records of tlw oilier 
of the Stati enginei r. 
Year. 
Reservoirs. 
Seepage reservoirs. 
Ditch.-. 
Seepage ditches. 
N... 
Capacity. 
No. 
Capacity. 
No. 
Capacity. 
Cubit- fit 
pt 1- sec. 
233. 00 
:;7. ii 
27. 18 
71.20 
No. 
Capacity. 
1888 
1 
cubic feet. 
200, 000, 000 
< 'uhic ft < t. 
1 
3 
3 
Cubit- fit 
pi i- sec. 
1889 



L890 
7 
9 
323, 100, 000 
696,034,831 
1891 .. 
..... 
1 
1 
■j 
:! 
1 
:. 
s 
1 
L892 
1 
1 
1 
1, It IS, 000 
7.L'S-_>.(|(K) 
1,350.000 
•S.IKt 
1893 
1 
1 
3,329,666,000 
600,259,000 
1,305,972,360 
:; 50 
1894 
If.. 70 
1895 
IT 
L896 
5 
279, 94% 000 
135.00 
is<>7 
1 
3 
4-2, 169,000 
23, 270, 000 
2 
1 
26.60 
L2.85 
6.00 
1898 
2 
1 
7(1,125,000 
248,000,000 
22. 65 
1899 
58.50 
l'JOO 
3 
o;;2,35fi,000 
5.00 
Total 
•M 
6, 853, 427, 191 
221,078,296 
17 
608, 174,000 
35,774,941 
12 
408. 47 
34.04 
26 
267. 85 
Average 
10.30 
It might be said that most of the filings to 1893 were for reservoirs 
already in existence, as the Mariano, Lone Tree, and Loveland lakes. 
It will be noticed that the claims for both ditches and reservoirs claim- 
ing seepage water began in L892, and that they have, generally speak- 
ing, increased in both number and capacity since that time. It will 
be noticed, also, that the seepage ditches and reservoirs are small as 
compared with the average appropriations from the river. The seep- 
age ditches average but 10.3 cubic feet per second. Even this is too 
high, as one ditch alone in 1896 claimed 135 cubic feet per second, an 
obvious error. Excluding this we have the average claimed capacity 
of the seepage ditches 5.11 cubic feet per second, as compared with a 
claimed capacity of 3^.04: cubic feet per second for ditches direct from 
the river. A like difference exists in the capacities of the two classes 
«The statutes of Colorado expressly prohibit the excessive or wasteful use of 
water. Session Laws of Colorado, 1895, p. VM . 
