Concerning the Application for Water Rights of Tidd: Frees v. Tidd

T32 In this case, the majority recognizes, for the first time, a conditional right to appropriate the same physical water previously decreed to, and being diverted by, another appropriator. The applicants' proposed diversion of this water to generate hydroelectric power for household use is both creative and, by all appearances, environmentally sound. However, as a practical matter, the applicants' use of this water relies entirely upon a diversion under a more senior priority-indeed, the applicants seek to intercept a portion of the very water diverted under a senior irrigation right. In…