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withdraw 168,000 acre feet of water per year from the Colorado
River for irrigation of up to 32,000 acres of land within its
service area. The Colorado River involved in this case begins in
southeastern New Mexico and flows approximately 600 miles from
northwestern Texas to southeastern Texas and empties into the
Matagorda Bay and the Gulf of Mexico. For water allocation
purposes, Texas is divided into areas of watershed from its
rivers, called river basins. The Colorado River Basin is the
third largest river basin in Texas. Petitioner’s service area
was located in the lower Colorado River Basin, in Colorado and
Wharton counties, Texas.
Petitioner’s certificate gave it a priority date of November
1, 1900. In the event of a shortage of water, priority dates
determine which rights holders will receive their allocated share
of the water that is available. Holders of water rights with
later, or junior, priority dates must let water flow past them
until a senior holder receives the full amount of water
authorized by its certificate. At the time the certificate was
issued and at the valuation date, petitioner’s priority date was
the most senior in the Colorado River Basin.
As of the valuation date, petitioner’s water right had been
used only for irrigation for rice farming. Petitioner’s only
customers were rice farmers, and petitioner’s service of its
rice-farming customers had never required petitioner to use all
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