Colorado · articles
Colorado water questions
Each article takes one question and answers it in general: what the law says, which Colorado records hold the answer, and which report question answers it for a parcel. Every statute is cited, and every figure gives its source and the date it was counted.
- Counties What the water records show in each Colorado county, on a map.
- Stream network Every mapped stream in the state, with designated habitat.
- 01 Wells
What it takes to drill a well here
Two separate questions. One is answered by the permit rules, the other only by what the neighbors hit.
Read this →131,490 never became a well - 02 The rights themselves
Paper water and wet water
A decree says how much may be diverted. The diversion records say how much was. The gap between them is the most useful number on a listing.
Read this →85,753 records expressly not kept - 03 What the court has done to them
The two ways a water right dies
A conditional right has to be defended every six years. An absolute one can be lost by not using it. Both leave a paper trail.
Read this →685 abandoned for want of diligence - 04 Records and method
Where a Colorado report gets its records
A report reads records from many agencies that share no identifier. These are the places where the joining is done.
Read this →147,382 parcels from county assessors alone - 05 Who uses the water
Colorado is not short of water. It is short of water for people.
Nine in ten gallons the state takes go to irrigation, and most of that grows feed for animals. Households are rationing the remainder.
Read this →87 for irrigation - 06 Whether water has actually arrived
One decreed water right in twelve has delivered nothing for a decade
The decree is real, the listing is accurate, and the headgate has been dry since 2014. The two facts live in different databases.
Read this →1,437 took nothing in ten years - 07 Conditional rights
Colorado still carries 192 water rights that were promises before 1900
A conditional right is permission to build something one day. Thousands are still merely intended, and some have been intended for a century and a quarter.
Read this →192 Before 1900
For one parcel
What applies to a particular parcel is settled by the records filed against it. Search a parcel to see the free Land summary for its section.
Check a propertyNot legal advice, a title search or an appraisal. These pages describe Colorado records and law in general. A decision about a particular property should be made with the underlying documents.