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Colorado water rights, from the beginning
Three sentences will get you most of the way. In Colorado the water belongs to the public, not to whoever owns the land it runs through. A water right is permission to divert a measured amount of it, for a stated purpose, ranked against every other right by the date the use began. When there is not enough, the oldest right is filled completely and the newest gets nothing. Colo. Const. art. XVI §§ 5–6
Everything else in Colorado water law is machinery built on those three sentences — and the machinery is genuinely intricate, because a system designed for 1876 ditches now has to run a state of nearly six million people. These pages work through it in order, in plain English, with the statute cited every time a claim depends on one.
- What a water right actually is
The definition, the five things a decree fixes, and the four things people mistake for a water right.
- Prior appropriation: first in time, first in right
First in time, first in right — how seniority is calculated, and what a river call actually does.
- Why Colorado has no riparian rights
Why owning riverfront land gives you nothing, and how Colorado rejected the eastern rule in 1882.
- The types of Colorado water rights
Tributary, nontributary and designated groundwater; absolute versus conditional rights.
- Who owns Colorado's water
The public does — and what the state’s 173,056 decreed records show about who holds the rights.
- How Colorado water law was built
From 1852 acequias to the 1969 Administration Act, the four moves that built the system.
- A glossary of Colorado water terms
Decree, priority, cfs, augmentation, WDID — the vocabulary, defined and linkable.
Where to go after this
If you want to find a specific right — on your property, or one you are thinking of buying — go to looking it up, which walks through the state's own records and tools. If you are in a transaction, start with buying and selling. If you have a well or a lawn and just want to know what you may do, wells and home is the shorter road.
One thing to carry with you
Almost every expensive mistake in Colorado water comes from assuming that something obvious is true: that the creek on your land is yours, that a well permit is a water right, that a listing which says "water rights included" means water will arrive. None of those follow. The state publishes the real answer for every structure in Colorado, free, and this site is largely about teaching you to read it. C.R.S. § 37-92-103(12)
Common questions
How do water rights work in Colorado?
Water in Colorado is public property. A water right is a court-decreed permission to divert a specific quantity from a specific source, through a specific structure, for a specific purpose, with a priority date. In a shortage, senior rights are filled completely before junior rights receive anything — the doctrine of prior appropriation.
Do I need a water right to have a house in Colorado?
Usually not. Most homes are served by a municipal water provider that holds the rights, or by an exempt well permitted by the State Engineer outside the priority system. You need a decreed water right when you want to divert surface water, irrigate substantial acreage, or supply more than the exempt well rules allow.
Are Colorado water rights separate from the land?
Yes. Water rights are real property that can be sold, mortgaged and inherited independently of the land they historically served — which is why a parcel can be sold with its water already severed. Confirm what actually attaches before closing rather than relying on listing language.
Primary sources
- Colorado Constitution, article XVI, sections 5 and 6 (official text) effective Aug. 1, 1876
- C.R.S. § 37-92-102 and § 37-92-103 — tenets and definitions (Title 37, official text) C.R.S. 2025 edition