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The Colorado water market
Colorado water is property, and it trades. Rights are bought and sold separately from land every day — which is why a parcel can be advertised "with water rights" and have none, and why a farm's water can be worth more than its soil.
Two facts govern every transaction in this section. Moving water to a new use or place needs a water court case, not just a deed. And that case can only move the water the right historically consumed, which is normally far less than the decreed amount. C.R.S. § 37-92-305(3)(a)
Almost every expensive water mistake in Colorado comes from missing one of those two facts. These pages work through the market from both sides of the table.
- How to buy water rights in Colorado
The five-step diligence sequence, in the order that protects you.
- How to sell water rights in Colorado
What a prepared seller brings to the table, and why documentation is price.
- What Colorado water rights are worth
Priority date, consumptive use, transferability — and why no honest page prints a per-acre-foot number.
- Buying land with water rights
A parcel checklist: verifying that the water in the listing actually exists and still attaches.
- How water rights are conveyed and transferred
Deed, share certificate or change case — the three things people call "transferring water rights".
- Leasing water rights
Income without permanence, and the statutory protections that make it safe.
The questions that decide most deals
- What exactly is being sold? A decreed right, ditch company shares, a well permit, and contract water are four different assets. Listings conflate them constantly.
- How senior is it, really? Not the appropriation date on the listing — the administration number, and the call history on that reach.
- How much can legally be moved? Historical consumptive use, from an engineer, in writing, before you agree a price.
- What will the change case cost, and how long? Legal plus engineering plus years, and the answer changes if it is opposed.
- What obligations come with it? Dry-up covenants, revegetation, accounting — some of which attach to land you keep.
All five are answerable, mostly for free, from DWR’s own records and the decree. Looking up a water right shows how, and reading a decree explains the document you will be handed.
Get your own people
A water attorney and a consulting water engineer, both active in your division, are the standard pairing — the engineer usually decides the outcome and the attorney packages it. When you need an attorney covers how to choose, and what to bring so the first hour is enough.
Common questions
Can you buy and sell water rights in Colorado?
Yes. Colorado water rights are real property, severable from land, and regularly traded. The transfer of ownership is a conveyance; changing what the water is used for or where it is used is a separate water court proceeding.
What is the biggest mistake buyers make?
Assuming the decreed amount is what they are buying. A change of water right may only move the historical consumptive use — the portion the right actually consumed rather than returned to the stream — which is commonly a fraction of the decreed rate. Get that engineering before agreeing a price.
Do water rights come with the land in Colorado?
Only if specifically conveyed. Water is separate property and may have been severed and sold years earlier while ditches and ponds remain in place. Verify the water's own chain of title rather than relying on the land's title commitment or the listing.
Primary sources
- C.R.S. § 37-92-305 — change of water right standards (Title 37, official text) C.R.S. 2025 edition
- C.R.S. § 37-92-103 — change, abandonment and consumptive use definitions (Title 37, official text) C.R.S. 2025 edition
- Colorado DWR HydroBase — water rights net amounts read July 22, 2026