Western Water Data

Baca County, Colorado — water rights summary

Seniority, absolute versus conditional water, and decreed uses for all 161 water rights on record in Baca County, taken from the state's own records. Priority dates run from 1885-12-31 to 1981-09-30.

At a glance

161water rights on record
41,701acre-feet absolute (perfected)
0acre-feet conditional (decreed, not yet perfected)
0.0%of rights carry a conditional portion

CFS on record: 27.0 absolute · 0.0 conditional. Flow (CFS) and volume (AF) are never added together.

Risk: absolute vs conditional

Worth knowing: 0 rights in Baca County carry a conditional portion, water that is decreed but not yet perfected. Absolute and conditional are not the same asset.

Seniority by era

In a dry year the oldest rights are served first. This is how Baca County's rights are distributed.

EraRightsShare
pre-190010.6%
1900-194995.6%
1950-19698653.4%
1970-19996540.4%
2000+00.0%

What the water is decreed for

Decreed useRights
Stock153
Fire147
Federal reserved70
Irrigation9
Domestic4
Fishery2

The ten most senior rights on record

Ranked by the state's own priority administration number, the figure DWR uses to order rights by seniority.

PriorityStructureSourceAmount UsesVerify
1904-06-15COPPER BOTTOM DITCHWEST CARRIZO CREEK11.0 CFSIrrigationstate record
1917-12-31USFS WELL FS-2-55-006GROUNDWATER: ARKANSAS RIVER0.0016 CFSFire, Stockstate record
1917-12-31USFS WELL FS-2-55-001GROUNDWATER: ARKANSAS RIVER0.0031 CFSFire, Stockstate record
1915-04-09HOMSHER WELL NO 1GROUNDWATER: ARKANSAS RIVER4.0 CFSIrrigationstate record
1915-04-16WM D PURSE RES NO 1TWO BUTTE CREEK40918.1589 AFIrrigation, Domesticstate record
1940-12-31USFS WELL FS-2-57-001GROUNDWATER: ARKANSAS RIVER0.0111 CFSFire, Stockstate record
1939-10-12PLUM CREEK STOCK RESPLUM CREEK34.3 AFStockstate record
1939-10-12GERTIE THOMPSON WELL 4GROUNDWATER: ARKANSAS RIVER0.25 CFSDomestic, Stockstate record
1949-12-31USFS POND FS-2-60-169SAND ARROYO CREEK4.0 AFFire, Stockstate record
1950-07-15GERTIE THOMPSON WELL 1GROUNDWATER: ARKANSAS RIVER0.25 CFSDomestic, Stockstate record

Need this for a deal?

This page is the summary. The full file for Baca County covers every one of the 161 rights, with its priority date, seniority number, absolute and conditional amounts, decreed uses and a link to each official record, as a spreadsheet.

Buying, lending on, or listing irrigated ground here? Ask for the county file, or for a single property's water summary. The first one is on me.

erik@westernwaterdata.com

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Records last updated 10 September 2026.