Seniority, absolute versus conditional water, and decreed uses for all 434 water rights on record in Bent County, taken from the state's own records. Priority dates run from 1866-05-31 to 2013-06-13.
CFS on record: 2,943.8 absolute · 500.6 conditional. Flow (CFS) and volume (AF) are never added together.
Worth knowing: 5 rights in Bent County carry a conditional portion, water that is decreed but not yet perfected. Absolute and conditional are not the same asset.
In a dry year the oldest rights are served first. This is how Bent County's rights are distributed.
| Era | Rights | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|
| pre-1900 | 28 | 6.5% | |
| 1900-1949 | 125 | 28.8% | |
| 1950-1969 | 250 | 57.6% | |
| 1970-1999 | 21 | 4.8% | |
| 2000+ | 10 | 2.3% |
| Decreed use | Rights |
|---|---|
| Irrigation | 318 |
| Domestic | 122 |
| Stock | 75 |
| Recreation | 62 |
| Industrial | 54 |
| Fire | 54 |
Ranked by the state's own priority administration number, the figure DWR uses to order rights by seniority.
| Priority | Structure | Source | Amount | Uses | Verify |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1866-05-31 | HIGHLAND CANAL | PURGATOIRE RIVER | 16.6 CFS | Storage, Irrigation, Augmentation | state record |
| 1871-03-13 | JOHN MARTIN RESERVOIR | ARKANSAS RIVER | 9.0 CFS | Storage, Augmentation | state record |
| 1875-04-10 | LAS ANIMAS CONSOLIDATED | ARKANSAS RIVER | 22.3 CFS | Irrigation, Municipal, Industrial, Recreation, Domestic, Power generation | state record |
| 1883-12-31 | JOHN MARTIN RESERVOIR | ARKANSAS RIVER | 4.5 CFS | Storage, Augmentation | state record |
| 1884-03-07 | LAS ANIMAS CONSOLIDATED | ARKANSAS RIVER | 5.5 CFS | Irrigation, Municipal, Industrial, Recreation, Domestic, Power generation | state record |
| 1884-04-01 | HIGHLAND CANAL | PURGATOIRE RIVER | 7.4 CFS | Storage, Irrigation, Augmentation | state record |
| 1884-12-03 | LAS ANIMAS CONSOLIDATED | ARKANSAS RIVER | 22.0 CFS | Irrigation, Municipal, Industrial, Recreation, Domestic, Power generation | state record |
| 1886-04-01 | FORT BENT CANAL | ARKANSAS RIVER | 27.77 CFS | Irrigation, Augmentation | state record |
| 1887-02-21 | AMITY CANAL | ARKANSAS RIVER | 283.5 CFS | Storage, Irrigation, Commercial, Industrial, Fire, Domestic, Augmentation, Power generation, Recharge | state record |
| 1889-03-10 | FORT BENT CANAL | ARKANSAS RIVER | 32.77 CFS | Irrigation, Augmentation | state record |
This page is the summary. The full file for Bent County covers every one of the 434 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.
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Records last updated 10 September 2026.