Seniority, absolute versus conditional water, and decreed uses for all 216 water rights on record in Dolores County, taken from the state's own records. Priority dates run from 1880-05-31 to 2022-03-31.
CFS on record: 493.7 absolute · 59.5 conditional. Flow (CFS) and volume (AF) are never added together.
Worth knowing: Dolores County has about 1.7x more acre-feet decreed as conditional than as absolute. Conditional water is decreed on paper but not yet put to beneficial use. A buyer or lender who does not separate the two is valuing a different asset than the one on the ground.
In a dry year the oldest rights are served first. This is how Dolores County's rights are distributed.
| Era | Rights | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|
| pre-1900 | 27 | 12.5% | |
| 1900-1949 | 50 | 23.1% | |
| 1950-1969 | 32 | 14.8% | |
| 1970-1999 | 70 | 32.4% | |
| 2000+ | 37 | 17.1% |
| Decreed use | Rights |
|---|---|
| Irrigation | 113 |
| Stock | 94 |
| Domestic | 76 |
| Fire | 36 |
| Recreation | 25 |
| Wildlife | 18 |
Ranked by the state's own priority administration number, the figure DWR uses to order rights by seniority.
| Priority | Structure | Source | Amount | Uses | Verify |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1881-05-01 | D D WILLIAMS DITCH | DOLORES RIVER | 1.0 CFS | Irrigation | state record |
| 1891-01-10 | D D WILLIAMS DITCH | DOLORES RIVER | 1.0 CFS | Irrigation | state record |
| 1883-03-01 | HENRY M KNIGHT DITCH | DISAPPOINTMENT CREEK | 1.0 CFS | Irrigation | state record |
| 1883-06-01 | KOENIG DITCH | WEST DOLORES RIVER | 4.0 CFS | Irrigation | state record |
| 1883-06-21 | CLARK DITCH | DISAPPOINTMENT CREEK | 1.2 CFS | Irrigation | state record |
| 1884-06-01 | ROGERS DITCH | FISH CREEK | 3.0 CFS | Irrigation | state record |
| 1885-05-30 | KNIGHT-EMBLING DITCH | DISAPPOINTMENT CREEK | 0.14 CFS | Irrigation | state record |
| 1885-06-01 | LEAVENSWORTH DITCH | LITTLE FISH CREEK | 3.0 CFS | Irrigation | state record |
| 1885-06-01 | BLUE SPRUCE GLEN STORAGE | WEST DOLORES RIVER | 4.54 AF | Storage, Augmentation | state record |
| 1887-06-01 | EAST EDER DITCH | WEST DOLORES RIVER | 4.0 CFS | Irrigation | state record |
This page is the summary. The full file for Dolores County covers every one of the 216 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.