Seniority, absolute versus conditional water, and decreed uses for all 3,712 water rights on record in El Paso County, taken from the state's own records. Priority dates run from 1860-02-20 to 2024-09-03.
CFS on record: 2,886.7 absolute · 97.9 conditional. Flow (CFS) and volume (AF) are never added together.
Worth knowing: 97 rights in El Paso 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 El Paso County's rights are distributed.
| Era | Rights | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|
| pre-1900 | 253 | 6.8% | |
| 1900-1949 | 423 | 11.4% | |
| 1950-1969 | 704 | 19.0% | |
| 1970-1999 | 893 | 24.1% | |
| 2000+ | 1,439 | 38.8% |
| Decreed use | Rights |
|---|---|
| Domestic | 1,810 |
| Irrigation | 1,522 |
| Stock | 1,256 |
| Augmentation | 1,130 |
| All beneficial uses | 964 |
| Commercial | 860 |
Ranked by the state's own priority administration number, the figure DWR uses to order rights by seniority.
| Priority | Structure | Source | Amount | Uses | Verify |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1860-02-20 | RUXTON CREEK PIPELINE | RUXTON CREEK | 4.0 CFS | Municipal | state record |
| 1860-04-30 | RUXTON CREEK PIPELINE | RUXTON CREEK | 0.74 CFS | Municipal | state record |
| 1860-09-01 | SOUTH CHEYENNE PIPELINE | SOUTH CHEYENNE CREEK | 1.25 CFS | Municipal, Domestic | state record |
| 1860-09-01 | MESA PIPELINE | NORTH CHEYENNE CREEK | 1.9 CFS | Municipal, Domestic | state record |
| 1861-03-20 | RUXTON CREEK PIPELINE | RUXTON CREEK | 0.07 CFS | Municipal | state record |
| 1861-03-20 | HARMES DITCH | FOUNTAIN CREEK | 0.0174 CFS | Irrigation | state record |
| 1861-03-20 | EL PASO COUNTY CANAL | FOUNTAIN CREEK | 1.58 CFS | Municipal, Domestic | state record |
| 1861-03-20 | MANITOU IRON SPRINGS P/L | RUXTON CREEK | 0.0993 CFS | Municipal | state record |
| 1861-03-21 | EL PASO COUNTY CANAL | FOUNTAIN CREEK | 22.4 CFS | Municipal, Domestic | state record |
| 1861-04-01 | MANITOU WW PIPELINE "A" | FRENCH CREEK | 5.0 CFS | Municipal | state record |
This page is the summary. The full file for El Paso County covers every one of the 3,712 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.
Browse all Colorado counties →
Records last updated 10 September 2026.