Seniority, absolute versus conditional water, and decreed uses for all 6,271 water rights on record in Garfield County, taken from the state's own records. Priority dates run from 1870-12-31 to 2024-07-31.
CFS on record: 7,245.3 absolute · 6,402.2 conditional. Flow (CFS) and volume (AF) are never added together.
Worth knowing: Garfield County has about 5.9x 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 Garfield County's rights are distributed.
| Era | Rights | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|
| pre-1900 | 1,098 | 17.5% | |
| 1900-1949 | 1,537 | 24.5% | |
| 1950-1969 | 1,025 | 16.3% | |
| 1970-1999 | 1,938 | 30.9% | |
| 2000+ | 673 | 10.7% |
| Decreed use | Rights |
|---|---|
| Irrigation | 3,422 |
| Domestic | 2,527 |
| Stock | 2,376 |
| Fire | 972 |
| Augmentation | 784 |
| Fishery | 748 |
Ranked by the state's own priority administration number, the figure DWR uses to order rights by seniority.
| Priority | Structure | Source | Amount | Uses | Verify |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1880-04-01 | GOLDMAN DITCH PUMP & PL | COLORADO RIVER | 7.9 CFS | Irrigation | state record |
| 1881-06-10 | MURRAY AND YULE DITCH | BALDY CREEK | 2.83 CFS | Irrigation, Augmentation | state record |
| 1881-11-06 | FOUR MILE DITCH | FOURMILE CREEK | 1.6 CFS | Irrigation, Augmentation | state record |
| 1882-04-05 | HARDWICK DITCH | HARDWICK CREEK | 1.3 CFS | Irrigation | state record |
| 1882-04-15 | LOWER DITCH | ROARING FORK RIVER | 1.5 CFS | Irrigation | state record |
| 1882-05-10 | PRIOR DITCH | COULTER CREEK | 0.7 CFS | Irrigation | state record |
| 1882-05-10 | PIONEER DITCH | RIFLE CREEK | 5.0 CFS | Irrigation, Recreation, Fishery, Augmentation | state record |
| 1882-05-15 | KENDALL AND STRICKLETT D | LANDIS CREEK | 0.1 CFS | Irrigation | state record |
| 1882-05-15 | GRAND TUNNEL DITCH | RIFLE CREEK | 1.2 CFS | Irrigation, Augmentation | state record |
| 1882-05-15 | RIFLE CREEK CANON DITCH | RIFLE CREEK | 0.8 CFS | Irrigation, Augmentation | state record |
This page is the summary. The full file for Garfield County covers every one of the 6,271 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.