Western Water Data

Grand County, Colorado — water rights summary

Seniority, absolute versus conditional water, and decreed uses for all 3,535 water rights on record in Grand County, taken from the state's own records. Priority dates run from 1864-06-01 to 2024-11-30.

At a glance

3,535water rights on record
879,981acre-feet absolute (perfected)
263,040acre-feet conditional (decreed, not yet perfected)
18.4%of rights carry a conditional portion

CFS on record: 11,886.0 absolute · 8,909.4 conditional. Flow (CFS) and volume (AF) are never added together.

Risk: absolute vs conditional

Worth knowing: 649 rights in Grand 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 Grand County's rights are distributed.

EraRightsShare
pre-190041711.8%
1900-194984223.8%
1950-196942211.9%
1970-19991,12831.9%
2000+72620.5%

What the water is decreed for

Decreed useRights
Irrigation2,041
Domestic1,407
Stock862
Fire671
Augmentation596
Recreation585

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
1867-12-31DOUGHERTY WELLGROUNDWATER: COLORADO RIVER0.0223 CFSCommercial, Domesticstate record
1875-06-01BYERS DITCH NO 1GARDINER CREEK0.25 CFSIrrigationstate record
1875-06-01BYERS DITCH NO 2GARDINER CREEK2.0 CFSIrrigationstate record
1878-09-01BULL RUN DITCH NO 1BULL RUN1.0 CFSIrrigationstate record
1878-09-22MRS A KING DITCHTROUBLESOME CREEK8.0 CFSIrrigationstate record
1879-06-15UTE BILL DITCH NO 1UTE BILL CREEK2.0 CFSIrrigationstate record
1880-04-21ANTON HEINI DITCHMUDDY CREEK4.5 CFSIrrigationstate record
1880-06-01BATTLE CREEK DITCH NO 1BATTLE CREEK0.75 CFSIrrigationstate record
1880-06-05MCQUEARY DITCH 6WILLOW CREEK7.5 CFSIrrigationstate record
1880-12-31EIGHT MILE DITCH NO 1EIGHTMILE CREEK0.875 CFSIrrigationstate record

Need this for a deal?

This page is the summary. The full file for Grand County covers every one of the 3,535 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.