Western Water Data

Gunnison County, Colorado — water rights summary

Seniority, absolute versus conditional water, and decreed uses for all 5,311 water rights on record in Gunnison County, taken from the state's own records. Priority dates run from 1874-05-01 to 2025-12-10.

At a glance

5,311water rights on record
1,442,316acre-feet absolute (perfected)
108,107acre-feet conditional (decreed, not yet perfected)
8.4%of rights carry a conditional portion

CFS on record: 15,606.6 absolute · 3,141.7 conditional. Flow (CFS) and volume (AF) are never added together.

Risk: absolute vs conditional

Worth knowing: 448 rights in Gunnison 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 Gunnison County's rights are distributed.

EraRightsShare
pre-190090617.1%
1900-19491,62830.7%
1950-196963812.0%
1970-19991,41226.6%
2000+72713.7%

What the water is decreed for

Decreed useRights
Irrigation2,754
Stock1,790
Domestic1,759
Wildlife717
Fishery704
Recreation643

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
1875-05-10SEVENTY FIVE DITCHGUNNISON RIVER14.0 CFSIrrigation, Municipal, Recreation, Fishery, Fire, Domestic, Stock, Augmentationstate record
1875-07-31JOHN B OUTCALT NO 1 DGUNNISON RIVER3.3 CFSIrrigationstate record
1876-04-01VIDAL BROS NO 1 DITCHOHIO CREEK2.95 CFSIrrigationstate record
1876-05-30JOHN W ANDREWS DITCHCEBOLLA CREEK0.79 CFSIrrigation, Stockstate record
1876-05-31HYZER VIDAL MILLER DOHIO CREEK3.5 CFSIrrigationstate record
1876-06-01HYZER DITCHOHIO CREEK0.4 CFSIrrigationstate record
1876-06-01TINGLEY DITCHOHIO CREEK3.85 CFSIrrigation, Augmentationstate record
1876-06-01BIG DITCHCEBOLLA CREEK6.0 CFSIrrigationstate record
1876-06-01FOSTER IRG D NO 4CEBOLLA CREEK1.18 CFSIrrigationstate record
1876-09-30BIEBEL DITCHES NOS 1&2TOMICHI CREEK8.94 CFSIrrigation, Municipal, Commercial, Industrial, Recreation, Fishery, Augmentation, Wildlifestate record

Need this for a deal?

This page is the summary. The full file for Gunnison County covers every one of the 5,311 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.