Western Water Data

Kit Carson County, Colorado — water rights summary

Seniority, absolute versus conditional water, and decreed uses for all 16 water rights on record in Kit Carson County, taken from the state's own records. Priority dates run from 1881-05-01 to 1978-07-19.

At a glance

16water rights on record
146acre-feet absolute (perfected)
75acre-feet conditional (decreed, not yet perfected)
6.2%of rights carry a conditional portion

CFS on record: 29.9 absolute · 0.0 conditional. Flow (CFS) and volume (AF) are never added together.

Risk: absolute vs conditional

Worth knowing: 1 rights in Kit Carson 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 Kit Carson County's rights are distributed.

EraRightsShare
pre-1900956.2%
1900-1949212.5%
1950-1969425.0%
1970-199916.2%
2000+00.0%

What the water is decreed for

Decreed useRights
Irrigation13
Domestic3

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
1881-05-01TUTTLE DITCH 2 & 4SOUTH FORK REPUBLICAN RIVER0.33 CFSIrrigationstate record
1884-11-25TUTTLE DITCH 2 & 4SOUTH FORK REPUBLICAN RIVER4.67 CFSIrrigationstate record
1891-04-03RAGAN DITCHSOUTH FORK REPUBLICAN RIVER2.0 CFSIrrigationstate record
1891-05-20RUMMING DITCH 1 RESSPRING CREEK10.72 AFIrrigationstate record
1891-06-16RUMMING DITCH 2 RESSPRING CREEK12.28 AFIrrigationstate record
1893-12-31TUTTLE DITCH 4SOUTH FORK REPUBLICAN RIVER0.83 CFSIrrigationstate record
1894-01-01RAGAN DITCHSOUTH FORK REPUBLICAN RIVER6.5 CFSIrrigationstate record
1894-11-22AUSTIN DITCHSOUTH FORK REPUBLICAN RIVER7.0 CFSIrrigationstate record
1912-08-15VERHOEFF RESMUD CREEK38.33 AFIrrigationstate record
1912-12-31RAGAN DITCHSOUTH FORK REPUBLICAN RIVER8.5 CFSIrrigationstate record

Need this for a deal?

This page is the summary. The full file for Kit Carson County covers every one of the 16 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.