Seniority, absolute versus conditional water, and decreed uses for all 3,639 water rights on record in La Plata County, taken from the state's own records. Priority dates run from 1868-03-02 to 2025-10-01.
CFS on record: 6,289.3 absolute · 1,808.5 conditional. Flow (CFS) and volume (AF) are never added together.
Worth knowing: La Plata County has about 1.9x 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 La Plata County's rights are distributed.
| Era | Rights | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|
| pre-1900 | 794 | 21.8% | |
| 1900-1949 | 608 | 16.7% | |
| 1950-1969 | 408 | 11.2% | |
| 1970-1999 | 1,144 | 31.4% | |
| 2000+ | 685 | 18.8% |
| Decreed use | Rights |
|---|---|
| Irrigation | 2,114 |
| Stock | 1,285 |
| Domestic | 1,228 |
| Fishery | 548 |
| Recreation | 408 |
| Commercial | 374 |
Ranked by the state's own priority administration number, the figure DWR uses to order rights by seniority.
| Priority | Structure | Source | Amount | Uses | Verify |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1868-03-02 | ANIMAS DITCH | ANIMAS RIVER | 5.25 CFS | Irrigation | state record |
| 1868-03-02 | SP- 802 | COX CANYON | 0.0067 CFS | Stock | state record |
| 1868-03-02 | SP- 803 | COX CANYON | 0.0111 CFS | Stock | state record |
| 1868-03-02 | SP-1002 | LINE CANYON | 0.0111 CFS | Stock | state record |
| 1868-03-02 | SP- 701 | SAWMILL CANYON | 0.0111 CFS | Stock | state record |
| 1868-03-02 | SP- 901 | PINE GULCH | 0.0111 CFS | Stock | state record |
| 1868-03-02 | SP-1003 | ANIMAS RIVER | 0.0111 CFS | Stock | state record |
| 1868-03-02 | D- 701 | ANIMAS RIVER | 0.4 CFS | Irrigation | state record |
| 1868-03-02 | R- 705 | SPRING GULCH | 0.24 AF | Stock | state record |
| 1868-03-02 | R- 802 | COX CANYON | 0.25 AF | Stock | state record |
This page is the summary. The full file for La Plata County covers every one of the 3,639 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.