Seniority, absolute versus conditional water, and decreed uses for all 3,814 water rights on record in Mesa County, taken from the state's own records. Priority dates run from 1880-12-31 to 2025-04-12.
CFS on record: 10,807.1 absolute · 8,615.4 conditional. Flow (CFS) and volume (AF) are never added together.
Worth knowing: 412 rights in Mesa County carry a conditional portion, water that is decreed but not yet perfected. Absolute and conditional are not the same asset.
In a dry year the oldest rights are served first. This is how Mesa County's rights are distributed.
| Era | Rights | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|
| pre-1900 | 461 | 12.1% | |
| 1900-1949 | 1,325 | 34.7% | |
| 1950-1969 | 573 | 15.0% | |
| 1970-1999 | 967 | 25.4% | |
| 2000+ | 488 | 12.8% |
| Decreed use | Rights |
|---|---|
| Irrigation | 2,381 |
| Stock | 1,485 |
| Domestic | 924 |
| Wildlife | 565 |
| Fishery | 463 |
| Fire | 398 |
Ranked by the state's own priority administration number, the figure DWR uses to order rights by seniority.
| Priority | Structure | Source | Amount | Uses | Verify |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1881-12-30 | GRAND JCT F L & W W | KANNAH CREEK | 7.81 CFS | Storage, Municipal, Augmentation | state record |
| 1881-12-31 | FLORENCE H BERRY DITCH | KANNAH CREEK | 0.6 CFS | Irrigation | state record |
| 1882-03-06 | CITY DITCH | NORTH FORK KANNAH CREEK | 0.9 CFS | Irrigation, Municipal | state record |
| 1882-12-31 | BULL CREEK DITCH | BULL CREEK | 6.66 CFS | Irrigation | state record |
| 1883-03-01 | DUNLAP NO 1 D (PLATEAU) | PLATEAU CREEK | 0.11 CFS | Irrigation | state record |
| 1883-05-01 | CITY DITCH | NORTH FORK KANNAH CREEK | 0.95 CFS | Irrigation, Municipal | state record |
| 1883-07-01 | ROCKWELL DITCH | GROVE CREEK | 0.98 CFS | Irrigation, Augmentation, Other | state record |
| 1884-04-07 | TENDERFOOT DITCH | WALLACE CREEK | 5.7 CFS | Irrigation, Stock | state record |
| 1884-04-11 | BERTHOLF FLEMING DITCH | GROVE CREEK | 1.98 CFS | Irrigation | state record |
| 1884-08-08 | WILLIAMS IRRIGATING D | BIG SALT WASH | 1.71 CFS | Irrigation | state record |
This page is the summary. The full file for Mesa County covers every one of the 3,814 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.