Seniority, absolute versus conditional water, and decreed uses for all 1,005 water rights on record in Otero County, taken from the state's own records. Priority dates run from 1874-05-15 to 2018-10-17.
CFS on record: 16,153.9 absolute · 1.8 conditional. Flow (CFS) and volume (AF) are never added together.
Worth knowing: 3 rights in Otero 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 Otero County's rights are distributed.
| Era | Rights | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|
| pre-1900 | 22 | 2.2% | |
| 1900-1949 | 418 | 41.6% | |
| 1950-1969 | 490 | 48.8% | |
| 1970-1999 | 60 | 6.0% | |
| 2000+ | 15 | 1.5% |
| Decreed use | Rights |
|---|---|
| Irrigation | 604 |
| Stock | 332 |
| Domestic | 183 |
| Fire | 172 |
| Municipal | 65 |
| Commercial | 35 |
Ranked by the state's own priority administration number, the figure DWR uses to order rights by seniority.
| Priority | Structure | Source | Amount | Uses | Verify |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1874-05-15 | ROCKY FORD DITCH | ARKANSAS RIVER | 111.76 CFS | Irrigation, Municipal, Industrial, Recreation, Fishery, Domestic, Augmentation, All beneficial uses | state record |
| 1875-04-10 | CATLIN CANAL | ARKANSAS RIVER | 22.0 CFS | Storage, Irrigation, Municipal, Domestic, Augmentation, Change of use return flow | state record |
| 1884-04-15 | FORT LYON CANAL | ARKANSAS RIVER | 164.64 CFS | Irrigation, Commercial, Stock, Augmentation | state record |
| 1884-12-03 | CATLIN CANAL | ARKANSAS RIVER | 226.0 CFS | Storage, Irrigation, Municipal, Domestic, Augmentation, Change of use return flow | state record |
| 1887-03-01 | FORT LYON CANAL | ARKANSAS RIVER | 597.16 CFS | Irrigation, Commercial, Stock | state record |
| 1887-05-10 | NINE MILE CANAL | PURGATOIRE RIVER | 18.0 CFS | Irrigation | state record |
| 1887-11-14 | CATLIN CANAL | ARKANSAS RIVER | 97.0 CFS | Storage, Irrigation, Municipal, Domestic, Augmentation, Change of use return flow | state record |
| 1889-08-12 | FORT LYON CANAL | ARKANSAS RIVER | 355.2 CFS | Storage | state record |
| 1890-02-21 | POTTER IRRIGATING DITCH | ARKANSAS RIVER | 4.25 CFS | Irrigation | state record |
| 1890-02-27 | CROOKED ARROYA DITCH | CROOKED ARROYO | 2.4 CFS | Irrigation | state record |
This page is the summary. The full file for Otero County covers every one of the 1,005 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.