Western Water Data

Park County, Colorado — water rights summary

Seniority, absolute versus conditional water, and decreed uses for all 3,392 water rights on record in Park County, taken from the state's own records. Priority dates run from 1860-12-28 to 2022-12-28.

At a glance

3,392water rights on record
472,855acre-feet absolute (perfected)
255,835acre-feet conditional (decreed, not yet perfected)
7.0%of rights carry a conditional portion

CFS on record: 3,289.0 absolute · 293.8 conditional. Flow (CFS) and volume (AF) are never added together.

Risk: absolute vs conditional

Worth knowing: 239 rights in Park 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 Park County's rights are distributed.

EraRightsShare
pre-190079223.3%
1900-194957116.8%
1950-196959317.5%
1970-19991,22636.1%
2000+2106.2%

What the water is decreed for

Decreed useRights
Domestic1,420
Stock1,067
Irrigation928
Household use only718
Fire518
Recreation478

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
1860-12-31FAIRPLAY TOWN DITCHBEAVER CREEK1.0 CFSMunicipal, Fire, Domestic, Stockstate record
1861-06-15BEERY DITCH GAGEFOURMILE CREEK20.0 CFSIrrigationstate record
1861-08-01BEAVER CR D LOWER BEAVERBEAVER CREEK10.0 CFSMunicipal, Fire, Domestic, Stockstate record
1862-05-01SOUTH SIDE DITCHNORTH FORK SOUTH PLATTE RIVER1.5 CFSIrrigationstate record
1862-05-01NORTH SIDE DITCHNORTH FORK SOUTH PLATTE RIVER1.0 CFSIrrigationstate record
1862-07-01TROUT CREEK NEAR GAROTROUT CREEK4.8 CFSIrrigation, Municipal, Commercial, Industrial, Recreation, Fishery, Fire, Domestic, Stock, Change of use return flow, Otherstate record
1862-07-01TROUT CREEK NEAR GAROTROUT CREEK622.0 AFIrrigation, Municipal, Commercial, Industrial, Recreation, Fishery, Fire, Domestic, Stock, Change of use return flow, Otherstate record
1862-11-01HARTSEL RANCH CLAIMSOUTH FORK SOUTH PLATTE RIVER1.0 CFSDomestic, Stockstate record
1862-11-01HARTSEL RANCH CLAIMMIDDLE FORK SOUTH PLATTE RIVER1.0 CFSDomestic, Stockstate record
1863-04-01HEPBURN DITCH 2NORTH FORK SOUTH PLATTE RIVER1.0 CFSIrrigationstate record

Need this for a deal?

This page is the summary. The full file for Park County covers every one of the 3,392 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.