Seniority, absolute versus conditional water, and decreed uses for all 2,892 water rights on record in Pitkin County, taken from the state's own records. Priority dates run from 1880-06-07 to 2024-12-31.
CFS on record: 6,965.6 absolute · 2,205.8 conditional. Flow (CFS) and volume (AF) are never added together.
Worth knowing: 557 rights in Pitkin 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 Pitkin County's rights are distributed.
| Era | Rights | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|
| pre-1900 | 287 | 9.9% | |
| 1900-1949 | 434 | 15.0% | |
| 1950-1969 | 501 | 17.3% | |
| 1970-1999 | 1,012 | 35.0% | |
| 2000+ | 658 | 22.8% |
| Decreed use | Rights |
|---|---|
| Irrigation | 1,659 |
| Domestic | 985 |
| Fishery | 838 |
| Recreation | 758 |
| Fire | 701 |
| Other | 624 |
Ranked by the state's own priority administration number, the figure DWR uses to order rights by seniority.
| Priority | Structure | Source | Amount | Uses | Verify |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1880-06-18 | WACO DITCH | WOODY CREEK | 4.0 CFS | Irrigation, Augmentation | state record |
| 1880-07-02 | EVERGREEN DITCH | OWL CREEK | 1.0 CFS | Irrigation, Augmentation | state record |
| 1880-07-12 | ASPEN DITCH | ROARING FORK RIVER | 2.0 CFS | Irrigation, Municipal, Domestic, Stock | state record |
| 1880-09-20 | JACOBS DITCH | EAST SOPRIS CREEK | 2.0 CFS | Irrigation | state record |
| 1881-04-01 | MOUNT SOPRIS D PRINCE CR | PRINCE CREEK | 2.6 CFS | Irrigation | state record |
| 1881-05-01 | PIONEER DITCH | THOMPSON CREEK | 5.6 CFS | Irrigation | state record |
| 1881-05-01 | THOMPSON DITCH | THOMPSON CREEK | 0.1 CFS | Irrigation | state record |
| 1881-05-05 | BORAM AND WHITE DITCH | CAPITOL CREEK | 2.5 CFS | Irrigation, Recreation, Fire, Stock, Augmentation, Wildlife | state record |
| 1881-05-15 | LIGHT DITCH | EAST SOPRIS CREEK | 3.0 CFS | Irrigation | state record |
| 1881-05-15 | MCPHERSON DITCH | OWL CREEK | 2.8 CFS | Irrigation, Augmentation | state record |
This page is the summary. The full file for Pitkin County covers every one of the 2,892 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.