Seniority, absolute versus conditional water, and decreed uses for all 3,103 water rights on record in Rio Blanco County, taken from the state's own records. Priority dates run from 1880-05-01 to 2023-01-24.
CFS on record: 4,836.4 absolute · 2,714.9 conditional. Flow (CFS) and volume (AF) are never added together.
Worth knowing: Rio Blanco County has about 11.9x 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 Rio Blanco County's rights are distributed.
| Era | Rights | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|
| pre-1900 | 525 | 16.9% | |
| 1900-1949 | 938 | 30.2% | |
| 1950-1969 | 572 | 18.4% | |
| 1970-1999 | 846 | 27.3% | |
| 2000+ | 222 | 7.2% |
| Decreed use | Rights |
|---|---|
| Stock | 1,528 |
| Irrigation | 1,504 |
| Domestic | 938 |
| Wildlife | 331 |
| Fire | 298 |
| Recreation | 271 |
Ranked by the state's own priority administration number, the figure DWR uses to order rights by seniority.
| Priority | Structure | Source | Amount | Uses | Verify |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1880-05-01 | POWELL PARK DITCH | WHITE RIVER | 20.0 CFS | Irrigation | state record |
| 1881-08-05 | ELK CREEK DITCH | NORTH ELK CREEK | 1.6 CFS | Irrigation, Recreation, Fishery, Fire, Domestic, Stock, Augmentation | state record |
| 1883-04-01 | WRIGHT DITCH | CURTIS CREEK | 1.0 CFS | Irrigation | state record |
| 1883-04-02 | LEONARD SPRING | STEWART GULCH | 2.0 CFS | Irrigation | state record |
| 1883-04-15 | MORGAN DITCH 1 | PICEANCE CREEK | 1.0 CFS | Irrigation, Commercial, Industrial, Recreation, Fishery, Domestic, Stock, Augmentation | state record |
| 1883-05-14 | COAL CREEK DITCH 1 | COAL CREEK | 4.0 CFS | Irrigation | state record |
| 1883-06-01 | P & L DITCH | PICEANCE CREEK | 0.5 CFS | Irrigation | state record |
| 1883-06-07 | MARTIN DITCH | COAL CREEK | 3.0 CFS | Irrigation | state record |
| 1883-11-20 | MEEKER DITCH | WHITE RIVER | 20.0 CFS | Irrigation, Municipal | state record |
| 1884-04-20 | OLD AGENCY DITCH | WHITE RIVER | 8.5 CFS | Irrigation | state record |
This page is the summary. The full file for Rio Blanco County covers every one of the 3,103 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.