Seniority, absolute versus conditional water, and decreed uses for all 5,756 water rights on record in Routt County, taken from the state's own records. Priority dates run from 1879-04-01 to 2025-01-31.
CFS on record: 6,815.0 absolute · 3,420.1 conditional. Flow (CFS) and volume (AF) are never added together.
Worth knowing: Routt County has about 20.5x 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 Routt County's rights are distributed.
| Era | Rights | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|
| pre-1900 | 637 | 11.1% | |
| 1900-1949 | 1,598 | 27.8% | |
| 1950-1969 | 970 | 16.9% | |
| 1970-1999 | 1,917 | 33.3% | |
| 2000+ | 634 | 11.0% |
| Decreed use | Rights |
|---|---|
| Stock | 2,995 |
| Irrigation | 2,820 |
| Domestic | 1,873 |
| Fishery | 884 |
| Wildlife | 874 |
| Recreation | 842 |
Ranked by the state's own priority administration number, the figure DWR uses to order rights by seniority.
| Priority | Structure | Source | Amount | Uses | Verify |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1881-10-20 | MARSHALL ROBERTS DITCH | YAMPA RIVER | 8.78 CFS | Irrigation | state record |
| 1881-10-20 | WILLIAMS IRRIG DITCH | YAMPA RIVER | 2.52 CFS | Irrigation | state record |
| 1882-05-01 | TOWN OF HAYDEN INTAKE PIPELINE | YAMPA RIVER | 0.36 CFS | Municipal, Commercial, Industrial, Recreation, Fire, Domestic | state record |
| 1882-05-01 | WALKER IRRIG DITCH | YAMPA RIVER | 8.39 CFS | Irrigation, Municipal, Commercial, Industrial, Recreation, Fire, Domestic | state record |
| 1883-03-30 | BROCK DITCH | YAMPA RIVER | 4.5 CFS | Irrigation | state record |
| 1883-04-15 | BURBACK PUMPING PLANT | YAMPA RIVER | 0.36 CFS | Irrigation | state record |
| 1883-04-15 | SHELTON DITCH | YAMPA RIVER | 6.69 CFS | Irrigation | state record |
| 1883-04-15 | YOAST PUMPING PLANT | YAMPA RIVER | 0.45 CFS | Irrigation | state record |
| 1883-04-20 | CLYDE DITCH | EGERIA CREEK | 2.7 CFS | Irrigation | state record |
| 1883-05-25 | FIX DITCH | BEAR RIVER | 1.2 CFS | Irrigation | state record |
This page is the summary. The full file for Routt County covers every one of the 5,756 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.
Browse all Colorado counties →
Records last updated 10 September 2026.