Seniority, absolute versus conditional water, and decreed uses for all 214 water rights on record in San Juan County, taken from the state's own records. Priority dates run from 1878-03-03 to 2025-03-19.
CFS on record: 608.8 absolute · 53.8 conditional. Flow (CFS) and volume (AF) are never added together.
Worth knowing: San Juan County has about 1.5x 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 San Juan County's rights are distributed.
| Era | Rights | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|
| pre-1900 | 6 | 2.8% | |
| 1900-1949 | 50 | 23.4% | |
| 1950-1969 | 16 | 7.5% | |
| 1970-1999 | 74 | 34.6% | |
| 2000+ | 68 | 31.8% |
| Decreed use | Rights |
|---|---|
| Domestic | 84 |
| Stock | 69 |
| Recreation | 60 |
| Irrigation | 59 |
| Commercial | 49 |
| Wildlife | 46 |
Ranked by the state's own priority administration number, the figure DWR uses to order rights by seniority.
| Priority | Structure | Source | Amount | Uses | Verify |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1882-12-31 | WATER TANK NO5 NEEDLETON | ANIMAS RIVER | 0.0774 CFS | Commercial, Domestic | state record |
| 1883-12-31 | SILVERTON WTR WK SYS NO1 | ANIMAS RIVER | 4.65 CFS | Irrigation, Municipal, Fire, Domestic | state record |
| 1899-03-31 | SILVERTON WTR WK SYS NO1 | ANIMAS RIVER | 4.65 CFS | Irrigation, Municipal, Fire, Domestic | state record |
| 1902-10-02 | CASCADE CANAL | CASCADE CREEK | 400.0 CFS | Industrial, Domestic, Other | state record |
| 1902-12-06 | HIGHLAND MARY PIPELINE | CUNNINGHAM CREEK | 8.0 CFS | Domestic, Other | state record |
| 1902-12-06 | HIGHLAND MARY RESERVOIR | CUNNINGHAM CREEK | 650.0 AF | Domestic, Other | state record |
| 1904-09-26 | SILVERTON PIPE LINE NO 2 | ANIMAS RIVER | 7.0 CFS | Municipal, Fire, Domestic | state record |
| 1926-04-17 | LAKE COMO | UNCOMPAHGRE RIVER | 0.5 CFS | Domestic, Stock, Federal reserved, Wildlife | state record |
| 1928-12-31 | HIGHWAY DEPT WELL 56290 | GROUNDWATER: CASCADE CREEK | 0.022 CFS | Irrigation, Domestic | state record |
| 1937-08-24 | SILVERTON PIPE LINE NO 3 | SOUTH FORK MINERAL CREEK | 1.6 CFS | Municipal, Fire, Domestic | state record |
This page is the summary. The full file for San Juan County covers every one of the 214 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.