Query official Colorado and New Mexico water rights records over HTTP. Responses are JSON; every record links back to its official source page.
Requests are authenticated with an API key sent in the X-API-Key header. Your key and the base URL are issued together when your account is set up — email erik@westernwaterdata.com to request one.
If you'd rather not work with an API at all, that's fine: send the county, stream or basin you care about and you'll get the results back as a spreadsheet.
| Method & path | Auth | Returns |
|---|---|---|
GET /v1/health | none | Record counts by state and the last successful data load |
GET /v1/water-rights | API key | Filtered, paginated list of records |
GET /v1/water-rights/{id} | API key | A single record, including the original source record |
curl -H "X-API-Key: YOUR_KEY" \
"https://YOUR_BASE_URL/v1/water-rights?state=CO&county=BOULDER&priority_before=1880-01-01&limit=10"All filters are optional and combine with AND — each one you add narrows the result. With no filters you get the first page of everything.
| Parameter | Matching | Example |
|---|---|---|
state | exact | CO or NM |
county | exact, uppercase | BOULDER, DONA ANA |
water_source | partial (contains) | RIO GRANDE |
owner | partial (contains) | SMITH — New Mexico records |
q | partial; structure name, source or identifier | DITCH |
status | exact, source status code | ADJ (adjudicated), PMT (permit) |
priority_after | date ≥ | 1900-01-01 |
priority_before | date ≤ | 1880-01-01 |
min_amount | number ≥ | 100 |
units | exact | CFS (flow) or AF (volume) |
limit | 1–500, default 50 | 100 |
offset | pagination offset | 50 |
include_raw | boolean | true adds the original source record |
total (how many records match your filters in the whole database) and results (the ones returned on this page, limited by limit).| Field | Description |
|---|---|
id | Stable identifier in this database |
source_state / source_agency | Originating state and agency |
source_record_id | The agency's own record identifier |
right_identifier | WDID (Colorado) or file number such as RG-13267 (New Mexico) |
structure_name / structure_type | Ditch, well, reservoir, etc. |
water_source | Stream, river or declared basin |
county | County name |
latitude / longitude | Decimal degrees (NAD83) |
location_accuracy | How the coordinates were derived |
appropriation_date | Colorado: date the appropriation was initiated |
adjudication_date | Colorado: date confirmed by the water court |
priority_date | Effective seniority date in that state's own semantics |
priority_rank | Numeric rank within the state (Colorado administration number). Not comparable across states. |
amount_absolute / amount_conditional | Decreed amounts |
amount_units | CFS or AF |
uses | Decreed or permitted uses, as coded by the agency |
status | Agency status code (New Mexico) |
owner | Record owner (New Mexico) |
case_numbers | Associated case or sub-file numbers |
source_url | Link to the official record at the agency |
source_modified_at | Last change reported by the source |
last_seen_at | When this record was last confirmed present at the source |
raw | The complete original source record (only with include_raw=true) |
Colorado — 173,836 records from the Division of Water Resources (CDSS/HydroBase), updated daily at the source. Priority dates are present on every record. Owner names are not part of the state's net amounts dataset.
New Mexico — 283,005 points of diversion from the Office of the State Engineer (WATERS), with owner names and coordinates on every record. Priority dates are not available in bulk: the OSE has confirmed in writing that no downloadable priority-date dataset exists. For the 17,151 adjudicated records, source_url links directly to the official water right summary where the priority date is shown.
All records come from official state open-data channels — the Colorado Division of Water Resources and the New Mexico Office of the State Engineer. License terms for each source were reviewed before ingestion, and the original record is preserved alongside the normalized one.
Data is provided as-is, without warranty of any kind, and is not an official record of any agency. For legal purposes, verify at the source using the source_url on each record.