Courts decide, engineers deliver
Colorado is unusual in that judges, not an agency, confirm water rights. The Water Right Determination and Administration Act of 1969 created seven water divisions drawn along river basins: the South Platte, Arkansas, Rio Grande, Gunnison, Colorado, White and San Juan.
Each division has a water judge, usually a water referee and a water clerk. Each also has a division engineer, appointed by the State Engineer, who administers the decreed rights day to day. Changing a right's point of diversion, type of use or place of use takes water court approval and a showing that other rights won't be injured.
Priority, units and the monthly resume
A right's priority is set by the year its application was filed in water court. Among applications filed in the same year, the date the appropriation began decides the order. That is why both the filing year and the date use began can matter when comparing two rights.
Flow rights are measured in cubic feet per second (cfs). One cfs is 448.8 gallons per minute, or roughly two acre-feet per day. An acre-foot is 325,851 gallons.
Every new application is summarized in the water clerk's monthly "resume" and published in local newspapers. That gives neighbors a chance to oppose a filing they think will hurt their own rights.
Absolute and conditional rights
An absolute right is water already put to beneficial use. A conditional right holds a priority for a project not yet finished, and the owner must prove reasonable diligence in water court every six years. Missing that filing means the conditional right is conclusively presumed abandoned.
An absolute right can be lost by intent to stop using it for good. Ten consecutive years of nonuse raises a rebuttable presumption of abandonment, but only a water court proceeding can declare a right abandoned.
Buying land with water
A Colorado water right is real property. It can go with the land or be reserved and sold separately, so a deed should name exactly which rights convey. Transfers are normally done by deed and recorded with the county clerk and recorder.
Shares in a mutual ditch company move differently. The company issues a new stock certificate and records the change in its own stockholder registry. For a well, owners of valid permits must update the owner name and contact information with the Division of Water Resources under C.R.S. 37-90-143. A title company often files this at closing, but the form only updates contact records and does not convey anything.
A buyer of a conditional right also files a notice of change in ownership with the water court. Record chains for older rights are often incomplete, so expect to research both State Engineer and water court files.
Wells and where to look
A household well permit can be issued as an exempt well when it is the only well on a tract of 35 acres or more. Wells in the state's designated groundwater basins come under the Colorado Ground Water Commission instead of the water courts.
Decrees, well permits and diversion structures can be searched in the Division of Water Resources' online records and on Colorado's Decision Support Systems (CDSS). For a specific purchase, staff at the division engineer's office or a water attorney can help tie a decree to the ditch or well on the ground.