Colorado Water Rights

Last verified

Look up a Colorado water right

Colorado publishes all of it, free, with no account: 173,056 decreed water right records and roughly 646,000 well permits. DWR · verified Jul. 2026

The problem was never access. It is that the tools are built for water engineers, the identifiers are undocumented, and structure names look like BOULDER LARIMER CO IRR MFG D. This section is the manual nobody wrote.

Which database answers which question

Your questionWhere to look
What water features are near this parcel?DWR Map Viewer
What rights are decreed on this ditch or reservoir?Water Rights — Net Amounts
What does this structure look like in the records?Structures
Is there a well here, and what may it be used for?Well Permits
Is the river on call right now?Administrative Calls (Active)
What has happened to this right over time?Water Rights — Transactions
Who owns it?None of the above — county records and ditch company books

Everything DWR publishes hangs off one identifier, the WDID — the seven-digit code for a structure, whose first two digits are the water district. Get the WDID first and the rest is easy. Search by name instead and you will lose an afternoon.

Start here

The whole toolbox

DWR publishes considerably more than the six tools above — diversion records, streamflow stations, groundwater levels, dam safety, imaged historical documents, and an alerts service that will email you when a call is set on a stream you care about. The DWR tools index lists them all.

There is also a public REST API behind these tools, which is where the record counts on this page came from. It needs no key, and it is how the phase-two data pages on this site will be built.

If a guide tells you to use AquaMap

It is out of date. CDSS has retired AquaMap and folded its functionality into the web map viewers. Plenty of walkthroughs still send people to it, which is a reasonable proxy for how current the rest of their advice is.

Once you have found what you were looking for, the basics explains what it means, and buying and selling covers what to do about it.

Common questions

How do I look up a water right in Colorado?

Find the structure on the DWR Map Viewer to get its WDID, then search that WDID in DWR's Water Rights Net Amounts tool to see every decreed amount, priority date and case number on it. Both are free and need no account. For wells, search the Well Permits tool by permit number or legal description.

Is there a free Colorado water rights database?

Yes. The Division of Water Resources publishes decreed water rights, well permits, structures, administrative calls, diversion records and more at no cost, along with a public REST API. When checked on July 22, 2026 the net amounts table held 173,056 decreed records and the well permit records roughly 646,000 entries.

How do I find out who owns a water right in Colorado?

Not from the state's water databases, which are organized by structure and decree rather than by beneficial owner. Ownership comes from recorded deeds at the county clerk and recorder and, where the water is held as shares, from the mutual ditch company's own stock books.

How can I tell if a river is on call?

Use DWR's Administrative Calls (Active) tool, which lists every call currently in force by division, with the calling right's priority date and administration number. DWR also offers an alerts service that will notify you when a call is set on a water source you follow.

Primary sources

The Colorado water rights owner's guide

A plain-English walkthrough of finding, reading, and protecting a Colorado water right — plus a short email when the rules change. No spam; unsubscribe anytime.