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Colorado's seven water courts
Colorado is the only state that gives water its own court system. Seven water courts — one for each water division — hold exclusive jurisdiction over water matters, and no other judge may touch them. Each is a district court acting through a water judge whom the Colorado Supreme Court designates every January. C.R.S. § 37-92-203(1)
Everything that creates, changes, or confirms a water right runs through them: new appropriations, changes of use, plans for augmentation, diligence findings, and exchanges.
Exclusive jurisdiction, by statute
There is established in each water division the position of water judge of the district courts of all counties situated entirely or partly within the division. Said district courts collectively acting through the water judge have exclusive jurisdiction of water matters within the division, and no judge other than the one designated as a water judge shall act with respect to water matters in that division.
The water judge is a sitting district judge given the water docket in addition to ordinary duties — but the statute makes the water work take priority over those duties, and requires other judges' schedules to be adjusted so the water judge is free to hear it C.R.S. § 37-92-203(2). The designation is made annually, on or before January 10, by the Supreme Court.
Who does what
| Role | What they do |
|---|---|
| Water clerk | Receives applications, publishes the monthly resume, maintains the file |
| Water referee | Investigates and rules on applications in the first instance |
| Water judge | Hears protests and rereferred matters, enters the decree |
| Division engineer | Not part of the court — but consulted on every application, and the one who administers the result |
The path an application takes
The sequence is fixed by statute and is the same in all seven divisions.
1. File with the water clerk. Anyone seeking a new right, a change of water right, an augmentation plan, a diligence finding, or an exchange files a verified application, which the clerk copies to the State Engineer and division engineer C.R.S. § 37-92-302(1)(a).
2. The resume publishes. By the fifteenth of each month the clerk prepares a resume of every application filed the previous month, publishes it in newspapers with general circulation in every affected county, and posts it on the court's website:
Not later than the fifteenth day of each month, the water clerk shall prepare a resume of all applications in the water division which have been filed in his office during the preceding month. The resume shall give the name and address of the applicant, a description of the water right or conditional water right involved, and a description of the ruling sought.
This is the single most important consumer-protection device in Colorado water law. It is how you find out that someone upstream has applied for something that might affect you — and you can put yourself on the clerk's electronic notification list to receive each month's resume.
3. Statements of opposition. Anyone who may be affected — including the State Engineer — may file a verified statement of opposition. The deadline is generous but absolute:
Such statement of opposition must be filed by the last day of the second month following the month in which the application is filed.
4. The referee rules. Within 63 days after the opposition deadline, the referee either rules or rerefers the case to the water judge. The referee may disapprove an application in whole or in part even if nobody opposed it C.R.S. § 37-92-303(1).
5. Protest, or the ruling becomes a decree. Any party has 21 days from mailing to protest or support the referee's ruling C.R.S. § 37-92-304(2). Unprotested rulings go to the water judge for entry as a decree.
6. The water judge hears what is left. The statute even fixes the calendar. Each division's judge may set protested and rereferred matters twice a year, on staggered Tuesdays:
On the first Tuesday of March and September in division 1, the second Tuesday of March and September in division 2, the third Tuesday of March and September in division 3, the fourth Tuesday of March and September in division 4, the first Tuesday of April and October in division 5, the second Tuesday of April and October in division 6, and the third Tuesday of April and October in division 7, the water judge for the particular division may set for hearing matters in which protests have been filed or orders of rereferral entered by the referee during the preceding six calendar months.
The standard the court applies
For a new right, the priority date awarded is the date the appropriation was initiated, provided it was completed with reasonable diligence C.R.S. § 37-92-305(1). For a change or an augmentation plan, the test is injury — and it is the only test that really matters:
A change of water right, implementation of a rotational crop management contract, or plan for augmentation, including water exchange project, shall be approved if such change, contract, or plan will not injuriously affect the owner of or persons entitled to use water under a vested water right or a decreed conditional water right.
Note what it does not say. Not "if it is a better use of the water," not "if it serves the public interest" — only whether anyone else is injured. Colorado water court is, in practice, an engineering argument about depletions and return flows conducted in legal language. That is why these cases run on expert testimony and why they are expensive.
What it costs to be there
Filing fees are pegged to district court civil fees, and are doubled for an application seeking a change of water right or approval of an augmentation plan C.R.S. § 37-92-302(1)(d)(I). The fees are trivial next to the engineering. Expect a contested change case to involve a water attorney and a consulting water engineer, and to run months to years — when you need an attorney covers how to think about that, and the rest of the legal section covers what the court is being asked to decide.
Appeals go directly to the Colorado Supreme Court rather than the court of appeals — one more way water is treated as its own world. Colorado Judicial Branch · water courts
Common questions
How many water courts does Colorado have?
Seven — one for each water division, matching the state's major river basins. Under C.R.S. § 37-92-203(1) the district courts in each division, acting through a designated water judge, have exclusive jurisdiction over water matters, and no other judge may act on them.
How do I find out if someone applied for a water right near me?
Read the monthly resume. C.R.S. § 37-92-302(3) requires the water clerk to prepare a resume of all applications filed in the preceding month by the fifteenth, publish it in newspapers circulating in every affected county, and post it on the water court's website. You can also ask the clerk to add you to the electronic notification list.
How long do I have to oppose a water court application?
Until the last day of the second month following the month the application was filed, under C.R.S. § 37-92-302(1)(c). An application filed in March, for example, must be opposed by May 31. The deadline is firm, and missing it generally forecloses being heard.
What standard does a Colorado water court apply to a change of use?
Injury, and only injury. C.R.S. § 37-92-305(3)(a) requires approval of a change of water right or plan for augmentation if it will not injuriously affect the owner of, or persons entitled to use water under, a vested water right or decreed conditional right. The court does not weigh whether the new use is more valuable or more desirable.
Can I represent myself in Colorado water court?
An individual may appear on their own behalf, but water cases turn on engineering evidence about historical consumptive use, depletions and return flows, and opposers are usually represented by experienced water counsel. Unrepresented applicants in contested change or augmentation cases are at a serious disadvantage.
Primary sources
- C.R.S. § 37-92-203 — water judges and jurisdiction (Title 37, official text) C.R.S. 2025 edition
- C.R.S. § 37-92-302 — applications, resume and statements of opposition (Title 37, official text) C.R.S. 2025 edition
- C.R.S. §§ 37-92-303 to -305 — referee rulings, judge proceedings and standards (Title 37, official text) C.R.S. 2025 edition
- Colorado Judicial Branch — water courts read July 22, 2026