Colorado still carries 192 water rights that were promises before 1900

Colorado lets you claim water before you have built anything to take it with. The claim is called a conditional right, and it holds a place in the priority queue while the work is done. It is a sensible idea: a reservoir takes years, and nobody would start one if a junior claim could jump ahead while the concrete cured.

The rule that keeps it honest is diligence. Every six years the holder must return to court and show they are still building. If they cannot, the right can be cancelled.

These are the conditional rights still outstanding, grouped by the year a court granted them. 192 of them were adjudicated before 1900 and are still, in the eyes of the record, works in progress.

What this means if you are buying

Land is sold with water rights attached, and a conditional right is a water right. It appears in the same register, carries the same kind of decree, and can be listed in the same sentence as one that has been delivering water since 1890. What it conveys is a queue position and an obligation to keep proving you mean it.

A conditional water right may be cancelled if the owner fails to show reasonable diligence in completing the appropriation, and a diligence application must be filed every six years.

C.R.S. 37-92-301(4)

The report says which of the rights on a section are conditional, how long they have been outstanding, and when diligence was last filed. That last date is often the most informative number on the page.

This is general information about Colorado law and records. It is not legal advice and not a title opinion. What applies to a particular piece of ground is settled by the documents filed against it.