About the Company
Our story, from 1860 to today.
Mission
The mission of ADRC is to operate a mutual, not-for-profit ditch company for the benefit of stockholders, and to make sure each stockholder's water rights are recognized, enforced, and delivered equitably.
History
The company's water rights include some of the most senior on Clear Creek, dating to May 15, 1860. The Agricultural Ditch itself was built and decreed on December 21, 1874. The Mountain Reservoirs were added as contributions to the company in the middle of the 20th century. The Welch Ditch, operated under the Golden Canal & Reservoir Company, dates to May 19, 1860; since a 1998 water court decree (Case No. 96CW99) its rights are diverted at the Agricultural Ditch River Headgate.
The Agricultural Ditch and Reservoir Company was re-incorporated on July 22, 1982 as a nonprofit mutual ditch company under the Colorado Nonprofit Corporation Act. The Golden Canal and Reservoir Company is a wholly owned subsidiary. The company operates for the exclusive benefit of its stockholders, delivering decreed water rights equitably and on a pro-rata basis proportional to shares owned.
Company Facts
- Legal Name
- The Agricultural Ditch and Reservoir Company
- Organization Type
- Colorado Nonprofit Mutual Ditch Company
- Incorporated
- July 22, 1982
- Earliest Priority
- May 15, 1860
- Principal Office
- 12700 West 27th Avenue, Lakewood, CO 80215
- Subsidiary
- Golden Canal and Reservoir Company
Governance
As a nonprofit mutual company, The Agricultural Ditch and Reservoir Company exists solely for the convenience of its stockholders. Profits are not distributed; all operating revenues fund ditch maintenance, infrastructure, and administration. The company is governed by a Board of five Directors elected by stockholders for four-year terms.
Annual assessments are levied per share to fund operations.
Service Area
The company's ditch system conveys water from its point of diversion — the Agricultural Ditch River Headgate on Clear Creek in Golden — through Lakewood and the surrounding area of Jefferson County, Colorado, serving a diverse group of stockholders including residential irrigators, municipal water providers, recreation associations, institutional and municipal landowners, and industrial users.