About the Company
History
The Agricultural Ditch was originally appropriated on May 15, 1860, with much of the ditch constructed through the 1860s and 1870s. 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, was initially appropriated on May 19, 1860. Today's combined system results from the Upper Welch Ditch being abandoned and the original point of diversion of the Welch Ditch moving to the Agricultural Ditch River Headgate in the 1990s.
The Agricultural Ditch and Reservoir Company was formally 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
- Original Appropriation
- 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 Directors elected annually by stockholders.
Stockholders own shares in the company, and water is delivered pro-rata to shares owned. 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 — through Lakewood and the surrounding area of Jefferson County, Colorado, serving a diverse group of stockholders including residential irrigators, municipal water users, recreation associations, and institutional landowners.