What applies depends on the interest the Company holds at the spot. The map shows which one; pick it below.
Back to the mapInterim guidance approved by the Company's Board on the advice of consulting counsel, 30 September 2026, pending final review by the Company's water attorney. Not legal advice, a title opinion or a survey.
“There are trees growing on the ditch bank here. Can the Company cut them down, does it have to ask me first, and who pays?”
Here the ground is owned by a public body, and the Company works with that owner when vegetation on the ditch bank needs attention. If a tree here concerns you, contact the Company office and it will tell you which public owner is involved.
“Who is responsible for cleaning and repairing the ditch along my property?”
Maintaining the ditch — cleaning it, repairing the banks, keeping it able to carry water — is the Agricultural Ditch and Reservoir Company's responsibility, and Colorado law also requires the Company to do it. What is asked of a landowner is the other side of that: not to obstruct the ditch or the corridor the Company works from. If something on your property needs to move for the Company to do this work, the Company will contact you.
“The ditch bank has slumped and water is getting into my yard. Whose problem is it, and who pays for the damage?”
Tell the Company as soon as you can — the office number is on this page — and the Company will come and look. Colorado law requires the Company to maintain the ditch banks so that water does not escape and damage neighbouring property, and the Company takes that seriously. Whether the Company is responsible for particular damage depends on the facts of what happened, and the Company will not decide that from a web page. Report it, and someone will be in touch.
“Can I fence my yard across the corridor, pave it for parking, or plant it?”
The Company needs to be able to get to the ditch and work along it. A fence that crosses the corridor generally needs a gate the Company can use, in a place it can use. Lawn and low planting are usually fine; trees, walls and hard surfaces generally are not. Ask the Company office before you build or plant — agreement in advance is much easier than the alternative, and the Company will tell you what it needs.
“There is a shed / retaining wall / patio in the ditch corridor. Does it have to come out, and who pays to remove it?”
Here the ground is owned by a public body. Structures in the corridor on public ground are dealt with between the Company and that owner. If you have a question about something built here, contact the Company office.
“The Company has left a berm of muck along my fence after cleaning the ditch. Is it allowed to put it there, and does it have to take it away?”
Cleaning a ditch produces material that has to go somewhere, and the usual place is along the bank within the corridor the Company works from. On residential stretches the Company will try to let you know before the work and to keep the material off lawns and drives. If it has been left somewhere that is causing a problem, contact the Company office.
“Can the Company drive a track hoe down the ditch bank across my property to reach a repair, and can it come through my gate?”
The Company has the right to reach the ditch and its banks to operate, clean, maintain and repair it, and to bring in what the work needs. Where the work is planned rather than urgent, the Company aims to give notice. If access across your property is difficult — a locked gate, a narrow side yard — please tell the Company office, because it is easier to arrange in advance than on the day.
“We need to run a water line / sewer / gas line / fibre across the ditch. Who do we ask, and what will be required?”
The ground here is owned by a public body, so both the Company and that public owner need to be involved. Contact the Company office and it will tell you who else to approach.
“We want to run a line ALONG the ditch corridor rather than across it. Can the Company grant that?”
Running a line along the ditch corridor, rather than across it, is treated differently from a crossing. Here the Company has a right-of-way rather than ownership of the ground, so a request like this needs the landowner as well as the Company. Contact the Company office before you design around it.
“There is a culvert carrying the ditch under a driveway here. Who maintains it, and who replaces it when it fails?”
Where a structure was built over or under the ditch, responsibility for it usually depends on the permission it was built under. The Company keeps records of the licences it has granted and will check them for this structure. Contact the Company office and describe the structure and where it is.
“Can our development / street / roof drain / detention pond discharge into the ditch?”
The Agricultural Ditch is a private raw water delivery facility, not a public drainage carrier. Directing stormwater, surface runoff, or sump discharges into the ditch without a formal, approved Carrier Agreement is strictly prohibited. Contact the Company office before the design is fixed.
“We want to move the ditch, put it in a pipe, or line it, to develop this property. Can we, and on what terms?”
The ditch cannot be moved, piped or lined without the Company's written agreement. That is not a formality: Colorado law does not allow a landowner to alter a ditch easement unilaterally, and the Company has to be able to keep operating and maintaining the ditch afterwards. Where the Company does agree, the work is at the applicant's expense and the new alignment has to be surveyed and conveyed to the Company. Start with the Company office, early — this is the request that takes longest.
Screening tool. Terrain-derived corridor from a bare-earth DEM, assessor ownership, and draft rules that the Company's counsel has not yet approved. Not a survey, not a boundary determination, not a title opinion.
The Agricultural Ditch operates within an established corridor comprising the channel, banks, and adjacent access areas necessary for ongoing operation, maintenance, and equipment staging pursuant to C.R.S. § 37-86-103. The dimensions of this corridor vary along the alignment based on recorded grants, topography, and operational needs, and cannot be determined solely from third-party surveys or plat lines. Any proposed activity, structure, or inquiry regarding the ditch corridor must be submitted directly to ADRC for site-specific verification prior to commencement of design or construction.
Ownership is mapped for 99.99% of the line. Where this tool says the record has not been researched in detail, that means no specific document has yet been matched to that specific parcel. It does not mean the Company's rights are in doubt: the ditch has run here since the 1860s.
Questions about a specific spot: contact the Company office, or see Ditch Crossings before planning work.
Map version 2026-10-06.