Water Rights
The company's decreed water rights and Colorado's prior appropriation system.
Our Decree
- Water Source
- Clear Creek (via Agricultural Ditch headgate)
- Earliest Priority
- May 15, 1860 (Priority No. 2)
- Agricultural Ditch Decree
- December 21, 1874 (Priority No. 61)
- Adjudicated
- October 4, 1884; supplemental adjudication May 13, 1936
- Adjudicated Amount
- Contact office for decree details
- Water Division and District
- Water Division 1, Water District 7 (WDID 0700502)
- Point of Diversion
- Agricultural Ditch headgate, south bank of Clear Creek, City of Golden, Jefferson County (SW1/4 Section 27, T3S, R70W, 6th P.M.). The Welch Ditch rights are also diverted here under the 1998 decree in Case No. 96CW99.
Historical Water Rights
Priority No. 2 and the company's other 1860s rights began on other ditches and were moved to the Agricultural Ditch headgate by water court decrees of 1911–1915. The Welch Ditch rights, from May 19, 1860, are held by the company's subsidiary, The Golden Canal and Reservoir Company.
Colorado Prior Appropriation
Colorado uses the "prior appropriation" doctrine — "first in time, first in right." Water rights are ranked by their priority date. When stream flows are insufficient to satisfy all rights, junior rights are curtailed before senior rights.
During low-water years or when a "call" is placed on the river by a senior right holder, the company may receive less than its full decreed amount.
Pro-Rata Delivery
Each stockholder receives water proportional to their share ownership. If the company diverts 20 cfs and a stockholder owns 1 of 200 total shares (0.5%), they are entitled to 0.10 cfs at the river headgate, less ditch losses before the water reaches their own headgate.