Guides

Plain answers about Colorado ditch companies

Written for shareholders, secretaries, and anyone who just inherited a headgate. No sales pitch — just what we've learned reading bylaws, minutes, and the USBR landowner's guide.

• What is a Mutual Ditch Company?

  What these corporations are, how shares work, who runs them, and where Colorado's water law came from.

• Who Owns an Irrigation Ditch? Ownership & Maintenance in Colorado

  Ditch easements on private land, who's responsible for what, and what to check before you touch a ditch.

• What Does a Ditch Rider Do?

  The job that keeps water moving in the right order, to the right headgate, at the right time.

• Delinquent With the Secretary of State: What It Means & How to Fix It

  Why ditch companies fall out of state compliance, and the exact online steps to clear it — usually in one sitting.

• Found an Old Ditch Company Stock Certificate?

  Most old stock certificates are wallpaper. This kind might be water. How to look the company up, what the shares might be worth, and how inherited or lost certificates get sorted out.

• Forming (or Reviving) a Colorado Ditch Company

  The water is old; the paperwork is new. The five situations that call for a new company, what C.R.S. 7-42 actually requires, and the records to start on day one.

• Buying Rural Land With a Ditch? Five Records to Check

  For buyers, brokers, and title researchers: the Secretary of State filing, DWR structure records, water court resumes, the (non-public) share certificate, and county records — where to find each one.

• Ditch Company Diligence for Professionals

  A bookmarkable reference for realtors, title companies, lenders, and water attorneys: the 60-second lookup workflow, what each field means in a transaction, an honest coverage box, and a printable client checklist.