Prior appropriation & seniority in Colorado
Colorado uses 'first in time, first in right.' Older priority dates get water first in a shortage. Here's what that means in practice.
The core rule
Colorado allocates water by priority date, not by land ownership. The earliest adjudicated user on a stream is 'senior' and gets their full decreed amount before any junior user receives a drop.
What a priority date looks like
A decree lists an appropriation date (when water was first put to beneficial use) and an adjudication date (when the court entered the decree). Appropriation date controls seniority.
Why it matters for property
A junior right on a fully appropriated stream may be dry most years. Two adjacent parcels with 'the same' right can have wildly different reliability depending on the priority date.
Where TerraScope checks it
We pull the decree from CDSS/HydroBase and rank the priority against the call history for that reach of stream.
Want this analysis for a specific Colorado property? Start an evaluation.