Colorado ditch companies, by the numbers
Every figure on this page is computed directly from the public records behind the DitchBook directory — Colorado Secretary of State business-entity data (standings refreshed monthly), DWR water-rights records, and DARCA membership. Nothing is hand-typed: the numbers here and the company pages they summarize are built from the same data in the same pass, so they can't disagree. Cite freely, with a link.
- Companies in the census
- 1,387
- Currently delinquent with the Secretary of State
- 122 — about 1 in 11
- Oldest incorporation on record
- 1865
- Earliest decreed water right (verified matches)
- 1852
- DARCA members
- 114
- Companies with a website on record
- 6 of 1,387 (0.4%)
- Companies matched to verified water structures
- 643
- Verified structures published
- 1,045 — 1,043 mapped
- Companies pinned on the map
- 643
How many are there?
The census counts 1,387 mutual ditch and reservoir companies — the largest free public census of them we know of, and growing as more are verified. Missing one? Tell us and it gets added.
Standing with the Secretary of State
Of the 1,376 census companies matched to a current Secretary of State record (standings as of August 3, 2026):
| Status | Companies | Share |
|---|---|---|
| In good standing | 784 | 57% |
| “Exists” (as recorded by the Secretary of State) | 441 | 32% |
| Delinquent | 122 | 8.9% |
| Voluntarily Dissolved | 17 | 1.2% |
| Noncompliant | 11 | 0.8% |
| Administratively Dissolved | 1 | 0.1% |
11 census companies have no row in the current Secretary of State pull — typically a name or registration mismatch still being reconciled, not a judgment about the company. Delinquency is usually missed paperwork by a volunteer secretary, not a defunct ditch — and it's fixable in one sitting.
How old are they?
By the year each company (or its present corporate entity) was incorporated with the state — many ditches are older than the corporation that now runs them:
| Incorporated | Companies | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Territorial era (before 1876) | 22 | 1.6% |
| 1876–1899 | 202 | 15% |
| 1900–1949 | 576 | 42% |
| 1950–1999 | 293 | 21% |
| 2000–present | 287 | 21% |
| No formation date in state records | 7 | 0.5% |
The ten oldest incorporations on record
| Year | Company | Town |
|---|---|---|
| 1865 | Big Thompson And Platte River Ditch Company | Milliken |
| 1865 | East Boulder Ditch Company | Denver |
| 1870 | Cottonwood Ditch Company | — |
| 1871 | Lower Clear Creek Ditch Company | Eastlake |
| 1871 | Lower Latham Ditch Company | Greeley |
| 1871 | McGinn Ditch Company | Boulder |
| 1871 | North Boulder Farmers Ditch Company | Longmont |
| 1871 | South Boulder Canon Ditch Company | — |
| 1872 | Farmer's Ditch Company | Longmont |
| 1872 | Lake Canal Company of Colorado | Severance |
New companies, old water
Colorado's rivers were claimed generations ago — and yet 287 companies in this census were incorporated since 2000, 46 of them in the last five years. That's not new water; it's old water getting new paperwork: handshake ditches finally incorporating (including acequias older than the state), lapsed companies being re-formed, laterals of big systems organizing themselves, and subdivided land turning one owner's private ditch into five families' shared one. The census catches them as the state registers them — how new ditch companies actually form is its own guide. The newest members of the registry:
| Incorporated | Company |
|---|---|
| 2026-06-30 | Lowline Irrigation Ditch Mutual Ditch Association |
| 2026-05-06 | Stirrup Creek Irrigation Water User Association |
| 2026-04-22 | Willis Ditch Company |
| Decade | New companies |
|---|---|
| 1980s | 59 |
| 1990s | 87 |
| 2000s | 133 |
| 2010s | 95 |
| 2020s | 59 |
The water
643 census companies have a verified match to Colorado DWR water-rights records (match table published August 20, 2026) — matches published only where state records agree beyond doubt, each carrying a citation link to the DWR record on its company page. Among those, the earliest decreed rights by decade:
| Decade of earliest decreed right | Companies |
|---|---|
| 1850s | 18 |
| 1860s | 150 |
| 1870s | 75 |
| 1880s | 195 |
| 1890s | 82 |
| 1900s | 63 |
| 1910s | 13 |
| 1920s | 8 |
| 1930s | 6 |
| 1940s | 4 |
| 1950s | 12 |
| 1960s | 5 |
| 1970s | 3 |
| 1980s | 5 |
| 1990s | 1 |
| 2010s | 3 |
The ten earliest decreed rights among verified matches
| Year | Company | Water source |
|---|---|---|
| 1852 | San Luis Peoples Ditch Company | Culebra Creek |
| 1852 | San Pedro Mutual Ditch Company | Culebra Creek |
| 1855 | El Coda Ditch Company | Rio San Antonio |
| 1855 | Guadalupe Main Ditch Company | Conejos River |
| 1855 | Romero Irrigation Company | Conejos River |
| 1856 | Conejos And San Rafael Ditch Company | Conejos River |
| 1856 | Sanchez Ditch And Reservoir Company | Culebra Creek |
| 1856 | Servietta Ditch Company | Conejos River |
| 1857 | Canon Ditch Company | Conejos River |
| 1857 | Cerro Ditch Company | Culebra Creek |
These are the earliest rights among the 643 companies with verified matches — not a claim about the earliest right in Colorado overall. 643 of the matched companies are plotted at their real headgates and reservoirs on the map.
By river basin
| Basin | Companies | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Arkansas | 69 | 5% |
| Colorado | 116 | 8.4% |
| Gunnison | 75 | 5.4% |
| Metro | 118 | 8.5% |
| North Platte | 3 | 0.2% |
| Rio Grande | 25 | 1.8% |
| South Platte | 190 | 14% |
| Southwest | 62 | 4.5% |
| Yampa | 13 | 0.9% |
| Other Colorado Ditch Companies | 716 | 52% |
The volunteer reality
Only 6 of the 1,387 companies (0.4%) have a website on record in the census — a handful more surely exist that we haven't found, but the picture is what it looks like. 114 are members of DARCA, the Ditch and Reservoir Company Alliance. Nearly all of these companies run on volunteer officers, a binder, and whoever kept the books before — which is the reality DitchBook exists for.