Professional tool · Statewide public water screen
Ditch Finder
Start with a property, not a company name. Build a parcel-specific evidence packet with reviewed ditch geometry, verified WDID and company sources, official mapped surface water, explicit search status, and a closing verification order.
Statewide public screen
Parcel water screen
Official public hydrography
Public surface water
USGS mapped hydrography is a screening source, not a field inspection, survey, wetland or floodplain determination, water-right record, or statement that water is currently present. The combined “Lake” source class can include lakes, ponds, and reservoirs.
Persistent investigation
Create a private parcel case
Carry this screen into the workbench with its parcel boundary, measurements, WDIDs, company sources, and unresolved record searches intact.
Need a one-off packet instead? Order a verified closing packet or call Nick.
Parcel polygon: Colorado Public Parcels. Ditch geometry: DitchBook-reviewed public alignments. A geometry overlap is not proof of service, shares, an easement, or ownership.
Map-backed screening
Map near this address
Numbered structure points will match the results table below.
Orange geometry is DitchBook-reviewed and tied to published WDID/company evidence. Blue public hydrography comes from USGS and is not a WDID, company, ownership, service, or water-right claim. Absence from either source does not prove absence on the ground.
Regional contextNearby verified structure points
These point distances are useful for general research. In a completed parcel screen, they are not parcel-to-company evidence.
Loading the published structures list…
| Structure | WDID | Company | Distance |
|---|
DitchBook · Parcel water evidence packet
Property Water Evidence Report
Parcel-level conclusion
Address screening completed
Quantified parcel evidence
Official public hydrography
Public surface water
USGS 3DHP is a screening source, not a field inspection, survey, wetland or floodplain determination, water-right record, or statement that water is currently present. “Lake / pond / reservoir” preserves the source's combined Lake class.
Mapped exhibit
Parcel water map
Physical-system screen
Possible water movement
This view organizes mapped components around the parcel. It does not establish a complete delivery path, parcel service, ownership, shares, legal access, present use, or physical condition.
Evidence chain
Documented public-record connections
Audit trail
Source register and search status
| Record set | Status | Evidence or next action |
|---|
Regional structure context—not parcel evidence
These structure points are retained for general research. They are not evidence that the parcel is served by, owns shares in, or is burdened by the listed companies.
| Structure record | Company record | DWR location | Distance |
|---|
Generated in your browser from the official state parcel service, official USGS public hydrography, DitchBook-reviewed geometry, DitchBook's published company-to-WDID crosswalk, and linked Colorado public records. “Not searched” is never reported as “none found.” DitchBook only receives and stores a Weld packet if you choose Investigate this parcel.
Coverage and limitations
Type an address and this tool asks the U.S. Census Bureau's public geocoder to turn it into a latitude and longitude. The browser asks Colorado's public parcel service which polygon contains that coordinate, then checks DitchBook-reviewed alignments and official USGS 3DHP flowlines and waterbodies at or within one-half mile of that polygon. It also returns the nearest 15 company-linked structures within 25 miles as optional regional context.
Three different kinds of evidence
Verified irrigation evidence means a DitchBook-reviewed alignment is connected to published WDID and company sources. Public hydrography means the official USGS map shows a channel, drainageway, general canal, river area, canal area, or Lake-class waterbody; it does not identify a company or water right. Secretary verification required covers private company records such as shares, assessments, account status, and transfer requirements. The tool never turns one kind into another.
What "verified and published" means
A structure only appears here if DitchBook has matched it to a specific ditch or reservoir company at the tier-1 standard described on the methods page — the state's own DWR record has to name that company, never a fuzzy guess — and it has a defensible mapped point. Most points are DWR's own latitude/longitude. If DWR's coordinate is blank for an exact-name reservoir, DitchBook may use a clearly labeled approximate interior point from the official USGS NHD waterbody polygon; that is not a surveyed dam, outlet, or legal diversion point. As of this build, that's … of … published structures, representing … of the … matched companies; the remainder can't be placed or ranked honestly even though the company match itself is real.
What a missing result means — and doesn't
Colorado has far more ditches and reservoirs than DitchBook has verified so far. If nothing turns up near an address, that's a statement about DitchBook's coverage, not about the property — it does not mean no ditch or water right exists nearby. See buying land with a ditch for what to actually check before a purchase or closing: a title search and the county's own records, not this tool.
Straight-line distance, not ditch distance
The distance shown is the straight-line (great-circle) distance between the address and the structure's mapped point — not the distance along the ditch itself, a road, or a property boundary, and not a statement about which parcels the ditch actually serves. Two properties the same straight-line distance from a headgate can have very different relationships to it.
Screening stays in your browser
The address goes directly from your browser to the Census Bureau's geocoder. The resulting coordinate goes directly to Colorado's public parcel service, and the selected parcel envelope goes directly to the USGS hydrography service. DitchBook does not receive or store those screening requests. For Weld County only, choosing Investigate this parcel first discloses what will be stored, then sends the matched address, displayed parcel geometry, and evidence summary to DitchBook's private workbench. A verification request opens your own email app and sends nothing unless you choose to send it.