Ditch Neighbor Q&A

You are a Dry Creek Lateral neighbor if the Ditch runs through or along the edge of your property. To help us all act as good neighbors and to avoid misunderstandings, some frequently-asked questions (and some that should be more frequently asked!) are answered here.

Q: What is the ditch, anyway?

The Dry Creek Lateral Ditch carries water that is gathered from various rivers and reservoirs to farmers and other landowners who own shares in the Dry Creek Lateral Ditch Company. The Ditch Company maintains the ditch in order to ensure that water gets to each of its shareholders as efficiently as possible.

Q: Who can use the water in the ditch?

Only shareholders in the Ditch Company. Many of our neighbors who are new to the area may come from eastern states, from the Pacific Coast, or from cities in Colorado, and the laws governing our state’s water rights may be unfamiliar to you. Colorado uses a legal system based on ownership of water based on “prior appropriation.” That means that people who used water first have the only legal right to continue to use that water. Shareholders in the Dry Creek Lateral Ditch Company got their rights to the water that flows in the ditch in the late 1800’s.

In eastern states, water law is based on a “riparian” system, and if a stream or river flows through your property, you have a right to use a certain amount of it for your own purposes. This is not the case in Colorado – a ditch, or even a river, may flow through your property and unless you own water rights, you are not permitted to use the water.

While shareholders already own the water, they pay significant amounts each year to have the water carried through the ditch, and they also pay assessments to the Ditch Company for the maintenance and operation of the ditch. So the water in the ditch belongs to someone who owns it and pays to have it delivered to them.

The water in the ditch is literally the lifeblood of the farmers who grow crops with the water they own in the fields in our area. Water rights are valuable property to those who own them, and getting their water is critical to their livelihood. Our part of Colorado would be a desert if it were not for the water that irrigates crops here. Having irrigated farms is what gives the area around Berthoud its rural character and open spaces.

To be blunt, taking water from the ditch is theft of someone else’s property. Old-timers throughout Colorado will recount tales of feuds and even shootings over the theft or suspected theft of water. While those Wild West days are gone, the Ditch Company always takes water theft seriously, and any suspicions of water theft from the ditch will be reported to the Larimer County Sheriff for investigation. (This includes the taking even of what may seem like “small amounts” – watering your garden or filling your horse trough.)

Q: One of my neighbors said the ditch company has a “right-of-way” through my property. What does this mean?

A ditch company has a right-of-way, also called an easement, which includes not only the ditch itself, but sufficient area on either side to give access to the ditch for its operations and maintenance. In some cases, a specified width will be included in a document of title, but in most cases, the actual width and location is left undefined.

Q: This right-of-way doesn’t show on the record of title to my property – does that mean there isn’t one?

Many ditch easements were established more than a century ago when no one saw the need to record them. The law still upholds them, whether or not they are on a record, simply because they are authorized under Colorado law.

Q: How can I expect the Ditch Company to use its right-of-way across my property?

During the summer and early fall months when water is running in the ditch, the “ditch rider” drives along almost all of the ditch daily to open headgates for those shareholders running water, and to check that water is flowing properly in the ditch. So on most properties the ditch runs through, you will see a lane wide enough for a pick-up truck and you will see the ditch rider driving on it frequently.

Where there is a problem with the water flow – for example, a plugged-up culvert or a leak in the ditch – the ditch rider or other workers may use either hand tools or larger equipment to deal with the problem. As a practical matter, this means that dried weeds and other trash may be removed from the ditch and piled on the bank, rip-rap may be dumped into the ditch, etc. The ditch company does have a legal right to maintain its ditch in this way.

During the rest of the year, especially in the spring as we make preparations to run water, the Ditch Company undertakes maintenance and repair operations. This may involve backhoes or other heavy equipment, it may include spraying of weeds and shrubs, and it almost always involves burning at least some sections of the ditch to remove accumulated brush.

The Ditch Company’s easement allows it sufficient access to carry out its maintenance, and access to its easement must be kept open. It is important that landowners along the ditch not build structures, such as tool sheds or fences, or plant gardens in the ditch easement, unless you are willing to have them destroyed during burning or other maintenance operations on the ditch. No fences should be built across the ditch or its right-of-way.

Q: What else do I need to know about the Ditch Company rights on my property?

The Ditch Company has the legal right to have its ditch remain undisturbed by property owners. That means that you may not build a quaint footbridge over it, allow your children to make dams in it, or let your livestock trample its banks as they drink from it.