Water in Wyoming (sale, real estate, loan)

[blueheeler7]

First, I'd like to say we have been studying this forum for weeks and are enjoying it immensely and learning a lot. Thank you all for the information you've volunteered to those of us contemplating moving to WY.
I waded through all 38 pages of the previous water thread and understand the declining water resources. Most of it seemed to deal with Colarado. What I am wondering about is what is the water situation now in WY, especially in terms of who owns water rights? Do they automatically go with a piece of property or do they have to be specified in a deed. We were told when we visited WY 2 years ago, that you had to have deeded water rights to a brook, creek or river running through your property. Is it the same for the right to dig a well??
We raise beef in Maine and sure wish we could export some water to you! We have hay fields we can't get on, and won't get on til fall this year due to standing water. Decent hay is hard to come by in our area because of TOO MUCH rain. Thanks for any input or comments.

[sunsprit]

This has been a much discussed topic on the Wyoming forum, and I've posted many many pages about this. I'd advise you to go back through and research this ... as all of your questions have been asked and answered many times.

Briefly, again ... to hit the high points:

Water is a scarce item in this state and has been that way since the 1880's.

Domestic use water wells and/or permits, limited to 25 gpm, are available for that specific purpose. If you're buying a residence with a well, it most likely has a permit on file for it ... but it's still best to check it at the state engineer's office to be sure.

Irrigation water "rights" started being adjudicated by the courts when Wyoming was still a territory. "first in time is first in rights" was the legal concept. The available surface water for irrigation in Wyoming has been over awarded for many years. In the recent drought years, many junior water right holders did not receive surface water ... I didn't, and I hold the third most senior water rights in my area, but am "junior" to two large users upstream from me who took all the available water.

The water rights are specific to the property they were awarded to. You cannot take the water from one parcel and put it on another, whatever the source (ground or surface water) ... nor if you "own" a right, transfer, deliver, sell, loan, or otherwise give that water to anybody else. It is your right to take the functional water and deliver it to beneficial use on the property it was assigned, or leave it in the system for the next water right holder in due course to make the same decision.

Surface water on your land may have no benefit for you except the view, as others may own the water rights to it. All you can do is allow it to flow unimpeded downstream to the right holders. Make no assumptions about any surface water you see upon your land. Research research research to know what you own. Do not take the "word" of any real estate agent as to what you are buying, do your own due diligence and know for sure. Find out the permit or adjudication number, and what it grants in terms of use .... and how it ranks in seniority against your local other users. Contact the local "ditch rider" if need be to find out the functional water you may be able to get. There's also irrigation district water, which may be a water company in which you own "shares" to receive your proportionate amount of water from that which they have available each year. Talk to the folks who manage it to find out what they've been able to deliver to your property over the past few years.

So, if you buy property with intent to irrigate it, you'd best do your research in advance of what the surface water rights are for the property, and what the means of delivery are, and how much functional water has actually been received over the past decade(s). This year, 2009, is an exceptional year of water delivery and natural rainfall in many parts of Wyoming ... reservoirs that have been low or dry for years are being filled, and the water table is high enough that dryland that has been sparsely vegetated for years has enough grass on it to justify haying it. Don't count on this happening too often ... the people who bought the ranch I'm now on had it happen only once in 20 years, which was the year they saw the place and bought it with dreams of big cow production from all that forage. They went broke because one year out of 20 just didn't get the job done. The only other year that water was in abundance during that time was a flood which came through ... a combination of rainfall that blasted down the creek in a very short time; didn't give them any real irrigation benefit.

Typically, you will need in excess of 100 acres per cow/calf unit for most of the year around here, so scale your ranch purchase and cow production vision with that figure in mind. It takes a lot of land to raise cattle around here, especially in the dry years with minimal hay crops coming in to supplemental feed. At current sale barn prices of mid $50/100lbs, you'll need to be bringing in a lot of money to Wyoming for the ranchland I've seen on the market. It's being sold for a lot more than it's productive capacity to folks who don't need to make money from the land.

Groundwater for irrigation has been spoken for over many years. I don't know of any new well permits being awarded for that purpose, and there's a long waiting list (20-30+ years) of folks ahead of you if you filed today.

Stock water wells are still being approved.

[blueheeler7]

Many thanks for the detailed info. I did run across more info on this forum a few minutes ago and will study all of it. This forum is an awesome "look before you leap" tool!

[jody_wy]

[SIZE=3]Sunsprit hit it right. There is one other thing say you have a river flowing thru your property. The state owns the water but you own the ground under the water. Thus you can keep wading fishermen out. But boaters can float thru and fish, they can get out of their boat to go over under or around an obstruction , but must have their lines out of the water when doing so.[/SIZE]

[mtlogger]

Originally Posted by jody_wy

[SIZE=3]Sunsprit hit it right. There is one other thing say you have a river flowing thru your property. The state owns the water but you own the ground under the water. Thus you can keep wading fishermen out. But boaters can float thru and fish, they can get out of their boat to go over under or around an obstruction , but must have their lines out of the water when doing so.[/SIZE]

Yep, but it's just the opposite in Montana - and us wading anglers are thrilled.