Question 1

What are water rights, and why do they matter for land value?

Accepted Answer

A water right is the legal authority to divert and use water on a parcel — it is separate from owning the dirt. On irrigated ground, water routinely accounts for 30–70% of appraised value. The same 100 acres can appraise at $3,000 per acre dry and $15,000 per acre with senior water.

Question 2

What is the difference between riparian rights and prior appropriation, and which states use which?

Accepted Answer

Riparian rights attach to land bordering a waterway and are shared among neighbors; prior appropriation ranks users by date — "first in time, first in right." Roughly the eastern 31 states follow riparian doctrine; most of the 17 western states follow prior appropriation; California, Texas, and a few others blend both.

Question 3

What is an acre-foot, and how much water does an acre of crops actually need?

Accepted Answer

An acre-foot is the water needed to cover one acre a foot deep — 325,851 gallons. Most irrigated crops need 1.5 to 4 acre-feet per acre per season: wine grapes run roughly 1 to 2.5, alfalfa 4 to 6, almonds 3.5 to 4.5, pasture 3 to 5, depending on climate.

Question 4

Do water rights transfer automatically when I buy the land?

Accepted Answer

Often, but not automatically — it depends on the type of right and how the deed is written. Riparian rights follow the land. Appropriative rights are appurtenant by default in most western states but can be reserved by the seller, and some states require a separate filing to complete the transfer.

Question 5

How do I verify a property's water rights before I buy?

Accepted Answer

Start with the state water agency's public database — nearly every western state lets you search rights by owner, parcel, or stream. Pull the right's number, priority date, decreed amount, place of use, and status, then match that paper record against what is physically being irrigated. It is the same file Turnrow reviews at underwriting.

Question 6

What does "use it or lose it" mean? Can a water right really be forfeited or abandoned?

Accepted Answer

Yes. In prior appropriation states, a water right not put to beneficial use for a statutory period — commonly 5 years, ranging from 3 to 10 by state — can be forfeited back to the state or declared abandoned. Riparian rights, by contrast, generally survive non-use.

Question 7

How are groundwater rights different from surface water rights?

Accepted Answer

Surface water rights govern diversions from streams, rivers, and reservoirs; groundwater rights govern pumping from wells, and the two run under different rules in almost every state. Texas lets landowners pump nearly without limit under rule of capture, while Arizona, Nebraska, and California's SGMA basins meter and cap pumping.

Question 8

What is a well permit, and does an existing well convey with the property?

Accepted Answer

A well permit is state or county authorization to drill and operate a well, typically specifying location, depth, casing, and allowed use. The physical well conveys with the land as an improvement, but the permit or associated pumping right may need a separate ownership transfer filing — states like Colorado and Nevada require one.

Question 9

What is an irrigation district, and what are its assessments?

Accepted Answer

An irrigation district is a local government entity that holds water rights or federal project contracts and delivers water to farms inside its boundaries. Members pay assessments — commonly $20 to $250 per acre per year plus per-acre-foot delivery charges — and unpaid assessments become liens on the land, often senior to a mortgage. Turnrow verifies district standing on every district-served loan.

Question 10

How does SGMA affect California agricultural land?

Accepted Answer

SGMA — the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act of 2014 — requires California's overdrafted groundwater basins to reach sustainable pumping by 2040 (2042 for medium-priority basins). In practice it means pumping allocations, meters, and fees for wells that pumped freely for a century, and it is already repricing land across the San Joaquin Valley.

Question 11

Can water rights be sold separately from the land, and what does that do to value?

Accepted Answer

In most prior appropriation states, yes — appropriative rights can be severed and sold or leased apart from the land through a state-approved change process. Severing water can strip 40–70% of an irrigated parcel's value: the land reverts to dryland pricing, and municipal buyers often pay more for the water than farmers can.

Question 12

What are ditch rights and ditch easements?

Accepted Answer

Ditch rights are your entitlement to carry water through a canal or lateral — often held as shares in a mutual ditch company — and ditch easements are the legal right for that ditch to cross land, yours or a neighbor's. Both are essential and both are easy to overlook: a water right you cannot convey to the field is worthless.

Question 13

How do drought restrictions and curtailment orders actually work?

Accepted Answer

In appropriation states, curtailment runs strictly by priority date: when supply falls short, the state orders juniors to stop diverting, in reverse seniority, until seniors are satisfied. A 1910 right may divert its full decree in a drought year while a 1978 right on the same stream is shut off completely.

Question 14

How do lenders underwrite water when financing agricultural land?

Accepted Answer

Lenders underwrite water as collateral reliability: what right serves the land, how senior it is, whether it legally conveys, and whether it survived recent droughts. At Turnrow, water evidence feeds directly into the appraised value we lend against — up to 70% LTV, up to $1.5M, with a term sheet in 24–48 hours.

Water Rights