Helping people for 25 years

WORLAND – For 25 years Wyoming Water Rights Consulting has been helping property owners from around the state identify, understand and manage their water rights. They even go on-site to assess the conditions of the water rights and water facilities and assist clients with changing and obtaining water rights.

"I started the company back in 1992 to offer professional water rights management services to folks throughout the state. I was getting questions all the time when I worked for the state [Wyoming State Engineer's Office] as to what were the water rights and these were questions from land owners and ranch owners and farmers that have had property for many years, sometimes generations. I recognized that there was a need out there to help people understand and know what water rights they actually had on the ground. We call those water rights of record and that's what's of record in the state engineer's office," Wyoming Water Rights Consulting owner Todd Rhodes said. "Water rights are very important and a very important property right, so we work very hard to manage that asset for our client, such that they have that for the future. Adds value to the property and certainly if they are used to fullest extent they can add quite a bit of bottom line to agricultural interest," he added.

Some people, especially those who have never had to deal with water rights, can easily become confused about the intricateness of water rights. "By [the Wyoming] Constitution, Wyoming the state, owns all the water in Wyoming in the natural water courses and underground water. Where you have a need to use some water you must apply for a permit or obtain a water right, you can purchase water rights in Wyoming from other water right holders. Sometimes you are blessed that there is water rights on your property, and of course when you buy a property often we will be contacted by the seller and or the buyer to do a water rights abstract so that they know what they are getting and what water rights come with the property. That's really important, because it factors in whether you have green or brown. Right here for instance in this local, Worland, it's about 7.6 inches of precipitation total annually on average. That's not much water, you can't grow much with 7.6 inches of precipitation and of course most of it doesn't come when you are actually wanting to grow something. You have to water your lawn, you have to irrigate your field, you have to irrigate your pasture, you need water for your stock, and you need water to consume and all those things. Wyoming recognized the importance and the limited supply of water in Wyoming and so our constitution calls for the water to be held by the state and that way people can then obtain a water right, and by the way Wyoming follows the Prior Appropriation Doctrine of water law, which is often quoted as, 'first in time is first in right.' It relates to the priority date of the water right, every water right has a priority date. The oldest water rights have first dibs on the water. Most of the time during the run off period there is plenty of water to go around, most years. But as the stream flow starts to wane, you have less water in the creek and of course the demand goes up because it's starting to get warmer and things are growing and to keep up with that crop water demand you have to supplement what Mother Nature is giving you, so we have to irrigate. There are times when the supply of the water does not match the demand for the water and so 'Supply versus Demand,' kicks in," Rhodes explained. When the supply doesn't meet the demand people with newer water rights can have their use cut-off until Mother Nature restores the balance, he added.

Rhodes explained that water rights and water law is quite a complex issue with a lot of different elements that come into play such as beneficial use, terms and conditions of water rights, shared ditches and different types of water rights such as ground water rights and surface water rights just to name a few.

Many definitions under water law and water rights have different meaning depending on the context. "Beneficial use is a very important element of water law and water rights in Wyoming and our beneficial uses such as irrigation, municipal and domestic and all those kinds of things, but when most people talk about beneficial use they are talking about appropriating the water to the intended use, the intended points of use from the intended source, such that there is some recognized benefit. Most often its some sort of economic gain, for instance, irrigated pasture is considered a beneficial use of water; you are producing forage for your livestock to consume. It doesn't necessarily have to be a cultivated crop. Beneficial use can also be under a stock water right, just simply having a stock tank out there in the pasture for your horse to drink. Domestic use, we all know what domestic use is, well there is actually a legal definition of domestic use and stock use in Wyoming. All of those things come into play as to knowing what water rights you have, what you should be doing with them and protecting them for the generations to come," Rhodes explained.

Over the last 25 years, Rhodes has worked hard to make sure that all his client's needs are met. "We've developed these serves in the last 25 years and perfected them to identify all the water rights of record, no matter when they are or where they are and then assist people with perfecting those rights to match what's on the ground and also assisting them to develop the water and use the water such that they are using all the water rights. There are two sides to the coin if you will in water law and so you have the water rights of record and the actual use on the ground. Quite often there is a difference and we specialize in correcting those differences, often by a combination of changing the water rights or adding to the water rights or both and also helping property owners utilize their water on the ground in accordance with the water rights to the fullest extent allowed by law. So we work with the state engineer's office, I have a great rapport with the staff of the state engineer's office and enjoy working with those talented folks down there on a daily basis," Rhodes said.

The company has grown from a one, man operation 25 years ago to having six employees and continues to grow. Rhodes said that in 2007 a Land Survey Division was added. He also stated that the company has a drone with the latest technology with GPS and photographic imagery allowing him them to do large scale surveys, pipelines etc. "We also have an Engineering Division, we have a very skilled staff. I am very blessed to have the staff that I have and the clients that we have all around the state. Wyoming is bounded by six neighboring states and through the years I have been fortunate to work for clients that have properties within a stone's throw or even against all six of those states, so we do indeed cover the whole state," Rhodes said.