Did You Know? Water Rights For Outdoor Usage

If your property falls within the Vidler Water Company boundaries of Summit County, you are likely able to participate in their water augmentation program by purchasing water rights to allow you to expand existing indoor rights to the outdoors and add an accessory dwelling (i.e. guest house), irrigated land or surface area (i.e. pond).

There are a few steps you will need to investigate to determine your eligibility and what the cost will be for your extended rights. Specifically, there are different costs based on whether you have an Exempt or Non-Exempt Well. If you have a Non-Exempt Well* you will most likely pay only the fees of adding, or augmenting, the rights outside as there most likely is existing augmentation for your property or subdivision. However, if you have an Exempt Well** you will have to augment the water inside your property too, which is an additional cost to the fee you pay for the outside expansion.

Vidler Water Company’s website is a great resource for the process and forms needed for the augmentation of your property. Visit the website and click on the area to the bottom right of the site “Residents of Summit County”. From there, you can access Augmentation Application Process Instructions, the Application itself and the Water Rights Purchase Price Worksheet, all of which will give you a better idea on cost. If you’d prefer to call Vidler Water Company, 775.885.5000.

Once the new water rights are obtained, it is important to remember they stay with the property, not the property owner. The addition of a water feature, guest house or outdoor irrigation should be valuable additions to your property’s value if you consider selling your home down the road.

*Identify a Non-Exempt Well Permit # as a series of numbers followed by –F or –FR

**Identify an Exempt Well Permit # as a series of numbers followed by no Suffix or –A

Posted by Breckenridge Associates Real Estate on
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