AquaDoneRite is a blockchain-based digital ledger system designed specifically for the administration of water rights under Colorado's Prior Appropriation doctrine. By representing water shares as Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) on a private Avalanche subnet, AquaDoneRite transforms the management of water rights from paper-based ledgers to cryptographically secured digital records.
The platform addresses critical challenges facing ditch companies, municipalities, and water administrators:
Replace vulnerable paper ledgers with immutable blockchain records that cannot be altered or lost.
Instant verification of water share ownership and complete chain of title.
Automated tracking of subdivided water interests through unlimited generations.
Consolidated billing, usage, and collection data across consecutive water systems.
AquaDoneRite preserves the legal framework of Colorado water law while bringing 21st-century technology to an industry still operating on 19th-century infrastructure. The platform does not change how water rights work—it changes how they are recorded, tracked, and verified.
Colorado's water rights system, established in the 1850s, predates modern record-keeping technology. Today, many ditch companies still maintain their official records in leather-bound ledgers—the same format used when these organizations were founded over a century ago.
This presents several critical challenges:
Colorado operates under the Prior Appropriation doctrine, summarized as "first in time, first in right." Unlike the Riparian rights system used in eastern states (where water rights attach to land ownership adjacent to water sources), Prior Appropriation allocates water based on the date water was first put to beneficial use.
Priority Date: The date water was first diverted and applied to beneficial use establishes seniority. During shortages, senior rights (older dates) are fulfilled before junior rights can divert.
Beneficial Use: Water must be put to a recognized productive purpose—agricultural irrigation, municipal supply, domestic use, or industrial application. The right to use water does not include the right to waste it.
Adjudication: Water rights are decreed through the water court system, establishing the legal parameters of each right including priority date, amount, source, point of diversion, and type of use.
Abandonment: A water right may be lost through non-use. Colorado law creates a rebuttable presumption of abandonment after 10 years of non-use (C.R.S. 37-92-402).
Transferability: Unlike Riparian rights, appropriative water rights can be bought, sold, and transferred separate from land ownership, subject to water court approval.
Most agricultural water in Colorado is delivered through mutual ditch companies—cooperative organizations formed by farmers to construct and maintain irrigation infrastructure. Shareholders own "shares" representing a proportional interest in the water delivered through the ditch system.
Key characteristics of ditch company shares:
Many municipalities and water districts receive their supply through "consecutive" systems—downstream infrastructure that draws from upstream sources. For example, a town might hold shares in a ditch company, then distribute that water through its own municipal system to dozens of connected subdivisions, businesses, and institutions.
This creates administrative complexity as water flows through multiple organizational boundaries, each with its own billing, metering, and record-keeping requirements.
AquaDoneRite digitizes water rights administration while preserving the legal framework that has governed Colorado water for over 150 years. The platform does not change how water rights work—it changes how they are recorded, tracked, and verified.
Each water share becomes a unique Non-Fungible Token with complete provenance from original adjudication to current holder.
Parent shares subdivide into fractional children with enforced unit conservation and unlimited generation tracking.
Track water from source ditch through all downstream systems with unified visibility.
Aggregate usage, assessments, and payments across all connected entities.
Each NFT captures the complete legal and operational attributes of a water right:
| Attribute Category | Data Elements |
|---|---|
| Decree Information | Case number, adjudication date, priority date, water division (1-7) |
| Ownership | Ditch company ID, share units, current holder address |
| Point of Diversion | Structure ID, GPS coordinates, source water body |
| Beneficial Use | Use type (irrigation, municipal, domestic, industrial), place of use |
| Status | Active, Suspended, Subdivided, Abandoned, In Adjudication |
| History | Complete transfer history, usage records, subdivision lineage |
AquaDoneRite operates on a private Avalanche subnet, providing the security and immutability of blockchain technology within a controlled environment suitable for legal records.
Avalanche was selected for its unique combination of features suitable for enterprise water rights administration:
AquaDoneRite consists of four interconnected smart contracts that implement the complete water rights administration lifecycle:
The core contract implementing ERC-721 NFTs with water rights-specific extensions.
Water Right Attributes:
Share Subdivision:
Status Management:
| Status | Description |
|---|---|
| ACTIVE | Normal operations, transferable |
| SUSPENDED | Temporarily restricted by administrator |
| SUBDIVIDED | Divided into child tokens |
| ABANDONED | Non-use determination by water commissioner |
| IN_ADJUDICATION | Pending water court action |
Registry of all ditch companies authorized to mint and manage water shares.
Tracks downstream water systems receiving supply from upstream sources.
Comprehensive billing, payment, and collection management.
Scarcity Enforcement: Cannot mint more shares than a company's registered total units
Authorization Verification: Only authorized wallets can mint for specific ditch companies
Cross-Validation: Decree division must match company's registered water division
Reentrancy Guards: All state-changing functions protected against reentrancy attacks
Scenario: The Town of Paonia holds 1/8 share in the North Fork Ditch Company, which it must subdivide across multiple municipal obligations.
Scenario: Water flows from a ditch company through the Town's treatment plant to 24 consecutive water systems serving rural subdivisions.
Scenario: A water right owner must prove beneficial use to defend against abandonment claim.
| Protection | Implementation |
|---|---|
| Access Control | Role-based permissions using OpenZeppelin AccessControl (Admin, Registrar, Ditch Company, Water Commissioner, Billing Operator, Payment Processor) |
| Reentrancy Protection | ReentrancyGuard on all state-changing functions; Checks-Effects-Interactions pattern |
| Data Integrity | Scarcity enforcement; cross-validation; balance invariant monitoring |
| Audit Trail | Every transaction emits indexed events; history queryable via The Graph indexer |
| Layer | Technology |
|---|---|
| Blockchain | Avalanche Private Subnet, Solidity 0.8.20, OpenZeppelin 4.9.6 |
| API | Cloudflare Workers, D1 Database, KV Cache |
| Frontend | React, TypeScript, Tailwind CSS |
| Development | Hardhat, Hardhat Ignition, The Graph (indexing) |
AquaDoneRite represents a fundamental modernization of water rights administration while preserving the legal principles that have governed Colorado water for over 150 years. By combining blockchain immutability with purpose-built smart contracts, the platform delivers:
Digital transformation of legacy systems, reduced administrative burden, instant verification, automated billing.
Unified view of holdings, transparent allocation, integrated consecutive system management.
24/7 access, instant ownership verification, clear subdivision lineage, simplified transfers.
Verified usage records, abandonment tracking, priority verification, immutable audit trail.
AquaDoneRite brings digital certainty to water rights administration—preserving the wisdom of Colorado's Prior Appropriation doctrine while delivering the transparency, efficiency, and reliability that modern water management demands.
AquaDoneRite
Digital Water Rights Ledger System
aquadonerite.com
This white paper is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice regarding water rights.
Consult with a qualified water attorney for specific legal guidance.
Document Version 1.0 | January 2026 | Contract Version v19