Municipal & Industrial Water Leases
Cities and industry pay the top of the market. Senior agricultural rights are what they lease.
Municipal and industrial lessees, cities, utilities, data centers, and manufacturers, consistently pay the highest rates for leased water because reliability is worth more to them than to any other user. A senior agricultural right in a growth corridor is exactly what they need, and leasing lets them secure it without the politics and cost of buying farms.
The workhorse structures are the interruptible or dry-year lease, where a city pays for the option to call your water in shortage years while you keep farming in normal years, and the straight term lease that firms up a utility supply plan. Both leave title and priority with you.
These deals are negotiated, not posted, which puts unrepresented owners at a disadvantage. The utility knows every comparable in the basin. You should too, before the first phone call.
Ideal for
- Senior rights within reach of a growing city or utility service area
- Owners near industrial corridors, data centers, or energy projects
- Districts and companies with surplus firm yield
- Owners approached directly by a municipality who want leverage
From "what do I even have?" to a priced asset
Most owners negotiate water deals exactly once in their lives, against counterparties who do it every week. The valuation levels that field before the first phone call.
- 01Day 0
Tell us what you hold
A short intake: the right, shares, or land, and the state it sits in. No documents required to start.
- 02Days 1-3
Records check + valuation
We confirm the right in state records and bracket its value against sourced comparables and basin demand.
- 03Same week
See your options
The demand map for your water: bank rates, lease structures, and the premium counterparties worth approaching.
- 04Your call
Move when ready
We connect you with the vetted broker, program, or counterparty that fits, or you take the numbers and act on your own.
Other lease types
Municipal Leases: FAQ
Why do cities lease water instead of buying it?
Buying agricultural rights outright is slow, expensive, and politically fraught, the buy-and-dry problem. Leasing, especially dry-year option leases, gives a city drought reliability at a fraction of purchase cost while keeping land in production. For the owner it means recurring income without giving up the asset.
What is an interruptible or dry-year lease?
A structure where the city pays you a standby payment every year for the right to take your water only in declared shortage years, usually capped at a number of calls over the term. Colorado has a formal interruptible water supply agreement process through the State Engineer. You farm normally in most years and get paid a premium in the years the water is called.
What do municipal leases pay?
Materially more than agricultural rentals in the same basin, because the lessee is buying reliability. On the Colorado Front Range, reported irrigation and municipal lease rates run around $200 per acre foot per year, and negotiated dry-year options can carry both standby and exercise payments. Basin, seniority, and infrastructure access set the real number.
Find out what your water is worth before anyone else tells you.
Tell us what you hold. We bracket its value against sourced comparables and real demand in your basin, then point you at the strongest path: lease, bank, or sell. Confidential, and yours to act on however you like.
- A defensible range, anchored to sourced comparables
- The demand map for your basin: who would pay and why
- Reply within one business day, confidential throughout