What are water rights, and why do they matter for land value?
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.
Water rights come in several forms: riparian rights attached to land touching a stream, appropriative rights earned by historical diversion and beneficial use, groundwater rights governed by state pumping rules, and contract water delivered by an irrigation district or federal project. Each has different reliability, and reliability is what appraisers actually price.
Reliability is measured by priority and history. A right with an 1890 priority date that has delivered water through every drought is worth far more than a 1975 junior right that gets curtailed in dry years. Appraisers look at decreed quantity, priority date, and actual delivery records — not just whether "the property has water."
For a buyer or borrower, the practical question is never "does this land have water" but "how much, how senior, and how enforceable." Two neighboring parcels can differ by millions in value on those three answers alone.
The Turnrow angle
Turnrow treats water as a core valuation input, not a checkbox. On irrigated ground we want the appraisal to state what the water right is, its priority, and its delivery history before we size a loan against 70% LTV.
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