Colorado · counties
Water in Adams County
What the state and federal record says about water across Adams County. Each figure names the agency it came from.
Can I drill a well here?
It depends on where in the county the land is
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Where the lot decides (over-appropriated ground)
What a household well may serve depends on the lot's size and on when and how it was created:
Lot of 35 acres or more
A household well can serve up to three homes, one acre of lawn and garden, and livestock. A 35-acre tract platted as part of a subdivision counts as part of the subdivision instead.
Under 35 acres, created before June 1, 1972 or by a county exemption
A household well for use inside one house only. No lawn, garden or livestock.
Under 35 acres, in a subdivision approved June 1, 1972 or later
No well by right. DWR weighs every well in the subdivision together, so in practice the subdivision's own water supply plan decides what a well may do.
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Inside a designated groundwater basin
The Ground Water Commission's small-capacity rule applies instead: up to 50 gallons a minute and 5 acre-feet a year, for up to three homes and one acre.
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On a rule boundary
A basin or over-appropriation line crosses these sections, so the answer turns on where on the lot the well would sit.
- Designated basins here: Kiowa Bijou, Lost Creek.
- Groundwater management districts here can set tighter limits than the statute: Lost Creek, North Kiowa Bijou.
- One exempt well per legal parcel. Inside a town or a water district's service area DWR generally issues no household well permit.
What has actually been permitted in Adams County
- 1,016household well permits issued since 2015
- 25of them for use inside the house only
- 991for full household use
- 360feet, the typical depth
- 11gallons a minute, the typical yield
CDSS well permits Decided by: DWR, at permit application. Appeals go to the water judge within 35 days.
- 3,146 Live water rights across 1,190 square miles
- 16,059 Wells drilled across 1,190 square miles
- 20,373 ac Irrigated ground across 1,190 square miles
- 110 ft Well depth middle value across 811 of 1,190 square miles
- 158 days Days called out middle value across 220 of 1,190 square miles
Point at any square mile to read what is on it. Hover the maps below to compare them.
Adams County by the square mile
Each figure below is one number for the whole county. The map places the same records on the ground, square mile by square mile.
Live water rights. Decreed rights still on the books. This is where the paper water is, which is not the same map as where anybody drilled.
- none on record (bare ground)
- up to 1
- 2
- 3
- 4 to 6
- 7 to 16
- over 16
1,190 surveyed sections, drawn one square mile to a square. The shading is scaled against every county in Colorado, so a color means the same thing on any of these pages. The outline is the county boundary from the Census Bureau: ground inside the line and outside the shading is ground nobody has drilled, filed on or addressed. Aerial imagery is the USGS National Map.
Towns hold a large share of the water here
52% of rights allow municipal use, against 10% in the median county. Municipal rights are senior more often than not and rarely come back on the market, so they shape what is left for everyone else.
CDSS water rights, net amounts 3 of 58 counties
52% here 3rd of 58 One bar per Colorado county from lowest to highest. Point at one to name it.
Some rights here cannot be analysed for curtailment at all
DWR declines a call analysis for 69.2% of rights, against 1% in the median county. It declines wells, springs and reservoirs, so the curtailment picture here is thinner than the number of rights suggests.
DWR administrative call analysis 3 of 44 counties
69.2% here 3rd of 44 One bar per Colorado county from lowest to highest. Point at one to name it.
Ground here is prime farmland, but only if it is irrigated
93% of sections carry soil the USDA classes as 'prime farmland if irrigated', against 49% in the median county. That qualifier is the whole sentence: the soil is excellent and the classification depends on water reaching it. It is what an appraiser and a conservation easement both test against.
USDA SSURGO soil survey 3 of 56 counties
93% here 3rd of 56 One bar per Colorado county from lowest to highest. Point at one to name it.
Wells here get plugged and abandoned more than most
23.4% of well permits end in a plugging, against 10% in the median county, 3,627 wells in all. A well sealed shut is the clearest verdict a driller ever files.
CDSS well permit action history 4 of 64 counties
23.4% here 4th of 64 One bar per Colorado county from lowest to highest. Point at one to name it.
Wells here have had to be re-drilled deeper
60 wells carry a later record more than 20% deeper than their first. Colorado publishes no water-level trend, so a well going back down is the closest thing to one.
CDSS well permit action history 5 of 62 counties
60 here 5th of 62 One bar per Colorado county from lowest to highest. Point at one to name it.
Many decrees here name a structure that no longer exists
14% of rights attach to a structure DWR marks abandoned, historical or non-existent. A decree citing a ditch that is gone is a title problem, not a water supply.
CDSS water rights, net amounts 8 of 60 counties
14% here 8th of 60 One bar per Colorado county from lowest to highest. Point at one to name it.
Water systems here have unresolved health violations
5 of this county's 64 community water systems carry a health-based violation that has not been returned to compliance. Health-based means contamination or a treatment failure, not late paperwork.
EPA Safe Drinking Water Information System 8 of 45 counties
5 here 8th of 45 One bar per Colorado county from lowest to highest. Point at one to name it.
Dams here are rated unsatisfactory
3 of this county's 77 dams carry an unsatisfactory condition rating. A storage right behind a failing dam is water you cannot count on.
Colorado Dam Safety 16 of 43 counties
3 here 16th of 43 One bar per Colorado county from lowest to highest. Point at one to name it.
Most of the wells drilled here never had a pump put in
66% of constructed wells have no pump installation on record. Somebody paid to drill a hole and walked away from it. A permit says you may drill; this is what happened when people did.
CDSS well permit action history 18 of 64 counties
66% here 18th of 64 One bar per Colorado county from lowest to highest. Point at one to name it.
Nobody measures what most structures here divert
59% of rights sit on structures where DWR keeps no diversion record. There is no way to check the paper against what actually came through.
CDSS water rights, net amounts 21 of 60 counties
59% here 21st of 60 One bar per Colorado county from lowest to highest. Point at one to name it.
Water here is called out for a large part of the year
The median right is out of priority 137 days a year on DWR's own analysis. The worst year on record here was 365 days.
DWR administrative call analysis 28 of 49 counties
137 days here 28th of 49 One bar per Colorado county from lowest to highest. Point at one to name it.
For one parcel in Adams County
The figures above describe the whole county. The Land, Development and Rights reports answer for one parcel: what water conveys, what a well permit would allow, and what the county requires to split it. Each answer gives the evidence within a mile and who decides.
Search an address in Adams County