Colorado · counties
Water in Archuleta County
What the state and federal record says about water across Archuleta County. Each figure names the agency it came from.
Can I drill a well here?
Yes on most land, for up to three homes, a garden and livestock
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Household well, any lot size
A household well can serve up to three homes, one acre of lawn and garden, and livestock, whatever the size of the lot.
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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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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.
- 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 Archuleta County
- 299household well permits issued since 2015
- 51of them for use inside the house only
- 248for full household use
- 188feet, the typical depth
- 10gallons a minute, the typical yield
CDSS well permits Decided by: DWR, at permit application. Appeals go to the water judge within 35 days.
- 1,507 Live water rights across 1,521 square miles
- 2,429 Wells drilled across 1,521 square miles
- 13,708 ac Irrigated ground across 1,521 square miles
- 150 ft Well depth middle value across 415 of 1,521 square miles
- 0 days Days called out middle value across 208 of 1,521 square miles
Point at any square mile to read what is on it. Hover the maps below to compare them.
Archuleta 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
1,521 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.
Permits here expire before anyone drills
96 permits, 4% of all issued, ran out with no well ever completed, against 2% in the median county. Permission is not a well, and permission expires.
CDSS well permit action history 5 of 64 counties
4% here 5th of 64 One bar per Colorado county from lowest to highest. Point at one to name it.
A lot of the water decreed here was never built
9% of rights are conditional only. A court said somebody may build it and nobody has.
CDSS water rights, net amounts 12 of 58 counties
9% here 12th of 58 One bar per Colorado county from lowest to highest. Point at one to name it.
A lot of this county is wet ground
64% of sections carry poorly drained soil, meaning a water table close to the surface for part of the year. A foundation and septic constraint, and often the most productive ground on a property.
USDA SSURGO soil survey 17 of 63 counties
64% here 17th of 63 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
36% of sections carry soil the USDA classes as 'prime farmland if irrigated'. 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 38 of 56 counties
36% here 38th of 56 One bar per Colorado county from lowest to highest. Point at one to name it.
For one parcel in Archuleta 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.
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