Colorado · counties
Water in Baca County
What the state and federal record says about water across Baca County. Each figure names the agency it came from.
Can I drill a well here?
Mostly yes, as a small-capacity well under the Ground Water Commission
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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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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.
- Designated basins here: Southern High Plains.
- Groundwater management districts here can set tighter limits than the statute: Southern High Plains.
What has actually been permitted in Baca County
- 58household well permits issued since 2015
- 1of them for use inside the house only
- 57for full household use
- 410feet, the typical depth
- 10gallons a minute, the typical yield
CDSS well permits Decided by: The Ground Water Commission, through DWR, at permit application.
- 224 Live water rights across 2,574 square miles
- 3,265 Wells drilled across 2,574 square miles
- 0 ac Irrigated ground across 2,574 square miles
- 274 ft Well depth middle value across 1,386 of 2,574 square miles
- 0 days Days called out middle value across 102 of 2,574 square miles
Point at any square mile to read what is on it. Hover the maps below to compare them.
Baca 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
2,574 surveyed sections, drawn 2 by 2 miles 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.
Nobody measures what most structures here divert
96% of rights sit on structures where DWR keeps no diversion record, against 51% in the median county. There is no way to check the paper against what actually came through.
CDSS water rights, net amounts 1 of 60 counties
96% here 1st of 60 One bar per Colorado county from lowest to highest. Point at one to name it.
Structures here have measured years where nothing came through
100% of measured structures recorded at least one year diverting nothing, against 25% in the median county. A decree does not stop a headgate running dry.
DWR diversion records 1 of 60 counties
100% here 1st of 60 One bar per Colorado county from lowest to highest. Point at one to name it.
Much of this county sits in a designated groundwater basin
97% of well permits are inside SOUTHERN HIGH PLAINS, where new permits are restricted or unavailable. Before anything else about water here, find out whether you can get one.
CDSS well permits 4 of 18 counties
97% here 4th of 18 One bar per Colorado county from lowest to highest. Point at one to name it.
Wells here have to go a long way down
The typical well is 270 feet deep, against 105 ft in the median county, drawing not stated. Depth is the cost before the water is.
CDSS well permits 4 of 64 counties
270 ft here 4th of 64 One bar per Colorado county from lowest to highest. Point at one to name it.
The water table here sits far below the surface
The median static water level is 133 feet down, against 48 ft in the median county. That is pumping cost every day the well runs.
CDSS well permits 6 of 64 counties
133 ft here 6th of 64 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
75% 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 10 of 56 counties
75% here 10th of 56 One bar per Colorado county from lowest to highest. Point at one to name it.
Water systems here have unresolved health violations
3 of this county's 6 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 13 of 45 counties
3 here 13th of 45 One bar per Colorado county from lowest to highest. Point at one to name it.
Every town here drinks the same water a well would draw
All 6 of this county's community water systems run on groundwater rather than surface water. A municipal supply is the best-monitored well in the county, so its record is the closest thing to a free test of the aquifer under this ground.
EPA Safe Drinking Water Information System 1 of 59 counties
100% here 1st of 59 One bar per Colorado county from lowest to highest. Point at one to name it.
There are many impoundments here with no decreed storage right
1,935 reservoirs of record carry no storage decree. Each one is a question somebody has not answered.
CDSS structures 4 of 58 counties
1,935 here 4th of 58 One bar per Colorado county from lowest to highest. Point at one to name it.
Wells here have had to be re-drilled deeper
26 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 20 of 62 counties
26 here 20th of 62 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
57% 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 31 of 64 counties
57% here 31st of 64 One bar per Colorado county from lowest to highest. Point at one to name it.
For one parcel in Baca 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 Baca County