Colorado ยท county water record
Water in Bent County
What the state and federal record says about water here, before you look at any particular piece of ground. Every finding names the agency it came from.
- 422 Live water rights across 1,512 square miles
- 1,671 Wells drilled across 1,512 square miles
- 62,152 ac Irrigated ground across 1,512 square miles
- 165 ft Well depth middle value across 492 of 1,512 square miles
- 365 days Days called out middle value across 139 of 1,512 square miles
Point at any square mile to read what is on it. Hover the maps below to compare them.
Bent County by the square mile
Every finding on this page is one number for the whole county. These are the same records placed on the ground they came from.
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
1,512 surveyed sections, drawn one square mile to a square. The shading is scaled against every county in Colorado, so a colour 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.
Worth knowing
Half the wells drilled here never had a pump put in
73% 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 9 of 60 counties
73% here 9th of 60 One bar per Colorado county from lowest to highest. Point at one to name it.
Worth knowing
Ground here is prime farmland, but only if it is irrigated
69% 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 13 of 52 counties
69% here 13th of 52 One bar per Colorado county from lowest to highest. Point at one to name it.
Stands out
Every town here drinks the same water a well would draw
All 4 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 56 counties
100% here 1st of 56 One bar per Colorado county from lowest to highest. Point at one to name it.
Worth knowing
Wells here have had to be re-drilled deeper
29 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 17 of 59 counties
29 here 17th of 59 One bar per Colorado county from lowest to highest. Point at one to name it.
Worth knowing
There are many impoundments here with no decreed storage right
1,051 reservoirs of record carry no storage decree. Each one is a question somebody has not answered.
CDSS structures 6 of 58 counties
1,051 here 6th of 58 One bar per Colorado county from lowest to highest. Point at one to name it.
Context
Water systems here have unresolved health violations
2 of this county's 4 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 20 of 44 counties
2 here 20th of 44 One bar per Colorado county from lowest to highest. Point at one to name it.
Context
A lot of this county is wet ground
26% 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 39 of 59 counties
26% here 39th of 59 One bar per Colorado county from lowest to highest. Point at one to name it.
This is the county. Your question is probably a property.
None of the above is about a particular parcel. Water is not parcel-shaped: the ditch serving the ground runs through other people's land and the senior right that curtails it sits somewhere else, which is why the state files by survey section rather than by property. Check an address and you get the square mile it sits in, with the wells, the rights and what was actually diverted.
Check a property in Bent County