Colorado ยท county water record
Water in Chaffee 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.
- 1,354 Live water rights across 1,036 square miles
- 7,730 Wells drilled across 1,036 square miles
- 0 ac Irrigated ground across 1,036 square miles
- 125 ft Well depth middle value across 342 of 1,036 square miles
- 336 days Days called out middle value across 200 of 1,036 square miles
Point at any square mile to read what is on it. Hover the maps below to compare them.
Chaffee 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
1,036 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.
Stands out
Water here is called out for a large part of the year
The median right is out of priority 365 days a year on DWR's own analysis, against 160 days across the state. The worst year on record here was 366 days.
DWR administrative call analysis 1 of 20 counties
365 days here 1st of 20 One bar per Colorado county from lowest to highest. Point at one to name it.
Stands out
Water systems here have unresolved health violations
9 of this county's 18 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 4 of 44 counties
9 here 4th of 44 One bar per Colorado county from lowest to highest. Point at one to name it.
Worth knowing
A lot of the water here is decreed to stay in the stream
5% of rights are instream flow rights, held by the Water Conservation Board to keep water in the channel rather than take it out. They are senior water that will never be diverted, and on a short stream they set the floor everyone junior to them lives under.
CDSS water rights, net amounts 6 of 46 counties
5% here 6th of 46 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
40 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 11 of 59 counties
40 here 11th of 59 One bar per Colorado county from lowest to highest. Point at one to name it.
Worth knowing
A lot of this county is wet ground
67% 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 15 of 59 counties
67% here 15th of 59 One bar per Colorado county from lowest to highest. Point at one to name it.
Stands out
There are many impoundments here with no decreed storage right
1,111 reservoirs of record carry no storage decree. Each one is a question somebody has not answered.
CDSS structures 5 of 58 counties
1,111 here 5th of 58 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 Chaffee County