Colorado ยท county water record
Water in Delta 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.
- 4,732 Live water rights across 1,218 square miles
- 2,525 Wells drilled across 1,218 square miles
- 67,445 ac Irrigated ground across 1,218 square miles
- 92 ft Well depth middle value across 421 of 1,218 square miles
- 85 days Days called out middle value across 474 of 1,218 square miles
Point at any square mile to read what is on it. Hover the maps below to compare them.
Delta 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
1,218 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
Reservoirs here are under a storage restriction
9 dams here are restricted, meaning the state will not let them fill to their decreed capacity until repairs are made. A storage right behind a restricted dam is water that legally exists and physically cannot be held.
Colorado Dam Safety 2 of 39 counties
9 here 2nd of 39 One bar per Colorado county from lowest to highest. Point at one to name it.
Stands out
Dams here are rated unsatisfactory
9 of this county's 117 dams carry an unsatisfactory condition rating. A storage right behind a failing dam is water you cannot count on.
Colorado Dam Safety 2 of 42 counties
9 here 2nd of 42 One bar per Colorado county from lowest to highest. Point at one to name it.
Stands out
Much of what stores water here predates the rules
463 structures here were in place before 1972, when Colorado began requiring a permit to build one, against 105 across the state. They are lawful because they are old, their records are thin, and what a buyer inherits is whatever the state happens to have written down.
CDSS structures 4 of 59 counties
463 here 4th of 59 One bar per Colorado county from lowest to highest. Point at one to name it.
Worth knowing
There are dams here that would take lives if they failed
24 of this county's 117 dams are rated high hazard. Hazard is about what is DOWNSTREAM rather than about the dam's condition, so a high-hazard rating means people or roads below it, and it is what drives the inspection and the owner's liability.
Colorado Dam Safety 6 of 54 counties
24 here 6th of 54 One bar per Colorado county from lowest to highest. Point at one to name it.
Stands out
Water here is still being fought over
15 water court applications named this county since 2021, the most recent in 2026. Every one is a public document you can read.
Colorado water court resumes 4 of 49 counties
15 here 4th of 49 One bar per Colorado county from lowest to highest. Point at one to name it.
Context
A lot of this county is wet ground
46% 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 26 of 59 counties
46% here 26th of 59 One bar per Colorado county from lowest to highest. Point at one to name it.
Context
Half the wells drilled here never had a pump put in
59% 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 28 of 60 counties
59% here 28th of 60 One bar per Colorado county from lowest to highest. Point at one to name it.
Context
Water systems here have unresolved health violations
1 of this county's 30 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 29 of 44 counties
1 here 29th of 44 One bar per Colorado county from lowest to highest. Point at one to name it.
Context
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 33 of 52 counties
36% here 33rd of 52 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 Delta County