Colorado · counties
Water in Delta County
What the state and federal record says about water across Delta County. Each figure names the agency it came from.
Can I drill a well here?
It depends on your lot: its size, and when it was created
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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.
- 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 Delta County
- 388household well permits issued since 2015
- 125of them for use inside the house only
- 263for full household use
- 120feet, the typical depth
- 13gallons a minute, the typical yield
CDSS well permits Decided by: DWR, at permit application. Appeals go to the water judge within 35 days.
- 4,755 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
- 65 days Days called out middle value across 540 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
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
1,218 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.
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 40 counties
9 here 2nd of 40 One bar per Colorado county from lowest to highest. Point at one to name it.
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 43 counties
9 here 2nd of 43 One bar per Colorado county from lowest to highest. Point at one to name it.
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 in the median county. 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.
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 56 counties
24 here 6th of 56 One bar per Colorado county from lowest to highest. Point at one to name it.
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 63 counties
46% here 26th of 63 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
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 29 of 64 counties
59% here 29th of 64 One bar per Colorado county from lowest to highest. Point at one to name it.
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 45 counties
1 here 29th of 45 One bar per Colorado county from lowest to highest. Point at one to name it.
Water here is called out for a large part of the year
The median right is out of priority 84 days a year on DWR's own analysis. The worst year on record here was 344 days.
DWR administrative call analysis 33 of 49 counties
84 days here 33rd of 49 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 37 of 56 counties
36% here 37th of 56 One bar per Colorado county from lowest to highest. Point at one to name it.
For one parcel in Delta 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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