Colorado · counties
Water in Elbert County
What the state and federal record says about water across Elbert 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: Kiowa Bijou, Upper Big Sandy.
- Groundwater management districts here can set tighter limits than the statute: Big Sandy.
What has actually been permitted in Elbert County
- 2,156household well permits issued since 2015
- 24of them for use inside the house only
- 2,132for full household use
- 380feet, the typical depth
- 12gallons a minute, the typical yield
CDSS well permits Decided by: The Ground Water Commission, through DWR, at permit application.
- 1,559 Live water rights across 1,854 square miles
- 10,912 Wells drilled across 1,854 square miles
- 1,826 ac Irrigated ground across 1,854 square miles
- 222 ft Well depth middle value across 1,407 of 1,854 square miles
- 164 days Days called out middle value across 215 of 1,854 square miles
Point at any square mile to read what is on it. Hover the maps below to compare them.
Elbert 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
1,854 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.
A large share of the water rights on paper here are dead
Only 33% of this county's 4,691 rights are still live, against 94% in the median county. A records search here turns up a great deal of history alongside the water.
CDSS water rights, net amounts 1 of 60 counties
33% here 1st of 60 One bar per Colorado county from lowest to highest. Point at one to name it.
Many decrees here name a structure that no longer exists
67% of rights attach to a structure DWR marks abandoned, historical or non-existent, against 5% in the median county. A decree citing a ditch that is gone is a title problem, not a water supply.
CDSS water rights, net amounts 1 of 60 counties
67% here 1st of 60 One bar per Colorado county from lowest to highest. Point at one to name it.
Some rights here cannot be analysed for curtailment at all
DWR declines a call analysis for 87.7% of rights, against 1% in the median county. It declines wells, springs and reservoirs, so the curtailment picture here is thinner than the number of rights suggests.
DWR administrative call analysis 2 of 44 counties
87.7% here 2nd of 44 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 340 feet deep, against 105 ft in the median county, drawing denver basin bedrock. Depth is the cost before the water is.
CDSS well permits 2 of 64 counties
340 ft here 2nd 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 160 feet down, against 48 ft in the median county. That is pumping cost every day the well runs.
CDSS well permits 4 of 64 counties
160 ft here 4th of 64 One bar per Colorado county from lowest to highest. Point at one to name it.
Towns hold a large share of the water here
41% of rights allow municipal use, against 10% in the median county. Municipal rights are senior more often than not and rarely come back on the market, so they shape what is left for everyone else.
CDSS water rights, net amounts 6 of 58 counties
41% here 6th of 58 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
58% of well permits are inside KIOWA-BIJOU, where new permits are restricted or unavailable. Before anything else about water here, find out whether you can get one.
CDSS well permits 6 of 18 counties
58% here 6th of 18 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 15 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.
Water here is called out for a large part of the year
The median right is out of priority 206 days a year on DWR's own analysis. The worst year on record here was 366 days.
DWR administrative call analysis 20 of 49 counties
206 days here 20th 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
51% 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 27 of 56 counties
51% here 27th of 56 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 15 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.
For one parcel in Elbert 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 Elbert County