Colorado ยท county water record
Water in Garfield 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.
- 7,237 Live water rights across 3,072 square miles
- 7,508 Wells drilled across 3,072 square miles
- 42,345 ac Irrigated ground across 3,072 square miles
- 116 ft Well depth middle value across 686 of 3,072 square miles
- 52 days Days called out middle value across 800 of 3,072 square miles
Point at any square mile to read what is on it. Hover the maps below to compare them.
Garfield 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
3,072 surveyed sections, drawn 2 by 2 miles 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
Dams here are rated unsatisfactory
6 of this county's 68 dams carry an unsatisfactory condition rating. A storage right behind a failing dam is water you cannot count on.
Colorado Dam Safety 6 of 42 counties
6 here 6th of 42 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
31 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 15 of 59 counties
31 here 15th of 59 One bar per Colorado county from lowest to highest. Point at one to name it.
Stands out
Water here is still being fought over
18 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 3 of 49 counties
18 here 3rd of 49 One bar per Colorado county from lowest to highest. Point at one to name it.
Context
Water here is called out for a large part of the year
The median right is out of priority 56 days a year on DWR's own analysis. The worst year on record here was 117 days.
DWR administrative call analysis 17 of 20 counties
56 days here 17th of 20 One bar per Colorado county from lowest to highest. Point at one to name it.
Worth knowing
Half the wells drilled here never had a pump put in
65% 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 18 of 60 counties
65% here 18th of 60 One bar per Colorado county from lowest to highest. Point at one to name it.
Context
Towns hold a large share of the water here
13% of rights allow municipal use. 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 23 of 58 counties
13% here 23rd 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
1 of this county's 56 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
26% 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 36 of 52 counties
26% here 36th 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 Garfield County