Colorado · counties
Water in Gunnison County
What the state and federal record says about water across Gunnison 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
-
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 Gunnison County
- 820household well permits issued since 2015
- 319of them for use inside the house only
- 501for full household use
- 130feet, the typical depth
- 15gallons a minute, the typical yield
CDSS well permits Decided by: DWR, at permit application. Appeals go to the water judge within 35 days.
- 6,227 Live water rights across 3,289 square miles
- 5,528 Wells drilled across 3,289 square miles
- 46,043 ac Irrigated ground across 3,289 square miles
- 114 ft Well depth middle value across 607 of 3,289 square miles
- 10 days Days called out middle value across 746 of 3,289 square miles
Point at any square mile to read what is on it. Hover the maps below to compare them.
Gunnison 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
3,289 surveyed sections, drawn 2 by 2 miles 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.
The State Engineer refuses a large share of what is proposed here
He has refused 14% of the 169 subdivision proposals referred to him from this county, against 4% in the median county, with 3 more sent back for further information. A refusal is not a permanent bar and a proposal refused for want of an augmentation plan is routinely approved once one is decreed, but it is the state looking at a plan for this ground and saying the water is not demonstrated.
Subdivision referral opinions of the Colorado State Engineer 3 of 27 counties
14% here 3rd of 27 One bar per Colorado county from lowest to highest. Point at one to name it.
A listing's priority date will overstate seniority here
43% of water rights were decreed more than a decade after the water was first claimed. Listings quote the claim date. A call is administered on the decree date, and the median gap here is 17 years.
CDSS water rights, net amounts 8 of 60 counties
43% here 8th of 60 One bar per Colorado county from lowest to highest. Point at one to name it.
Nobody measures what most structures here divert
68% of rights sit on structures where DWR keeps no diversion record. There is no way to check the paper against what actually came through.
CDSS water rights, net amounts 11 of 60 counties
68% here 11th of 60 One bar per Colorado county from lowest to highest. Point at one to name it.
Dams here are rated unsatisfactory
3 of this county's 29 dams carry an unsatisfactory condition rating. A storage right behind a failing dam is water you cannot count on.
Colorado Dam Safety 16 of 43 counties
3 here 16th of 43 One bar per Colorado county from lowest to highest. Point at one to name it.
A lot of this county is wet ground
56% 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 20 of 63 counties
56% here 20th 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
56% 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 35 of 64 counties
56% here 35th of 64 One bar per Colorado county from lowest to highest. Point at one to name it.
For one parcel in Gunnison 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 Gunnison County