Colorado · counties
Water in Hinsdale County
What the state and federal record says about water across Hinsdale 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.
-
Household well, any lot size
A household well can serve up to three homes, one acre of lawn and garden, and livestock, whatever the size of the lot.
-
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.
- 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 Hinsdale County
- 82household well permits issued since 2015
- 48of them for use inside the house only
- 34for full household use
- 300feet, the typical depth
- 11gallons a minute, the typical yield
CDSS well permits Decided by: DWR, at permit application. Appeals go to the water judge within 35 days.
- 860 Live water rights across 1,175 square miles
- 827 Wells drilled across 1,175 square miles
- 3,964 ac Irrigated ground across 1,175 square miles
- 80 ft Well depth middle value across 119 of 1,175 square miles
- 103 days Days called out middle value across 152 of 1,175 square miles
Point at any square mile to read what is on it. Hover the maps below to compare them.
Hinsdale 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
1,175 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.
It takes a long time to get from permit to water here
The median well takes 76 days from permit issue to completion, against 21 days in the median county. Worth knowing before you plan a build around drilling next spring.
CDSS well permit action history 2 of 64 counties
76 days here 2nd of 64 One bar per Colorado county from lowest to highest. Point at one to name it.
Almost nowhere in this county is on a piped water system
The federal register lists 2 active community water systems for the whole county, against 10 in the median county. Unless a property sits inside one of them it is on a well, a cistern, or a shared private supply.
EPA Safe Drinking Water Information System 2 of 64 counties
2 here 2nd of 64 One bar per Colorado county from lowest to highest. Point at one to name it.
A lot of the water here is decreed to stay in the stream
13% of rights are instream flow rights, against 2% in the median county, held by the Water Conservation Board to keep water in the channel rather than take it out. They are senior water that will never be diverted, and on a short stream they set the floor everyone junior to them lives under.
CDSS water rights, net amounts 3 of 46 counties
13% here 3rd of 46 One bar per Colorado county from lowest to highest. Point at one to name it.
A lot of this county is wet ground
70% 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 10 of 63 counties
70% here 10th of 63 One bar per Colorado county from lowest to highest. Point at one to name it.
Soil here holds water at the surface rather than letting it through
94% of sections have hydrologic group D soil, the slowest-infiltrating class. Good ground for a stock pond, which will hold without lining. Bad ground for a septic absorption field and for well recharge, because one property drives all three.
USDA SSURGO soil survey 12 of 64 counties
94% here 12th of 64 One bar per Colorado county from lowest to highest. Point at one to name it.
Water systems here have unresolved health violations
3 of this county's 2 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 13 of 45 counties
3 here 13th of 45 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 2 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.
A listing's priority date will overstate seniority here
38% 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 12 years.
CDSS water rights, net amounts 16 of 60 counties
38% here 16th of 60 One bar per Colorado county from lowest to highest. Point at one to name it.
Structures here have measured years where nothing came through
40% of measured structures recorded at least one year diverting nothing. A decree does not stop a headgate running dry.
DWR diversion records 16 of 60 counties
40% here 16th of 60 One bar per Colorado county from lowest to highest. Point at one to name it.
Nobody measures what most structures here divert
63% 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 17 of 60 counties
63% here 17th of 60 One bar per Colorado county from lowest to highest. Point at one to name it.
For one parcel in Hinsdale 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 Hinsdale County