Colorado · counties
Water in Huerfano County
What the state and federal record says about water across Huerfano 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 Huerfano County
- 485household well permits issued since 2015
- 30of them for use inside the house only
- 455for full household use
- 308feet, the typical depth
- 8gallons a minute, the typical yield
CDSS well permits Decided by: DWR, at permit application. Appeals go to the water judge within 35 days.
- 2,272 Live water rights across 1,629 square miles
- 2,649 Wells drilled across 1,629 square miles
- 0 ac Irrigated ground across 1,629 square miles
- 150 ft Well depth middle value across 728 of 1,629 square miles
- 364 days Days called out middle value across 710 of 1,629 square miles
Point at any square mile to read what is on it. Hover the maps below to compare them.
Huerfano 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
1,629 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.
Structures here have measured years where nothing came through
72% of measured structures recorded at least one year diverting nothing, against 25% in the median county. A decree does not stop a headgate running dry.
DWR diversion records 4 of 60 counties
72% here 4th of 60 One bar per Colorado county from lowest to highest. Point at one to name it.
Much of what stores water here predates the rules
425 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 6 of 59 counties
425 here 6th of 59 One bar per Colorado county from lowest to highest. Point at one to name it.
Dams here are rated unsatisfactory
6 of this county's 90 dams carry an unsatisfactory condition rating. A storage right behind a failing dam is water you cannot count on.
Colorado Dam Safety 7 of 43 counties
6 here 7th of 43 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
73% 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 11 of 56 counties
73% here 11th of 56 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 265 days a year on DWR's own analysis. The worst year on record here was 366 days.
DWR administrative call analysis 13 of 49 counties
265 days here 13th of 49 One bar per Colorado county from lowest to highest. Point at one to name it.
Wells here make very little water
The typical well makes 8 gallons a minute. Workable for a house, a problem for livestock or irrigation.
CDSS well permits 13 of 64 counties
8 gpm here 13th of 64 One bar per Colorado county from lowest to highest. Point at one to name it.
A listing's priority date will overstate seniority here
39% 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 20 years.
CDSS water rights, net amounts 14 of 60 counties
39% here 14th of 60 One bar per Colorado county from lowest to highest. Point at one to name it.
Nobody measures what most structures here divert
66% 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 14 of 60 counties
66% here 14th of 60 One bar per Colorado county from lowest to highest. Point at one to name it.
There are many impoundments here with no decreed storage right
2,003 reservoirs of record carry no storage decree. Each one is a question somebody has not answered.
CDSS structures 3 of 58 counties
2,003 here 3rd of 58 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
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 20 of 64 counties
65% here 20th 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 10 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.
A lot of this county is wet ground
23% 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 44 of 63 counties
23% here 44th of 63 One bar per Colorado county from lowest to highest. Point at one to name it.
For one parcel in Huerfano 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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