Colorado ยท county water record
Water in La Plata 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.
- 3,744 Live water rights across 1,779 square miles
- 11,248 Wells drilled across 1,779 square miles
- 60,678 ac Irrigated ground across 1,779 square miles
- 168 ft Well depth middle value across 825 of 1,779 square miles
- 85 days Days called out middle value across 267 of 1,779 square miles
Point at any square mile to read what is on it. Hover the maps below to compare them.
La Plata 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
1,779 surveyed sections, drawn one square mile 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.
Stands out
Much of what stores water here predates the rules
485 structures here were in place before 1972, when Colorado began requiring a permit to build one, against 105 across the state. 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 3 of 59 counties
485 here 3rd of 59 One bar per Colorado county from lowest to highest. Point at one to name it.
Stands out
Half the wells drilled here never had a pump put in
75% of constructed wells have no pump installation on record, against 57% across the state. 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 6 of 60 counties
75% here 6th of 60 One bar per Colorado county from lowest to highest. Point at one to name it.
Worth knowing
A lot of the water decreed here was never built
12% of rights are conditional only. A court said somebody may build it and nobody has.
CDSS water rights, net amounts 7 of 58 counties
12% here 7th of 58 One bar per Colorado county from lowest to highest. Point at one to name it.
Worth knowing
Water systems here have unresolved health violations
5 of this county's 55 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 8 of 44 counties
5 here 8th of 44 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 95 days a year on DWR's own analysis. The worst year on record here was 268 days.
DWR administrative call analysis 12 of 20 counties
95 days here 12th of 20 One bar per Colorado county from lowest to highest. Point at one to name it.
Worth knowing
A listing's priority date will overstate seniority here
40% 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 14 years.
CDSS water rights, net amounts 13 of 60 counties
40% here 13th of 60 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
34 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 14 of 59 counties
34 here 14th of 59 One bar per Colorado county from lowest to highest. Point at one to name it.
Worth knowing
Ground here is prime farmland, but only if it is irrigated
67% 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 15 of 52 counties
67% here 15th of 52 One bar per Colorado county from lowest to highest. Point at one to name it.
Context
Dams here are rated unsatisfactory
3 of this county's 49 dams carry an unsatisfactory condition rating. A storage right behind a failing dam is water you cannot count on.
Colorado Dam Safety 16 of 42 counties
3 here 16th of 42 One bar per Colorado county from lowest to highest. Point at one to name it.
Context
A lot of this county is wet ground
34% 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 33 of 59 counties
34% here 33rd of 59 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 La Plata County