Colorado · counties
Water in La Plata County
What the state and federal record says about water across La Plata County. Each figure names the agency it came from.
Can I drill a well here?
It depends on where in the county the land is
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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.
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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.
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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 La Plata County
- 1,231household well permits issued since 2015
- 286of them for use inside the house only
- 945for full household use
- 200feet, the typical depth
- 10gallons a minute, the typical yield
CDSS well permits Decided by: DWR, at permit application. Appeals go to the water judge within 35 days.
- 3,756 Live water rights across 1,779 square miles
- 11,263 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
- 27 days Days called out middle value across 438 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
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
1,779 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.
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 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 3 of 59 counties
485 here 3rd of 59 One bar per Colorado county from lowest to highest. Point at one to name it.
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.
Most of the wells drilled here never had a pump put in
75% of constructed wells have no pump installation on record, against 56% in the median county. 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 7 of 64 counties
75% here 7th of 64 One bar per Colorado county from lowest to highest. Point at one to name it.
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 45 counties
5 here 8th of 45 One bar per Colorado county from lowest to highest. Point at one to name it.
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 12 of 60 counties
40% here 12th of 60 One bar per Colorado county from lowest to highest. Point at one to name it.
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 62 counties
34 here 14th of 62 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 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 43 counties
3 here 16th 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
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 18 of 56 counties
67% here 18th of 56 One bar per Colorado county from lowest to highest. Point at one to name it.
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 63 counties
34% here 33rd of 63 One bar per Colorado county from lowest to highest. Point at one to name it.
For one parcel in La Plata 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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