Colorado ยท county water record
Water in Las Animas 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.
- 1,221 Live water rights across 4,891 square miles
- 2,881 Wells drilled across 4,891 square miles
- 19,993 ac Irrigated ground across 4,891 square miles
- 180 ft Well depth middle value across 1,175 of 4,891 square miles
- 364 days Days called out middle value across 526 of 4,891 square miles
Point at any square mile to read what is on it. Hover the maps below to compare them.
Las Animas 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
4,891 surveyed sections, drawn 2 by 2 miles 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.
Worth knowing
The division engineer has rights here on the abandonment list
1.0% of rights appear on Colorado's decennial abandonment list, against 0% across the state. That list is the state proposing to take a right away for ten years of non-use.
CDSS water rights, net amounts 2 of 15 counties
1.0% here 2nd of 15 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
88% 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 2 of 60 counties
88% here 2nd of 60 One bar per Colorado county from lowest to highest. Point at one to name it.
Stands out
A listing's priority date will overstate seniority here
48% of water rights were decreed more than a decade after the water was first claimed, against 30% across the state. Listings quote the claim date. A call is administered on the decree date, and the median gap here is 24 years.
CDSS water rights, net amounts 4 of 60 counties
48% here 4th of 60 One bar per Colorado county from lowest to highest. Point at one to name it.
Stands out
Water here has already been taken away for non-use
10% of rights carry an abandonment record, against 4% across the state. This is not the decennial list, which is the state PROPOSING to cancel a right. These are the ones where that already happened, and they are the clearest evidence of how the division engineer treats non-use in this county.
CDSS water rights, net amounts 4 of 59 counties
10% here 4th of 59 One bar per Colorado county from lowest to highest. Point at one to name it.
Stands out
Nobody measures what most structures here divert
72% of rights sit on structures where DWR keeps no diversion record, against 51% across the state. There is no way to check the paper against what actually came through.
CDSS water rights, net amounts 6 of 60 counties
72% here 6th of 60 One bar per Colorado county from lowest to highest. Point at one to name it.
Stands out
Wells here make very little water
The typical well makes 6 gallons a minute, against 12 gpm across the state. Workable for a house, a problem for livestock or irrigation.
CDSS well permits 6 of 60 counties
6 gpm here 6th of 60 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 160 days a year on DWR's own analysis. The worst year on record here was 221 days.
DWR administrative call analysis 10 of 20 counties
160 days here 10th of 20 One bar per Colorado county from lowest to highest. Point at one to name it.
Stands out
There are many impoundments here with no decreed storage right
3,931 reservoirs of record carry no storage decree. Each one is a question somebody has not answered.
CDSS structures 1 of 58 counties
3,931 here 1st of 58 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
62% 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 16 of 52 counties
62% here 16th of 52 One bar per Colorado county from lowest to highest. Point at one to name it.
Worth knowing
Towns hold a large share of the water here
15% of rights allow municipal use. Municipal rights are senior more often than not and rarely come back on the market, so they shape what is left for everyone else.
CDSS water rights, net amounts 18 of 58 counties
15% here 18th of 58 One bar per Colorado county from lowest to highest. Point at one to name it.
Context
Water systems here have unresolved health violations
1 of this county's 14 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 44 counties
1 here 29th of 44 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 Las Animas County