Colorado · counties
Water in Las Animas County
What the state and federal record says about water across Las Animas 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
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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.
- 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 Las Animas County
- 306household well permits issued since 2015
- 25of them for use inside the house only
- 281for full household use
- 180feet, the typical depth
- 6gallons a minute, the typical yield
CDSS well permits Decided by: DWR, at permit application. Appeals go to the water judge within 35 days.
- 1,510 Live water rights across 4,906 square miles
- 3,174 Wells drilled across 4,906 square miles
- 19,993 ac Irrigated ground across 4,906 square miles
- 175 ft Well depth middle value across 1,284 of 4,906 square miles
- 360 days Days called out middle value across 642 of 4,906 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
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
4,906 surveyed sections, drawn 2 by 2 miles 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.
The division engineer has rights here on the abandonment list
1.0% of rights appear on Colorado's decennial abandonment list, against 0% in the median county. 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.
Most of the wells drilled here never had a pump put in
88% 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 2 of 64 counties
88% here 2nd 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
48% of water rights were decreed more than a decade after the water was first claimed, against 30% in the median county. 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.
Water here has already been taken away for non-use
10% of rights carry an abandonment record, against 4% in the median county. 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.
Nobody measures what most structures here divert
72% of rights sit on structures where DWR keeps no diversion record, against 51% in the median county. 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.
Wells here make very little water
The typical well makes 6 gallons a minute, against 12 gpm in the median county. Workable for a house, a problem for livestock or irrigation.
CDSS well permits 6 of 64 counties
6 gpm here 6th of 64 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 296 days a year on DWR's own analysis. The worst year on record here was 366 days.
DWR administrative call analysis 10 of 49 counties
296 days here 10th of 49 One bar per Colorado county from lowest to highest. Point at one to name it.
Structures here have measured years where nothing came through
63% of measured structures recorded at least one year diverting nothing. A decree does not stop a headgate running dry.
DWR diversion records 11 of 60 counties
63% here 11th 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
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.
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 19 of 58 counties
15% here 19th of 58 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
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 20 of 56 counties
62% here 20th of 56 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 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 45 counties
1 here 29th of 45 One bar per Colorado county from lowest to highest. Point at one to name it.
For one parcel in Las Animas 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 Las Animas County