Colorado ยท county water record
Water in Lincoln 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.
- 516 Live water rights across 2,592 square miles
- 2,797 Wells drilled across 2,592 square miles
- 0 ac Irrigated ground across 2,592 square miles
- 60 ft Well depth middle value across 1,145 of 2,592 square miles
- 365 days Days called out middle value across 152 of 2,592 square miles
Point at any square mile to read what is on it. Hover the maps below to compare them.
Lincoln 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
2,592 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.
Stands out
Nobody measures what most structures here divert
74% 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 5 of 60 counties
74% here 5th of 60 One bar per Colorado county from lowest to highest. Point at one to name it.
Worth knowing
Much of this county sits in a designated groundwater basin
37% of well permits are inside NORTHERN HIGH PLAINS, where new permits are restricted or unavailable. Before anything else about water here, find out whether you can get one.
CDSS well permits 5 of 15 counties
37% here 5th of 15 One bar per Colorado county from lowest to highest. Point at one to name it.
Stands out
Wells here get plugged and abandoned more than most
20.2% of well permits end in a plugging, against 9% across the state, 425 wells in all. A well sealed shut is the clearest verdict a driller ever files.
CDSS well permit action history 5 of 60 counties
20.2% here 5th 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
9% 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 5 of 59 counties
9% here 5th 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
75% of sections carry soil the USDA classes as 'prime farmland if irrigated', against 44% across the state. 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 6 of 52 counties
75% here 6th of 52 One bar per Colorado county from lowest to highest. Point at one to name it.
Worth knowing
Half the wells drilled here never had a pump put in
64% 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 60 counties
64% here 20th of 60 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 6 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.
Context
A lot of this county is wet ground
29% 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 35 of 59 counties
29% here 35th 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 Lincoln County