Colorado · counties
Water in Mesa County
What the state and federal record says about water across Mesa 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.
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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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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 Mesa County
- 446household well permits issued since 2015
- 87of them for use inside the house only
- 359for full household use
- 290feet, the typical depth
- 7gallons a minute, the typical yield
CDSS well permits Decided by: DWR, at permit application. Appeals go to the water judge within 35 days.
- 4,565 Live water rights across 3,409 square miles
- 3,893 Wells drilled across 3,409 square miles
- 78,209 ac Irrigated ground across 3,409 square miles
- 130 ft Well depth middle value across 613 of 3,409 square miles
- 47 days Days called out middle value across 859 of 3,409 square miles
Point at any square mile to read what is on it. Hover the maps below to compare them.
Mesa 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
3,409 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.
There are dams here that would take lives if they failed
28 of this county's 155 dams are rated high hazard. Hazard is about what is DOWNSTREAM rather than about the dam's condition, so a high-hazard rating means people or roads below it, and it is what drives the inspection and the owner's liability.
Colorado Dam Safety 4 of 56 counties
28 here 4th of 56 One bar per Colorado county from lowest to highest. Point at one to name it.
A large share of the well permits issued here are dead
58% of 6,482 well permits are still live, against 68% in the median county. An expired or cancelled permit is not permission to do anything.
CDSS well permits 5 of 64 counties
58% here 5th of 64 One bar per Colorado county from lowest to highest. Point at one to name it.
Dams here are rated unsatisfactory
6 of this county's 155 dams carry an unsatisfactory condition rating. A storage right behind a failing dam is water you cannot count on.
Colorado Dam Safety 7 of 43 counties
6 here 7th of 43 One bar per Colorado county from lowest to highest. Point at one to name it.
Wells here get plugged and abandoned more than most
19.7% of well permits end in a plugging, 760 wells in all. A well sealed shut is the clearest verdict a driller ever files.
CDSS well permit action history 8 of 64 counties
19.7% here 8th of 64 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 8 gallons a minute. Workable for a house, a problem for livestock or irrigation.
CDSS well permits 13 of 64 counties
8 gpm here 13th of 64 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
67% 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 15 of 64 counties
67% here 15th of 64 One bar per Colorado county from lowest to highest. Point at one to name it.
Water here is still being fought over
638 water court applications named this county since 2021, the most recent in 2026. Every one is a public document you can read.
Colorado water court resumes 7 of 60 counties
638 here 7th of 60 One bar per Colorado county from lowest to highest. Point at one to name it.
A listing's priority date will overstate seniority here
36% 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 11 years.
CDSS water rights, net amounts 20 of 60 counties
36% here 20th of 60 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 39 days a year on DWR's own analysis. The worst year on record here was 359 days.
DWR administrative call analysis 43 of 49 counties
39 days here 43rd of 49 One bar per Colorado county from lowest to highest. Point at one to name it.
For one parcel in Mesa 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 Mesa County