Colorado ยท county water record
Water in Moffat 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.
- 4,911 Live water rights across 4,865 square miles
- 2,694 Wells drilled across 4,865 square miles
- 24,889 ac Irrigated ground across 4,865 square miles
- 230 ft Well depth middle value across 791 of 4,865 square miles
- 9.5 days Days called out middle value across 512 of 4,865 square miles
Point at any square mile to read what is on it. Hover the maps below to compare them.
Moffat 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
4,865 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
79% 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 3 of 60 counties
79% here 3rd of 60 One bar per Colorado county from lowest to highest. Point at one to name it.
Stands out
Permits here expire before anyone drills
93 permits, 4% of all issued, ran out with no well ever completed, against 2% across the state. Permission is not a well, and permission expires.
CDSS well permit action history 6 of 60 counties
4% here 6th of 60 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
75% 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 7 of 60 counties
75% here 7th of 60 One bar per Colorado county from lowest to highest. Point at one to name it.
Worth knowing
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 17 years.
CDSS water rights, net amounts 10 of 60 counties
40% here 10th of 60 One bar per Colorado county from lowest to highest. Point at one to name it.
Worth knowing
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 60 counties
8 gpm here 13th of 60 One bar per Colorado county from lowest to highest. Point at one to name it.
Context
Dams here are rated unsatisfactory
3 of this county's 40 dams carry an unsatisfactory condition rating. A storage right behind a failing dam is water you cannot count on.
Colorado Dam Safety 16 of 42 counties
3 here 16th of 42 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.
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 Moffat County