Colorado · counties
Water in Montrose County
What the state and federal record says about water across Montrose 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 Montrose County
- 209household well permits issued since 2015
- 35of them for use inside the house only
- 174for full household use
- 151feet, the typical depth
- 10gallons a minute, the typical yield
CDSS well permits Decided by: DWR, at permit application. Appeals go to the water judge within 35 days.
- 3,047 Live water rights across 2,109 square miles
- 2,442 Wells drilled across 2,109 square miles
- 81,650 ac Irrigated ground across 2,109 square miles
- 134 ft Well depth middle value across 477 of 2,109 square miles
- 0.4 days Days called out middle value across 546 of 2,109 square miles
Point at any square mile to read what is on it. Hover the maps below to compare them.
Montrose 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
2,109 surveyed sections, drawn one square mile 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.
Nobody measures what most structures here divert
80% 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 2 of 60 counties
80% here 2nd of 60 One bar per Colorado county from lowest to highest. Point at one to name it.
Wells here get plugged and abandoned more than most
22.0% of well permits end in a plugging, against 10% in the median county, 467 wells in all. A well sealed shut is the clearest verdict a driller ever files.
CDSS well permit action history 6 of 64 counties
22.0% here 6th 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
42% 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 15 years.
CDSS water rights, net amounts 9 of 60 counties
42% here 9th of 60 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
74% 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 9 of 64 counties
74% here 9th of 64 One bar per Colorado county from lowest to highest. Point at one to name it.
Soil here holds water at the surface rather than letting it through
96% of sections have hydrologic group D soil, the slowest-infiltrating class. Good ground for a stock pond, which will hold without lining. Bad ground for a septic absorption field and for well recharge, because one property drives all three.
USDA SSURGO soil survey 10 of 64 counties
96% here 10th of 64 One bar per Colorado county from lowest to highest. Point at one to name it.
Dams here are rated unsatisfactory
3 of this county's 32 dams carry an unsatisfactory condition rating. A storage right behind a failing dam is water you cannot count on.
Colorado Dam Safety 16 of 43 counties
3 here 16th of 43 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 22 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.
Ground here is prime farmland, but only if it is irrigated
44% 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 30 of 56 counties
44% here 30th of 56 One bar per Colorado county from lowest to highest. Point at one to name it.
A lot of this county is wet ground
36% 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 32 of 63 counties
36% here 32nd of 63 One bar per Colorado county from lowest to highest. Point at one to name it.
For one parcel in Montrose 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 Montrose County