Colorado · counties
Water in Morgan County
What the state and federal record says about water across Morgan 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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Inside a designated groundwater basin
The Ground Water Commission's small-capacity rule applies instead: up to 50 gallons a minute and 5 acre-feet a year, for up to three homes and one acre.
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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.
- Designated basins here: Kiowa Bijou.
- Groundwater management districts here can set tighter limits than the statute: North Kiowa Bijou.
- 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 Morgan County
- 296household well permits issued since 2015
- 13of them for use inside the house only
- 283for full household use
- 100feet, the typical depth
- 15gallons a minute, the typical yield
CDSS well permits Decided by: DWR, at permit application. Appeals go to the water judge within 35 days.
- 1,952 Live water rights across 1,296 square miles
- 7,157 Wells drilled across 1,296 square miles
- 114,001 ac Irrigated ground across 1,296 square miles
- 84 ft Well depth middle value across 958 of 1,296 square miles
- 119 days Days called out middle value across 322 of 1,296 square miles
Point at any square mile to read what is on it. Hover the maps below to compare them.
Morgan 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
1,296 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.
Some rights here cannot be analysed for curtailment at all
DWR declines a call analysis for 90.6% of rights, against 1% in the median county. It declines wells, springs and reservoirs, so the curtailment picture here is thinner than the number of rights suggests.
DWR administrative call analysis 1 of 44 counties
90.6% here 1st of 44 One bar per Colorado county from lowest to highest. Point at one to name it.
A lot of the water decreed here was never built
10% of rights are conditional only. A court said somebody may build it and nobody has.
CDSS water rights, net amounts 9 of 58 counties
10% here 9th of 58 One bar per Colorado county from lowest to highest. Point at one to name it.
Wells here get plugged and abandoned more than most
18.9% of well permits end in a plugging, 957 wells in all. A well sealed shut is the clearest verdict a driller ever files.
CDSS well permit action history 9 of 64 counties
18.9% here 9th of 64 One bar per Colorado county from lowest to highest. Point at one to name it.
Dams here are rated unsatisfactory
4 of this county's 29 dams carry an unsatisfactory condition rating. A storage right behind a failing dam is water you cannot count on.
Colorado Dam Safety 12 of 43 counties
4 here 12th of 43 One bar per Colorado county from lowest to highest. Point at one to name it.
Wells here have had to be re-drilled deeper
33 wells carry a later record more than 20% deeper than their first. Colorado publishes no water-level trend, so a well going back down is the closest thing to one.
CDSS well permit action history 16 of 62 counties
33 here 16th of 62 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 206 days a year on DWR's own analysis. The worst year on record here was 322 days.
DWR administrative call analysis 20 of 49 counties
206 days here 20th of 49 One bar per Colorado county from lowest to highest. Point at one to name it.
Water systems here have unresolved health violations
2 of this county's 8 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 20 of 45 counties
2 here 20th 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
48% 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 29 of 56 counties
48% here 29th of 56 One bar per Colorado county from lowest to highest. Point at one to name it.
For one parcel in Morgan 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 Morgan County