Colorado · counties
Water in Otero County
What the state and federal record says about water across Otero 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.
- 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 Otero County
- 112household well permits issued since 2015
- 9of them for use inside the house only
- 103for full household use
- 41feet, 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.
- 1,058 Live water rights across 1,253 square miles
- 2,303 Wells drilled across 1,253 square miles
- 74,138 ac Irrigated ground across 1,253 square miles
- 60 ft Well depth middle value across 421 of 1,253 square miles
- 331 days Days called out middle value across 326 of 1,253 square miles
Point at any square mile to read what is on it. Hover the maps below to compare them.
Otero 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
1,253 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.
Water systems here have unresolved health violations
17 of this county's 23 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 1 of 45 counties
17 here 1st of 45 One bar per Colorado county from lowest to highest. Point at one to name it.
This is farming country and the water is committed to it
Structures here serve 124,886 mapped irrigated acres, against 32,919 ac in the median county. That acreage is what the decreed water is already doing, so a new use competes with it rather than adding to it.
CDSS water rights, net amounts 4 of 45 counties
124,886 ac here 4th of 45 One bar per Colorado county from lowest to highest. Point at one to name it.
Reservoirs here are under a storage restriction
5 dams here are restricted, meaning the state will not let them fill to their decreed capacity until repairs are made. A storage right behind a restricted dam is water that legally exists and physically cannot be held.
Colorado Dam Safety 6 of 40 counties
5 here 6th of 40 One bar per Colorado county from lowest to highest. Point at one to name it.
Structures here have measured years where nothing came through
70% of measured structures recorded at least one year diverting nothing. A decree does not stop a headgate running dry.
DWR diversion records 8 of 60 counties
70% here 8th 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 296 days a year on DWR's own analysis. The worst year on record here was 365 days.
DWR administrative call analysis 9 of 49 counties
296 days here 9th of 49 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
70% 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 12 of 64 counties
70% here 12th 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
39% 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 19 years.
CDSS water rights, net amounts 15 of 60 counties
39% here 15th of 60 One bar per Colorado county from lowest to highest. Point at one to name it.
There are many impoundments here with no decreed storage right
537 reservoirs of record carry no storage decree. Each one is a question somebody has not answered.
CDSS structures 10 of 58 counties
537 here 10th of 58 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
53% 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 25 of 56 counties
53% here 25th of 56 One bar per Colorado county from lowest to highest. Point at one to name it.
For one parcel in Otero 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.
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