Colorado · counties
Water in Ouray County
What the state and federal record says about water across Ouray 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
-
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 Ouray County
- 156household well permits issued since 2015
- 21of them for use inside the house only
- 135for full household use
- 241feet, 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.
- 1,475 Live water rights across 545 square miles
- 815 Wells drilled across 545 square miles
- 12,798 ac Irrigated ground across 545 square miles
- 220 ft Well depth middle value across 185 of 545 square miles
- 26 days Days called out middle value across 294 of 545 square miles
Point at any square mile to read what is on it. Hover the maps below to compare them.
Ouray 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
545 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 here has already been taken away for non-use
11% of rights carry an abandonment record, against 4% in the median county. This is not the decennial list, which is the state PROPOSING to cancel a right. These are the ones where that already happened, and they are the clearest evidence of how the division engineer treats non-use in this county.
CDSS water rights, net amounts 3 of 59 counties
11% here 3rd of 59 One bar per Colorado county from lowest to highest. Point at one to name it.
Nobody measures what most structures here divert
63% of rights sit on structures where DWR keeps no diversion record. There is no way to check the paper against what actually came through.
CDSS water rights, net amounts 16 of 60 counties
63% here 16th of 60 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 5 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.
A lot of this county is wet ground
49% 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 24 of 63 counties
49% here 24th of 63 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
29% 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 39 of 56 counties
29% here 39th of 56 One bar per Colorado county from lowest to highest. Point at one to name it.
For one parcel in Ouray 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 Ouray County