Colorado · counties
Water in Park County
What the state and federal record says about water across Park 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 Park County
- 2,773household well permits issued since 2015
- 1,965of them for use inside the house only
- 808for full household use
- 300feet, the typical depth
- 7gallons a minute, the typical yield
CDSS well permits Decided by: DWR, at permit application. Appeals go to the water judge within 35 days.
- 3,597 Live water rights across 2,223 square miles
- 17,146 Wells drilled across 2,223 square miles
- 778 ac Irrigated ground across 2,223 square miles
- 200 ft Well depth middle value across 1,132 of 2,223 square miles
- 287 days Days called out middle value across 897 of 2,223 square miles
Point at any square mile to read what is on it. Hover the maps below to compare them.
Park 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
2,223 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.
Wells here make very little water
The typical well makes 6 gallons a minute, against 12 gpm in the median county. Workable for a house, a problem for livestock or irrigation.
CDSS well permits 1 of 64 counties
6 gpm here 1st of 64 One bar per Colorado county from lowest to highest. Point at one to name it.
Part of the water here is household-only and cannot legally do more
18% of rights are limited to household use under C.R.S. 37-92-602, against 0% in the median county. That means no irrigation, no livestock, and no second dwelling on the same well.
CDSS water rights, net amounts 2 of 36 counties
18% here 2nd of 36 One bar per Colorado county from lowest to highest. Point at one to name it.
The State Engineer refuses a large share of what is proposed here
He has refused 19% of the 68 subdivision proposals referred to him from this county, against 4% in the median county, with 3 more sent back for further information. A refusal is not a permanent bar and a proposal refused for want of an augmentation plan is routinely approved once one is decreed, but it is the state looking at a plan for this ground and saying the water is not demonstrated.
Subdivision referral opinions of the Colorado State Engineer 2 of 27 counties
19% here 2nd of 27 One bar per Colorado county from lowest to highest. Point at one to name it.
Water systems here have unresolved health violations
9 of this county's 11 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 4 of 45 counties
9 here 4th of 45 One bar per Colorado county from lowest to highest. Point at one to name it.
Nobody measures what most structures here divert
71% 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 8 of 60 counties
71% here 8th of 60 One bar per Colorado county from lowest to highest. Point at one to name it.
A lot of this county is wet ground
64% 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 16 of 63 counties
64% here 16th of 63 One bar per Colorado county from lowest to highest. Point at one to name it.
Wells here have had to be re-drilled deeper
30 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 18 of 62 counties
30 here 18th of 62 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
627 reservoirs of record carry no storage decree. Each one is a question somebody has not answered.
CDSS structures 8 of 58 counties
627 here 8th of 58 One bar per Colorado county from lowest to highest. Point at one to name it.
Towns hold a large share of the water here
14% of rights allow municipal use. Municipal rights are senior more often than not and rarely come back on the market, so they shape what is left for everyone else.
CDSS water rights, net amounts 22 of 58 counties
14% here 22nd of 58 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 74 days a year on DWR's own analysis. The worst year on record here was 366 days.
DWR administrative call analysis 37 of 49 counties
74 days here 37th of 49 One bar per Colorado county from lowest to highest. Point at one to name it.
For one parcel in Park 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 Park County