Colorado ยท county water record
Water in Prowers County
What the state and federal record says about water here, before you look at any particular piece of ground. Every finding names the agency it came from.
- 1,012 Live water rights across 1,625 square miles
- 2,438 Wells drilled across 1,625 square miles
- 126,531 ac Irrigated ground across 1,625 square miles
- 168 ft Well depth middle value across 758 of 1,625 square miles
- 365 days Days called out middle value across 310 of 1,625 square miles
Point at any square mile to read what is on it. Hover the maps below to compare them.
Prowers County by the square mile
Every finding on this page is one number for the whole county. These are the same records placed on the ground they came from.
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
1,625 surveyed sections, drawn one square mile to a square. The shading is scaled against every county in Colorado, so a colour 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.
Stands out
Ground here is prime farmland, but only if it is irrigated
88% of sections carry soil the USDA classes as 'prime farmland if irrigated', against 44% across the state. 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 3 of 52 counties
88% here 3rd of 52 One bar per Colorado county from lowest to highest. Point at one to name it.
Worth knowing
Water systems here have unresolved health violations
6 of this county's 10 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 7 of 44 counties
6 here 7th of 44 One bar per Colorado county from lowest to highest. Point at one to name it.
Worth knowing
Wells here get plugged and abandoned more than most
17.0% of well permits end in a plugging, 313 wells in all. A well sealed shut is the clearest verdict a driller ever files.
CDSS well permit action history 10 of 60 counties
17.0% here 10th of 60 One bar per Colorado county from lowest to highest. Point at one to name it.
Worth knowing
Half the wells drilled here never had a pump put in
68% 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 13 of 60 counties
68% here 13th of 60 One bar per Colorado county from lowest to highest. Point at one to name it.
Stands out
Every town here drinks the same water a well would draw
All 10 of this county's community water systems run on groundwater rather than surface water. A municipal supply is the best-monitored well in the county, so its record is the closest thing to a free test of the aquifer under this ground.
EPA Safe Drinking Water Information System 1 of 56 counties
100% here 1st of 56 One bar per Colorado county from lowest to highest. Point at one to name it.
Worth knowing
There are many impoundments here with no decreed storage right
66 reservoirs of record carry no storage decree. Each one is a question somebody has not answered.
CDSS structures 17 of 58 counties
66 here 17th of 58 One bar per Colorado county from lowest to highest. Point at one to name it.
Context
A lot of this county is wet ground
28% 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 36 of 59 counties
28% here 36th of 59 One bar per Colorado county from lowest to highest. Point at one to name it.
This is the county. Your question is probably a property.
None of the above is about a particular parcel. Water is not parcel-shaped: the ditch serving the ground runs through other people's land and the senior right that curtails it sits somewhere else, which is why the state files by survey section rather than by property. Check an address and you get the square mile it sits in, with the wells, the rights and what was actually diverted.
Check a property in Prowers County