Colorado · counties
Water in Routt County
What the state and federal record says about water across Routt 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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Household well, any lot size
A household well can serve up to three homes, one acre of lawn and garden, and livestock, whatever the size of the lot.
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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.
- 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 Routt County
- 806household well permits issued since 2015
- 226of them for use inside the house only
- 580for full household use
- 250feet, the typical depth
- 8gallons a minute, the typical yield
CDSS well permits Decided by: DWR, at permit application. Appeals go to the water judge within 35 days.
- 6,244 Live water rights across 2,270 square miles
- 4,453 Wells drilled across 2,270 square miles
- 45,704 ac Irrigated ground across 2,270 square miles
- 180 ft Well depth middle value across 664 of 2,270 square miles
- 4.2 days Days called out middle value across 1,314 of 2,270 square miles
Point at any square mile to read what is on it. Hover the maps below to compare them.
Routt 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
2,270 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.
Much of what stores water here predates the rules
641 structures here were in place before 1972, when Colorado began requiring a permit to build one, against 105 in the median county. They are lawful because they are old, their records are thin, and what a buyer inherits is whatever the state happens to have written down.
CDSS structures 1 of 59 counties
641 here 1st of 59 One bar per Colorado county from lowest to highest. Point at one to name it.
Permits here expire before anyone drills
178 permits, 4% of all issued, ran out with no well ever completed, against 2% in the median county. Permission is not a well, and permission expires.
CDSS well permit action history 6 of 64 counties
4% here 6th of 64 One bar per Colorado county from lowest to highest. Point at one to name it.
Dams here are rated unsatisfactory
5 of this county's 108 dams carry an unsatisfactory condition rating. A storage right behind a failing dam is water you cannot count on.
Colorado Dam Safety 10 of 43 counties
5 here 10th of 43 One bar per Colorado county from lowest to highest. Point at one to name it.
Wells here make very little water
The typical well makes 8 gallons a minute. Workable for a house, a problem for livestock or irrigation.
CDSS well permits 13 of 64 counties
8 gpm here 13th of 64 One bar per Colorado county from lowest to highest. Point at one to name it.
Structures here have measured years where nothing came through
40% of measured structures recorded at least one year diverting nothing. A decree does not stop a headgate running dry.
DWR diversion records 17 of 60 counties
40% here 17th 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
61% 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 18 of 63 counties
61% here 18th of 63 One bar per Colorado county from lowest to highest. Point at one to name it.
Nobody measures what most structures here divert
59% 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 20 of 60 counties
59% here 20th 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 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 20 of 45 counties
2 here 20th of 45 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
60% 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 26 of 64 counties
60% here 26th of 64 One bar per Colorado county from lowest to highest. Point at one to name it.
For one parcel in Routt 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 Routt County