Colorado ยท county water record
Water in San Miguel 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.
- 1,866 Live water rights across 1,342 square miles
- 2,085 Wells drilled across 1,342 square miles
- 14,327 ac Irrigated ground across 1,342 square miles
- 204 ft Well depth middle value across 352 of 1,342 square miles
- 25 days Days called out middle value across 264 of 1,342 square miles
Point at any square mile to read what is on it. Hover the maps below to compare them.
San Miguel 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
1,342 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
A lot of the water decreed here was never built
13% of rights are conditional only, against 5% across the state. A court said somebody may build it and nobody has.
CDSS water rights, net amounts 5 of 58 counties
13% here 5th of 58 One bar per Colorado county from lowest to highest. Point at one to name it.
Worth knowing
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 7 of 60 counties
71% here 7th of 60 One bar per Colorado county from lowest to highest. Point at one to name it.
Worth knowing
Wells here make very little water
The typical well makes 7 gallons a minute, against 12 gpm across the state. Workable for a house, a problem for livestock or irrigation.
CDSS well permits 7 of 60 counties
7 gpm here 7th of 60 One bar per Colorado county from lowest to highest. Point at one to name it.
Worth knowing
Many decrees here name a structure that no longer exists
13% of rights attach to a structure DWR marks abandoned, historical or non-existent. A decree citing a ditch that is gone is a title problem, not a water supply.
CDSS water rights, net amounts 9 of 60 counties
13% here 9th of 60 One bar per Colorado county from lowest to highest. Point at one to name it.
Context
Dams here are rated unsatisfactory
3 of this county's 16 dams carry an unsatisfactory condition rating. A storage right behind a failing dam is water you cannot count on.
Colorado Dam Safety 16 of 42 counties
3 here 16th of 42 One bar per Colorado county from lowest to highest. Point at one to name it.
Context
Half 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 60 counties
60% here 26th of 60 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 San Miguel County