Colorado · counties
Water in Summit County
What the state and federal record says about water across Summit 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 Summit County
- 928household well permits issued since 2015
- 471of them for use inside the house only
- 457for full household use
- 160feet, 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.
- 2,275 Live water rights across 698 square miles
- 5,435 Wells drilled across 698 square miles
- 4,105 ac Irrigated ground across 698 square miles
- 110 ft Well depth middle value across 235 of 698 square miles
- 348 days Days called out middle value across 245 of 698 square miles
Point at any square mile to read what is on it. Hover the maps below to compare them.
Summit 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
698 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 changes hands and moves
39% of rights carry a transfer, exchange or alternate point event, against 11% in the median county. An active market means a price exists, and it also means water can leave the ground it started on.
CDSS water rights, net amounts 1 of 60 counties
39% here 1st 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
85% of sections carry poorly drained soil, against 36% in the median county, 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 1 of 63 counties
85% here 1st of 63 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
6% 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 4 of 36 counties
6% here 4th 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 12% of the 200 subdivision proposals referred to him from this county, with 10 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 4 of 27 counties
12% here 4th of 27 One bar per Colorado county from lowest to highest. Point at one to name it.
Building here usually means a water court case before a lot can sell
42% of the well-served subdivisions the State Engineer has reviewed in this county needed an augmentation plan, out of 86 proposals. Colorado will not let a county approve a subdivision until he has said whether the water supply is adequate, and an augmentation plan is how a proposal that cannot answer that gets to yes. It is a water court case, and it is the cost nobody puts in the budget.
Subdivision referral opinions of the Colorado State Engineer 5 of 17 counties
42% here 5th of 17 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 322 days a year on DWR's own analysis, against 170 days in the median county. The worst year on record here was 366 days.
DWR administrative call analysis 5 of 49 counties
322 days here 5th of 49 One bar per Colorado county from lowest to highest. Point at one to name it.
Towns hold a large share of the water here
33% 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 11 of 58 counties
33% here 11th of 58 One bar per Colorado county from lowest to highest. Point at one to name it.
A lot of the water decreed here was never built
9% of rights are conditional only. A court said somebody may build it and nobody has.
CDSS water rights, net amounts 14 of 58 counties
9% here 14th of 58 One bar per Colorado county from lowest to highest. Point at one to name it.
Water systems here have unresolved health violations
1 of this county's 24 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 29 of 45 counties
1 here 29th of 45 One bar per Colorado county from lowest to highest. Point at one to name it.
For one parcel in Summit 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 Summit County