Colorado ยท county water record
Water in Washington 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.
- 146 Live water rights across 2,520 square miles
- 3,772 Wells drilled across 2,520 square miles
- 10,057 ac Irrigated ground across 2,520 square miles
- 115 ft Well depth middle value across 1,471 of 2,520 square miles
- 305 days Days called out middle value across 51 of 2,520 square miles
Point at any square mile to read what is on it. Hover the maps below to compare them.
Washington 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
2,520 surveyed sections, drawn 2 by 2 miles 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
Nobody pipes water in this county
There is no active community water system anywhere on the federal register here, so every property is on a well, a cistern, or a shared private supply.
EPA Safe Drinking Water Information System 2 of 60 counties
2 here 2nd of 60 One bar per Colorado county from lowest to highest. Point at one to name it.
Worth knowing
Much of this county sits in a designated groundwater basin
67% of well permits are inside NORTHERN HIGH PLAINS, where new permits are restricted or unavailable. Before anything else about water here, find out whether you can get one.
CDSS well permits 3 of 15 counties
67% here 3rd of 15 One bar per Colorado county from lowest to highest. Point at one to name it.
Worth knowing
Ground here is prime farmland, but only if it is irrigated
71% of sections carry soil the USDA classes as 'prime farmland if irrigated'. 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 11 of 52 counties
71% here 11th of 52 One bar per Colorado county from lowest to highest. Point at one to name it.
Context
Water here is called out for a large part of the year
The median right is out of priority 79 days a year on DWR's own analysis. The worst year on record here was 206 days.
DWR administrative call analysis 13 of 20 counties
79 days here 13th of 20 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
15.0% of well permits end in a plugging, 390 wells in all. A well sealed shut is the clearest verdict a driller ever files.
CDSS well permit action history 13 of 60 counties
15.0% 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 2 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.
Context
A lot of this county is wet ground
27% 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 37 of 59 counties
27% here 37th 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 Washington County