Colorado · counties
Water in Weld County
What the state and federal record says about water across Weld 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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Inside a designated groundwater basin
The Ground Water Commission's small-capacity rule applies instead: up to 50 gallons a minute and 5 acre-feet a year, for up to three homes and one acre.
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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.
- Designated basins here: Kiowa Bijou, Lost Creek, Upper Crow Creek.
- Groundwater management districts here can set tighter limits than the statute: Lost Creek, North Kiowa Bijou.
- 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 Weld County
- 2,905household well permits issued since 2015
- 576of them for use inside the house only
- 2,329for full household use
- 360feet, the typical depth
- 11gallons a minute, the typical yield
CDSS well permits Decided by: DWR, at permit application. Appeals go to the water judge within 35 days.
- 6,834 Live water rights across 4,047 square miles
- 28,436 Wells drilled across 4,047 square miles
- 311,672 ac Irrigated ground across 4,047 square miles
- 122 ft Well depth middle value across 2,791 of 4,047 square miles
- 145 days Days called out middle value across 1,132 of 4,047 square miles
Point at any square mile to read what is on it. Hover the maps below to compare them.
Weld 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
4,047 surveyed sections, drawn 2 by 2 miles 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.
Reservoirs here are under a storage restriction
13 dams here are restricted, meaning the state will not let them fill to their decreed capacity until repairs are made. A storage right behind a restricted dam is water that legally exists and physically cannot be held.
Colorado Dam Safety 1 of 40 counties
13 here 1st of 40 One bar per Colorado county from lowest to highest. Point at one to name it.
Wells here have had to be re-drilled deeper
82 wells carry a later record more than 20% deeper than their first. Colorado publishes no water-level trend, so a well going back down is the closest thing to one.
CDSS well permit action history 3 of 62 counties
82 here 3rd of 62 One bar per Colorado county from lowest to highest. Point at one to name it.
Some rights here cannot be analysed for curtailment at all
DWR declines a call analysis for 59.2% of rights, against 1% in the median county. It declines wells, springs and reservoirs, so the curtailment picture here is thinner than the number of rights suggests.
DWR administrative call analysis 5 of 44 counties
59.2% here 5th of 44 One bar per Colorado county from lowest to highest. Point at one to name it.
This is farming country and the water is committed to it
Structures here serve 121,432 mapped irrigated acres, against 32,919 ac in the median county. That acreage is what the decreed water is already doing, so a new use competes with it rather than adding to it.
CDSS water rights, net amounts 5 of 45 counties
121,432 ac here 5th of 45 One bar per Colorado county from lowest to highest. Point at one to name it.
There are dams here that would take lives if they failed
18 of this county's 156 dams are rated high hazard. Hazard is about what is DOWNSTREAM rather than about the dam's condition, so a high-hazard rating means people or roads below it, and it is what drives the inspection and the owner's liability.
Colorado Dam Safety 7 of 56 counties
18 here 7th of 56 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
10% of rights are conditional only. A court said somebody may build it and nobody has.
CDSS water rights, net amounts 10 of 58 counties
10% here 10th of 58 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 156 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 get plugged and abandoned more than most
17.3% of well permits end in a plugging, 4,403 wells in all. A well sealed shut is the clearest verdict a driller ever files.
CDSS well permit action history 11 of 64 counties
17.3% here 11th of 64 One bar per Colorado county from lowest to highest. Point at one to name it.
Water systems here have unresolved health violations
4 of this county's 59 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 11 of 45 counties
4 here 11th of 45 One bar per Colorado county from lowest to highest. Point at one to name it.
Water here is still being fought over
878 water court applications named this county since 2021, the most recent in 2026. Every one is a public document you can read.
Colorado water court resumes 2 of 60 counties
878 here 2nd of 60 One bar per Colorado county from lowest to highest. Point at one to name it.
Towns hold a large share of the water here
16% 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 17 of 58 counties
16% here 17th of 58 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 218 days a year on DWR's own analysis. The worst year on record here was 365 days.
DWR administrative call analysis 17 of 49 counties
218 days here 17th of 49 One bar per Colorado county from lowest to highest. Point at one to name it.
Nobody measures what most structures here divert
60% 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 19 of 60 counties
60% here 19th of 60 One bar per Colorado county from lowest to highest. Point at one to name it.
Ground here is prime farmland, but only if it is irrigated
60% 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 22 of 56 counties
60% here 22nd of 56 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
62% 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 24 of 64 counties
62% here 24th of 64 One bar per Colorado county from lowest to highest. Point at one to name it.
There are many impoundments here with no decreed storage right
77 reservoirs of record carry no storage decree. Each one is a question somebody has not answered.
CDSS structures 14 of 58 counties
77 here 14th of 58 One bar per Colorado county from lowest to highest. Point at one to name it.
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 40 of 63 counties
27% here 40th of 63 One bar per Colorado county from lowest to highest. Point at one to name it.
For one parcel in Weld 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 Weld County