Colorado ยท county water record
Water in Weld 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.
- 6,705 Live water rights across 4,047 square miles
- 27,829 Wells drilled across 4,047 square miles
- 311,672 ac Irrigated ground across 4,047 square miles
- 121 ft Well depth middle value across 2,740 of 4,047 square miles
- 302 days Days called out middle value across 1,286 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
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
4,047 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
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 39 counties
13 here 1st of 39 One bar per Colorado county from lowest to highest. Point at one to name it.
Stands out
The state will not analyse most rights here
DWR declines a call analysis for 3.4% of rights, against 0% across the state. It declines wells, springs and reservoirs, so the curtailment picture here is thinner than the number of rights suggests.
DWR administrative call analysis 2 of 23 counties
3.4% here 2nd of 23 One bar per Colorado county from lowest to highest. Point at one to name it.
Stands out
Wells here have had to be re-drilled deeper
76 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 4 of 59 counties
76 here 4th of 59 One bar per Colorado county from lowest to highest. Point at one to name it.
Worth knowing
This is farming country and the water is committed to it
Structures here serve 121,432 mapped irrigated acres, against 32,919 ac across the state. 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.
Worth knowing
Water here is called out for a large part of the year
The median right is out of priority 216 days a year on DWR's own analysis. The worst year on record here was 332 days.
DWR administrative call analysis 7 of 20 counties
216 days here 7th of 20 One bar per Colorado county from lowest to highest. Point at one to name it.
Worth knowing
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 54 counties
18 here 7th of 54 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
17.4% of well permits end in a plugging, 4,396 wells in all. A well sealed shut is the clearest verdict a driller ever files.
CDSS well permit action history 9 of 60 counties
17.4% here 9th of 60 One bar per Colorado county from lowest to highest. Point at one to name it.
Worth knowing
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 42 counties
5 here 10th of 42 One bar per Colorado county from lowest to highest. Point at one to name it.
Worth knowing
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 44 counties
4 here 11th of 44 One bar per Colorado county from lowest to highest. Point at one to name it.
Worth knowing
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 13 of 58 counties
9% here 13th of 58 One bar per Colorado county from lowest to highest. Point at one to name it.
Stands out
Water here is still being fought over
22 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 49 counties
22 here 2nd of 49 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
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 18 of 52 counties
60% here 18th of 52 One bar per Colorado county from lowest to highest. Point at one to name it.
Worth knowing
Towns hold a large share of the water here
15% 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 19 of 58 counties
15% here 19th 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
61% 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
61% here 19th of 60 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
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 23 of 60 counties
62% here 23rd of 60 One bar per Colorado county from lowest to highest. Point at one to name it.
Worth knowing
There are many impoundments here with no decreed storage right
76 reservoirs of record carry no storage decree. Each one is a question somebody has not answered.
CDSS structures 16 of 58 counties
76 here 16th of 58 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 38 of 59 counties
27% here 38th 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 Weld County