Colorado ยท county water record
Water in Alamosa 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.
- 3,707 Live water rights across 757 square miles
- 6,534 Wells drilled across 757 square miles
- 79,814 ac Irrigated ground across 757 square miles
- 100 ft Well depth middle value across 558 of 757 square miles
- 365 days Days called out middle value across 127 of 757 square miles
Point at any square mile to read what is on it. Hover the maps below to compare them.
Alamosa 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
757 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 listing's priority date will overstate seniority here
49% of water rights were decreed more than a decade after the water was first claimed, against 30% across the state. Listings quote the claim date. A call is administered on the decree date, and the median gap here is 24 years.
CDSS water rights, net amounts 3 of 60 counties
49% here 3rd of 60 One bar per Colorado county from lowest to highest. Point at one to name it.
Stands out
A lot of this county is wet ground
82% of sections carry poorly drained soil, against 40% across the state, 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 3 of 59 counties
82% here 3rd of 59 One bar per Colorado county from lowest to highest. Point at one to name it.
Worth knowing
Water systems here have unresolved health violations
3 of this county's 4 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 13 of 44 counties
3 here 13th of 44 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 4 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
Half the wells drilled here never had a pump put in
56% 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 32 of 60 counties
56% here 32nd 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 Alamosa County