Colorado ยท county water record
Water in Arapahoe 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.
- 1,868 Live water rights across 803 square miles
- 9,341 Wells drilled across 803 square miles
- 1,860 ac Irrigated ground across 803 square miles
- 200 ft Well depth middle value across 635 of 803 square miles
- 305 days Days called out middle value across 114 of 803 square miles
Point at any square mile to read what is on it. Hover the maps below to compare them.
Arapahoe 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
803 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
Towns hold a large share of the water here
66% of rights allow municipal use, against 10% across the state. 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 1 of 58 counties
66% here 1st of 58 One bar per Colorado county from lowest to highest. Point at one to name it.
Stands out
Wells here get plugged and abandoned more than most
23.7% of well permits end in a plugging, against 9% across the state, 2,250 wells in all. A well sealed shut is the clearest verdict a driller ever files.
CDSS well permit action history 2 of 60 counties
23.7% here 2nd of 60 One bar per Colorado county from lowest to highest. Point at one to name it.
Stands out
Most of the water rights on paper here are dead
Only 73% of this county's 2,592 rights are still live, against 94% across the state. Most of what a records search turns up here is history rather than water.
CDSS water rights, net amounts 3 of 60 counties
73% here 3rd of 60 One bar per Colorado county from lowest to highest. Point at one to name it.
Stands out
Many decrees here name a structure that no longer exists
27% of rights attach to a structure DWR marks abandoned, historical or non-existent, against 5% across the state. A decree citing a ditch that is gone is a title problem, not a water supply.
CDSS water rights, net amounts 3 of 60 counties
27% here 3rd of 60 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
74 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 5 of 59 counties
74 here 5th of 59 One bar per Colorado county from lowest to highest. Point at one to name it.
Context
Much of this county sits in a designated groundwater basin
26% of well permits are inside KIOWA-BIJOU, where new permits are restricted or unavailable. Before anything else about water here, find out whether you can get one.
CDSS well permits 8 of 15 counties
26% here 8th 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
72% 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 10 of 52 counties
72% here 10th 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 57 days a year on DWR's own analysis. The worst year on record here was 311 days.
DWR administrative call analysis 16 of 20 counties
57 days here 16th of 20 One bar per Colorado county from lowest to highest. Point at one to name it.
Context
Water systems here have unresolved health violations
1 of this county's 30 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 44 counties
1 here 29th of 44 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
55% 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 35 of 60 counties
55% here 35th 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 Arapahoe County