Colorado ยท county water record

Water in Archuleta 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.

  • 1,448 Live water rights across 1,521 square miles
  • 2,390 Wells drilled across 1,521 square miles
  • 13,076 ac Irrigated ground across 1,521 square miles
  • 150 ft Well depth middle value across 399 of 1,521 square miles
  • 5.4 days Days called out middle value across 97 of 1,521 square miles

Point at any square mile to read what is on it. Hover the maps below to compare them.

Archuleta 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

1,521 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.

  1. Stands out

    Permits here expire before anyone drills

    96 permits, 4% of all issued, ran out with no well ever completed, against 2% across the state. Permission is not a well, and permission expires.

    CDSS well permit action history 4 of 60 counties

    4% here 4th of 60
    state 2.2% 0.9%8.3%

    One bar per Colorado county from lowest to highest. Point at one to name it.

  2. 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 11 of 58 counties

    9% here 11th of 58
    state 5.2% 0.1%24%

    One bar per Colorado county from lowest to highest. Point at one to name it.

  3. Worth knowing

    A lot of this county is wet ground

    64% 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 17 of 59 counties

    64% here 17th of 59
    state 40% 0.1%85%

    One bar per Colorado county from lowest to highest. Point at one to name it.

  4. Context

    Ground here is prime farmland, but only if it is irrigated

    36% 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 34 of 52 counties

    36% here 34th of 52
    state 44% 0.4%96%

    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 Archuleta County