Colorado · counties
Water in Bent County
What the state and federal record says about water across Bent 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.
- 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 Bent County
- 109household well permits issued since 2015
- 3of them for use inside the house only
- 106for full household use
- 200feet, the typical depth
- 10gallons a minute, the typical yield
CDSS well permits Decided by: DWR, at permit application. Appeals go to the water judge within 35 days.
- 422 Live water rights across 1,512 square miles
- 1,680 Wells drilled across 1,512 square miles
- 62,152 ac Irrigated ground across 1,512 square miles
- 160 ft Well depth middle value across 492 of 1,512 square miles
- 347 days Days called out middle value across 132 of 1,512 square miles
Point at any square mile to read what is on it. Hover the maps below to compare them.
Bent 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
1,512 surveyed sections, drawn one square mile 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.
Structures here have measured years where nothing came through
64% of measured structures recorded at least one year diverting nothing. A decree does not stop a headgate running dry.
DWR diversion records 10 of 60 counties
64% here 10th of 60 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
73% 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 10 of 64 counties
73% here 10th of 64 One bar per Colorado county from lowest to highest. Point at one to name it.
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 59 counties
100% here 1st of 59 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
69% 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 16 of 56 counties
69% here 16th of 56 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
1,051 reservoirs of record carry no storage decree. Each one is a question somebody has not answered.
CDSS structures 6 of 58 counties
1,051 here 6th of 58 One bar per Colorado county from lowest to highest. Point at one to name it.
Wells here have had to be re-drilled deeper
29 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 19 of 62 counties
29 here 19th of 62 One bar per Colorado county from lowest to highest. Point at one to name it.
Water systems here have unresolved health violations
2 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 20 of 45 counties
2 here 20th of 45 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 170 days a year on DWR's own analysis. The worst year on record here was 365 days.
DWR administrative call analysis 25 of 49 counties
170 days here 25th of 49 One bar per Colorado county from lowest to highest. Point at one to name it.
A lot of this county is wet ground
26% 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 41 of 63 counties
26% here 41st of 63 One bar per Colorado county from lowest to highest. Point at one to name it.
For one parcel in Bent 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 Bent County