Colorado · counties
Water in Crowley County
What the state and federal record says about water across Crowley 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 Crowley County
- 25household well permits issued since 2015
- 0of them for use inside the house only
- 25for full household use
- 35feet, the typical depth
- 9gallons a minute, the typical yield
CDSS well permits Decided by: DWR, at permit application. Appeals go to the water judge within 35 days.
- 299 Live water rights across 799 square miles
- 766 Wells drilled across 799 square miles
- 35,804 ac Irrigated ground across 799 square miles
- 45 ft Well depth middle value across 276 of 799 square miles
- 360 days Days called out middle value across 82 of 799 square miles
Point at any square mile to read what is on it. Hover the maps below to compare them.
Crowley 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
799 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.
The division engineer has rights here on the abandonment list
1.5% of rights appear on Colorado's decennial abandonment list, against 0% in the median county. That list is the state proposing to take a right away for ten years of non-use.
CDSS water rights, net amounts 1 of 15 counties
1.5% here 1st of 15 One bar per Colorado county from lowest to highest. Point at one to name it.
Water here has already been taken away for non-use
12% of rights carry an abandonment record, against 4% in the median county. This is not the decennial list, which is the state PROPOSING to cancel a right. These are the ones where that already happened, and they are the clearest evidence of how the division engineer treats non-use in this county.
CDSS water rights, net amounts 1 of 59 counties
12% here 1st of 59 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
77% of constructed wells have no pump installation on record, against 56% in the median county. 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 4 of 64 counties
77% here 4th of 64 One bar per Colorado county from lowest to highest. Point at one to name it.
Structures here have measured years where nothing came through
72% of measured structures recorded at least one year diverting nothing, against 25% in the median county. A decree does not stop a headgate running dry.
DWR diversion records 5 of 60 counties
72% here 5th of 60 One bar per Colorado county from lowest to highest. Point at one to name it.
A listing's priority date will overstate seniority here
43% of water rights were decreed more than a decade after the water was first claimed. Listings quote the claim date. A call is administered on the decree date, and the median gap here is 20 years.
CDSS water rights, net amounts 7 of 60 counties
43% here 7th of 60 One bar per Colorado county from lowest to highest. Point at one to name it.
Wells here have had to be re-drilled deeper
39 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 12 of 62 counties
39 here 12th of 62 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 7 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.
Water here is called out for a large part of the year
The median right is out of priority 207 days a year on DWR's own analysis. The worst year on record here was 365 days.
DWR administrative call analysis 19 of 49 counties
207 days here 19th of 49 One bar per Colorado county from lowest to highest. Point at one to name it.
Towns hold a large share of the water here
14% 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 21 of 58 counties
14% here 21st of 58 One bar per Colorado county from lowest to highest. Point at one to name it.
Wells here get plugged and abandoned more than most
12.7% of well permits end in a plugging, 69 wells in all. A well sealed shut is the clearest verdict a driller ever files.
CDSS well permit action history 21 of 64 counties
12.7% here 21st of 64 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
52% 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 26 of 56 counties
52% here 26th of 56 One bar per Colorado county from lowest to highest. Point at one to name it.
A lot of this county is wet ground
25% 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 42 of 63 counties
25% here 42nd of 63 One bar per Colorado county from lowest to highest. Point at one to name it.
For one parcel in Crowley 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 Crowley County