Colorado ยท county water record
Water in Denver 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.
- 575 Live water rights across 161 square miles
- 7,089 Wells drilled across 161 square miles
- 791 ac Irrigated ground across 161 square miles
- 32 ft Well depth middle value across 146 of 161 square miles
- 305 days Days called out middle value across 51 of 161 square miles
Point at any square mile to read what is on it. Hover the maps below to compare them.
Denver 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
161 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
Half the wells drilled here never had a pump put in
97% of constructed wells have no pump installation on record, against 57% across the state. 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 1 of 60 counties
97% here 1st of 60 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
47.6% of well permits end in a plugging, against 9% across the state, 3,840 wells in all. A well sealed shut is the clearest verdict a driller ever files.
CDSS well permit action history 1 of 60 counties
47.6% here 1st of 60 One bar per Colorado county from lowest to highest. Point at one to name it.
Stands out
Permits here expire before anyone drills
669 permits, 8% 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 1 of 60 counties
8% here 1st of 60 One bar per Colorado county from lowest to highest. Point at one to name it.
Stands out
Ground here is prime farmland, but only if it is irrigated
96% of sections carry soil the USDA classes as 'prime farmland if irrigated', against 44% across the state. 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 1 of 52 counties
96% here 1st of 52 One bar per Colorado county from lowest to highest. Point at one to name it.
Stands out
Towns hold a large share of the water here
62% 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 2 of 58 counties
62% here 2nd of 58 One bar per Colorado county from lowest to highest. Point at one to name it.
Stands out
Most well permits ever issued here are dead
42% of 12,751 well permits are still live, against 69% across the state. An expired or cancelled permit is not permission to do anything.
CDSS well permits 2 of 60 counties
42% 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 77% of this county's 584 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 5 of 60 counties
77% here 5th 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
23% 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 5 of 60 counties
23% here 5th of 60 One bar per Colorado county from lowest to highest. Point at one to name it.
Stands out
The senior water here was claimed before Colorado was a state
The oldest appropriation on record in this county is 1859, which predates statehood in 1876. Seniority is the whole of Colorado water law and it is absolute: a right from the 1850s is in front of everything filed since, every year, in every dry year.
CDSS water rights, net amounts 4 of 60 counties
1859 here 4th of 60 One bar per Colorado county from lowest to highest. Point at one to name it.
Context
A lot of this county is wet ground
55% 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 22 of 59 counties
55% here 22nd of 59 One bar per Colorado county from lowest to highest. Point at one to name it.
Context
Nobody measures what most structures here divert
58% of rights sit on structures where DWR keeps no diversion record. There is no way to check the paper against what actually came through.
CDSS water rights, net amounts 23 of 60 counties
58% here 23rd 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 Denver County