Colorado ยท county water record
Water in Douglas 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.
- 7,101 Live water rights across 839 square miles
- 14,233 Wells drilled across 839 square miles
- 716 ac Irrigated ground across 839 square miles
- 350 ft Well depth middle value across 626 of 839 square miles
- 305 days Days called out middle value across 370 of 839 square miles
Point at any square mile to read what is on it. Hover the maps below to compare them.
Douglas 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
839 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
Wells here have to go a long way down
The typical well is 360 feet deep, against 105 ft across the state, drawing denver basin bedrock. Depth is the cost before the water is.
CDSS well permits 1 of 60 counties
360 ft here 1st of 60 One bar per Colorado county from lowest to highest. Point at one to name it.
Stands out
The water table here sits far below the surface
The median static water level is 187 feet down, against 46 ft across the state. That is pumping cost every day the well runs.
CDSS well permits 1 of 60 counties
187 ft here 1st 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 58% of this county's 12,333 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 2 of 60 counties
58% here 2nd 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
42% 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 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
Towns hold a large share of the water here
46% 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 5 of 58 counties
46% here 5th of 58 One bar per Colorado county from lowest to highest. Point at one to name it.
Worth knowing
Soil here holds water at the surface rather than letting it through
96% of sections have hydrologic group D soil, the slowest-infiltrating class. Good ground for a stock pond, which will hold without lining. Bad ground for a septic absorption field and for well recharge, because one property drives all three.
USDA SSURGO soil survey 8 of 60 counties
96% here 8th of 60 One bar per Colorado county from lowest to highest. Point at one to name it.
Worth knowing
Wells here have had to be re-drilled deeper
48 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 9 of 59 counties
48 here 9th of 59 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
70% 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 12 of 52 counties
70% here 12th of 52 One bar per Colorado county from lowest to highest. Point at one to name it.
Worth knowing
Dams here are rated unsatisfactory
4 of this county's 63 dams carry an unsatisfactory condition rating. A storage right behind a failing dam is water you cannot count on.
Colorado Dam Safety 12 of 42 counties
4 here 12th of 42 One bar per Colorado county from lowest to highest. Point at one to name it.
Context
Water systems here have unresolved health violations
2 of this county's 28 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 44 counties
2 here 20th of 44 One bar per Colorado county from lowest to highest. Point at one to name it.
Context
A lot of this county is wet ground
30% 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 34 of 59 counties
30% here 34th of 59 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 Douglas County