Colorado · counties
Water in Eagle County
What the state and federal record says about water across Eagle 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 Eagle County
- 328household well permits issued since 2015
- 63of them for use inside the house only
- 265for full household use
- 149feet, the typical depth
- 15gallons a minute, the typical yield
CDSS well permits Decided by: DWR, at permit application. Appeals go to the water judge within 35 days.
- 5,197 Live water rights across 1,668 square miles
- 2,475 Wells drilled across 1,668 square miles
- 15,268 ac Irrigated ground across 1,668 square miles
- 102 ft Well depth middle value across 349 of 1,668 square miles
- 222 days Days called out middle value across 813 of 1,668 square miles
Point at any square mile to read what is on it. Hover the maps below to compare them.
Eagle 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
1,668 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.
Building here usually means a water court case before a lot can sell
44% of the well-served subdivisions the State Engineer has reviewed in this county needed an augmentation plan, out of 70 proposals. Colorado will not let a county approve a subdivision until he has said whether the water supply is adequate, and an augmentation plan is how a proposal that cannot answer that gets to yes. It is a water court case, and it is the cost nobody puts in the budget.
Subdivision referral opinions of the Colorado State Engineer 4 of 17 counties
44% here 4th of 17 One bar per Colorado county from lowest to highest. Point at one to name it.
A large share of the well permits issued here are dead
55% of 4,723 well permits are still live, against 68% in the median county. An expired or cancelled permit is not permission to do anything.
CDSS well permits 4 of 64 counties
55% here 4th of 64 One bar per Colorado county from lowest to highest. Point at one to name it.
Much of what stores water here predates the rules
384 structures here were in place before 1972, when Colorado began requiring a permit to build one. They are lawful because they are old, their records are thin, and what a buyer inherits is whatever the state happens to have written down.
CDSS structures 7 of 59 counties
384 here 7th of 59 One bar per Colorado county from lowest to highest. Point at one to name it.
A lot of the water decreed here was never built
10% of rights are conditional only. A court said somebody may build it and nobody has.
CDSS water rights, net amounts 8 of 58 counties
10% here 8th of 58 One bar per Colorado county from lowest to highest. Point at one to name it.
Towns hold a large share of the water here
31% 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 12 of 58 counties
31% here 12th of 58 One bar per Colorado county from lowest to highest. Point at one to name it.
Soil here holds water at the surface rather than letting it through
93% 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 14 of 64 counties
93% here 14th of 64 One bar per Colorado county from lowest to highest. Point at one to name it.
Water here is still being fought over
822 water court applications named this county since 2021, the most recent in 2026. Every one is a public document you can read.
Colorado water court resumes 3 of 60 counties
822 here 3rd of 60 One bar per Colorado county from lowest to highest. Point at one to name it.
Dams here are rated unsatisfactory
3 of this county's 50 dams carry an unsatisfactory condition rating. A storage right behind a failing dam is water you cannot count on.
Colorado Dam Safety 16 of 43 counties
3 here 16th of 43 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 23 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 190 days a year on DWR's own analysis. The worst year on record here was 365 days.
DWR administrative call analysis 23 of 49 counties
190 days here 23rd 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
54% 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 23 of 63 counties
54% here 23rd of 63 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
59% 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 30 of 64 counties
59% here 30th of 64 One bar per Colorado county from lowest to highest. Point at one to name it.
For one parcel in Eagle 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 Eagle County