Colorado · counties
Water in Fremont County
What the state and federal record says about water across Fremont 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 Fremont County
- 1,251household well permits issued since 2015
- 519of them for use inside the house only
- 732for full household use
- 330feet, the typical depth
- 7gallons a minute, the typical yield
CDSS well permits Decided by: DWR, at permit application. Appeals go to the water judge within 35 days.
- 1,454 Live water rights across 1,611 square miles
- 7,201 Wells drilled across 1,611 square miles
- 0 ac Irrigated ground across 1,611 square miles
- 240 ft Well depth middle value across 738 of 1,611 square miles
- 364 days Days called out middle value across 501 of 1,611 square miles
Point at any square mile to read what is on it. Hover the maps below to compare them.
Fremont 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
1,611 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.
Wells here make very little water
The typical well makes 7 gallons a minute, against 12 gpm in the median county. Workable for a house, a problem for livestock or irrigation.
CDSS well permits 7 of 64 counties
7 gpm here 7th of 64 One bar per Colorado county from lowest to highest. Point at one to name it.
Wells here have had to be re-drilled deeper
42 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 62 counties
42 here 9th of 62 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
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 11 of 64 counties
96% here 11th of 64 One bar per Colorado county from lowest to highest. Point at one to name it.
Water systems here have unresolved health violations
3 of this county's 16 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 13 of 45 counties
3 here 13th of 45 One bar per Colorado county from lowest to highest. Point at one to name it.
Structures here have measured years where nothing came through
41% of measured structures recorded at least one year diverting nothing. A decree does not stop a headgate running dry.
DWR diversion records 15 of 60 counties
41% here 15th 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 29 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.
A listing's priority date will overstate seniority here
38% 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 19 years.
CDSS water rights, net amounts 18 of 60 counties
38% here 18th of 60 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
684 reservoirs of record carry no storage decree. Each one is a question somebody has not answered.
CDSS structures 7 of 58 counties
684 here 7th of 58 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
53% 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 24 of 56 counties
53% here 24th of 56 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 77 days a year on DWR's own analysis. The worst year on record here was 366 days.
DWR administrative call analysis 36 of 49 counties
77 days here 36th of 49 One bar per Colorado county from lowest to highest. Point at one to name it.
For one parcel in Fremont 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.
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