Colorado · counties
Water in Garfield County
What the state and federal record says about water across Garfield 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.
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Household well, any lot size
A household well can serve up to three homes, one acre of lawn and garden, and livestock, whatever the size of the lot.
- 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 Garfield County
- 748household well permits issued since 2015
- 123of them for use inside the house only
- 625for full household use
- 138feet, 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.
- 7,242 Live water rights across 3,072 square miles
- 7,515 Wells drilled across 3,072 square miles
- 42,345 ac Irrigated ground across 3,072 square miles
- 116 ft Well depth middle value across 686 of 3,072 square miles
- 67 days Days called out middle value across 1,250 of 3,072 square miles
Point at any square mile to read what is on it. Hover the maps below to compare them.
Garfield 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
3,072 surveyed sections, drawn 2 by 2 miles 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
47% of the well-served subdivisions the State Engineer has reviewed in this county needed an augmentation plan, out of 97 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 3 of 17 counties
47% here 3rd of 17 One bar per Colorado county from lowest to highest. Point at one to name it.
Dams here are rated unsatisfactory
7 of this county's 68 dams carry an unsatisfactory condition rating. A storage right behind a failing dam is water you cannot count on.
Colorado Dam Safety 6 of 43 counties
7 here 6th of 43 One bar per Colorado county from lowest to highest. Point at one to name it.
Water here is still being fought over
1,069 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 1 of 60 counties
1,069 here 1st 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
31 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 17 of 62 counties
31 here 17th of 62 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
65% 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 19 of 64 counties
65% here 19th of 64 One bar per Colorado county from lowest to highest. Point at one to name it.
Towns hold a large share of the water here
13% 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 23 of 58 counties
13% here 23rd of 58 One bar per Colorado county from lowest to highest. Point at one to name it.
Water systems here have unresolved health violations
1 of this county's 56 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 29 of 45 counties
1 here 29th 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 59 days a year on DWR's own analysis. The worst year on record here was 366 days.
DWR administrative call analysis 40 of 49 counties
59 days here 40th of 49 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
26% 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 40 of 56 counties
26% here 40th of 56 One bar per Colorado county from lowest to highest. Point at one to name it.
For one parcel in Garfield 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 Garfield County