Colorado ยท county water record
Water in Hinsdale 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.
- 860 Live water rights across 1,175 square miles
- 826 Wells drilled across 1,175 square miles
- 3,964 ac Irrigated ground across 1,175 square miles
- 80 ft Well depth middle value across 118 of 1,175 square miles
- 365 days Days called out middle value across 57 of 1,175 square miles
Point at any square mile to read what is on it. Hover the maps below to compare them.
Hinsdale 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
1,175 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
Structures here have measured years where nothing came through
40% of measured structures recorded at least one year diverting nothing, against 12% across the state. A decree does not stop a headgate running dry.
DWR diversion records 1 of 25 counties
40% here 1st of 25 One bar per Colorado county from lowest to highest. Point at one to name it.
Stands out
It takes a long time to get from permit to water here
The median well takes 76 days from permit issue to completion, against 23 days across the state. Worth knowing before you plan a build around drilling next spring.
CDSS well permit action history 2 of 60 counties
76 days here 2nd of 60 One bar per Colorado county from lowest to highest. Point at one to name it.
Stands out
Nobody pipes water in this county
There is no active community water system anywhere on the federal register here, so every property is on a well, a cistern, or a shared private supply.
EPA Safe Drinking Water Information System 2 of 60 counties
2 here 2nd of 60 One bar per Colorado county from lowest to highest. Point at one to name it.
Stands out
A lot of the water here is decreed to stay in the stream
13% of rights are instream flow rights, against 2% across the state, held by the Water Conservation Board to keep water in the channel rather than take it out. They are senior water that will never be diverted, and on a short stream they set the floor everyone junior to them lives under.
CDSS water rights, net amounts 3 of 46 counties
13% here 3rd of 46 One bar per Colorado county from lowest to highest. Point at one to name it.
Worth knowing
A lot of this county is wet ground
70% 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 10 of 59 counties
70% here 10th of 59 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
94% 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 60 counties
94% here 11th of 60 One bar per Colorado county from lowest to highest. Point at one to name it.
Worth knowing
Water systems here have unresolved health violations
3 of this county's 2 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 44 counties
3 here 13th of 44 One bar per Colorado county from lowest to highest. Point at one to name it.
Stands out
Every town here drinks the same water a well would draw
All 2 of this county's community water systems run on groundwater rather than surface water. A municipal supply is the best-monitored well in the county, so its record is the closest thing to a free test of the aquifer under this ground.
EPA Safe Drinking Water Information System 1 of 56 counties
100% here 1st of 56 One bar per Colorado county from lowest to highest. Point at one to name it.
Worth knowing
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 12 years.
CDSS water rights, net amounts 16 of 60 counties
38% here 16th of 60 One bar per Colorado county from lowest to highest. Point at one to name it.
Worth knowing
Nobody measures what most structures here divert
63% 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 17 of 60 counties
63% here 17th 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 Hinsdale County