Colorado ยท county water record
Water in Jefferson 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.
- 5,270 Live water rights across 781 square miles
- 26,494 Wells drilled across 781 square miles
- 2,011 ac Irrigated ground across 781 square miles
- 258 ft Well depth middle value across 605 of 781 square miles
- 165 days Days called out middle value across 407 of 781 square miles
Point at any square mile to read what is on it. Hover the maps below to compare them.
Jefferson 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
781 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 had to be re-drilled deeper
156 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 1 of 59 counties
156 here 1st of 59 One bar per Colorado county from lowest to highest. Point at one to name it.
Stands out
Dams here are rated unsatisfactory
10 of this county's 125 dams carry an unsatisfactory condition rating. A storage right behind a failing dam is water you cannot count on.
Colorado Dam Safety 1 of 42 counties
10 here 1st of 42 One bar per Colorado county from lowest to highest. Point at one to name it.
Stands out
Wells here make very little water
The typical well makes 6 gallons a minute, against 12 gpm across the state. Workable for a house, a problem for livestock or irrigation.
CDSS well permits 2 of 60 counties
6 gpm here 2nd of 60 One bar per Colorado county from lowest to highest. Point at one to name it.
Stands out
Permits here expire before anyone drills
1,381 permits, 6% of all issued, ran out with no well ever completed, against 2% across the state. Permission is not a well, and permission expires.
CDSS well permit action history 2 of 60 counties
6% here 2nd of 60 One bar per Colorado county from lowest to highest. Point at one to name it.
Stands out
There are dams here that would take lives if they failed
33 of this county's 125 dams are rated high hazard. Hazard is about what is DOWNSTREAM rather than about the dam's condition, so a high-hazard rating means people or roads below it, and it is what drives the inspection and the owner's liability.
Colorado Dam Safety 3 of 54 counties
33 here 3rd of 54 One bar per Colorado county from lowest to highest. Point at one to name it.
Worth knowing
Reservoirs here are under a storage restriction
6 dams here are restricted, meaning the state will not let them fill to their decreed capacity until repairs are made. A storage right behind a restricted dam is water that legally exists and physically cannot be held.
Colorado Dam Safety 5 of 39 counties
6 here 5th of 39 One bar per Colorado county from lowest to highest. Point at one to name it.
Stands out
Soil here holds water at the surface rather than letting it through
97% of sections have hydrologic group D soil, against 83% across the state, 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 6 of 60 counties
97% here 6th of 60 One bar per Colorado county from lowest to highest. Point at one to name it.
Worth knowing
Towns hold a large share of the water here
32% 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 11 of 58 counties
32% here 11th of 58 One bar per Colorado county from lowest to highest. Point at one to name it.
Worth knowing
Wells here get plugged and abandoned more than most
16.4% of well permits end in a plugging, 4,027 wells in all. A well sealed shut is the clearest verdict a driller ever files.
CDSS well permit action history 11 of 60 counties
16.4% here 11th of 60 One bar per Colorado county from lowest to highest. Point at one to name it.
Stands out
The senior water here was claimed before Colorado was a state
The oldest appropriation on record in this county is 1859, which predates statehood in 1876. Seniority is the whole of Colorado water law and it is absolute: a right from the 1850s is in front of everything filed since, every year, in every dry year.
CDSS water rights, net amounts 4 of 60 counties
1859 here 4th of 60 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 47 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
Nobody measures what most structures here divert
59% 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 22 of 60 counties
59% here 22nd of 60 One bar per Colorado county from lowest to highest. Point at one to name it.
Context
Ground here is prime farmland, but only if it is irrigated
42% 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 28 of 52 counties
42% here 28th of 52 One bar per Colorado county from lowest to highest. Point at one to name it.
Context
A lot of this county is wet ground
40% 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 28 of 59 counties
40% here 28th 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 Jefferson County