Colorado · counties
Water in Kiowa County
What the state and federal record says about water across Kiowa 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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Inside a designated groundwater basin
The Ground Water Commission's small-capacity rule applies instead: up to 50 gallons a minute and 5 acre-feet a year, for up to three homes and one acre.
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On a rule boundary
A basin or over-appropriation line crosses these sections, so the answer turns on where on the lot the well would sit.
- Designated basins here: Northern High Plains.
- 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 Kiowa County
- 45household well permits issued since 2015
- 0of them for use inside the house only
- 45for full household use
- 60feet, 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.
- 321 Live water rights across 1,818 square miles
- 858 Wells drilled across 1,818 square miles
- 0 ac Irrigated ground across 1,818 square miles
- 65 ft Well depth middle value across 462 of 1,818 square miles
- 229 days Days called out middle value across 83 of 1,818 square miles
Point at any square mile to read what is on it. Hover the maps below to compare them.
Kiowa 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
1,818 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.
Water here has already been taken away for non-use
11% of rights carry an abandonment record, against 4% in the median county. This is not the decennial list, which is the state PROPOSING to cancel a right. These are the ones where that already happened, and they are the clearest evidence of how the division engineer treats non-use in this county.
CDSS water rights, net amounts 2 of 59 counties
11% here 2nd of 59 One bar per Colorado county from lowest to highest. Point at one to name it.
Structures here have measured years where nothing came through
73% of measured structures recorded at least one year diverting nothing, against 25% in the median county. A decree does not stop a headgate running dry.
DWR diversion records 3 of 60 counties
73% here 3rd of 60 One bar per Colorado county from lowest to highest. Point at one to name it.
Almost nowhere in this county is on a piped water system
The federal register lists 3 active community water systems for the whole county, against 10 in the median county. Unless a property sits inside one of them it is on a well, a cistern, or a shared private supply.
EPA Safe Drinking Water Information System 7 of 64 counties
3 here 7th of 64 One bar per Colorado county from lowest to highest. Point at one to name it.
Wells here get plugged and abandoned more than most
17.5% of well permits end in a plugging, 108 wells in all. A well sealed shut is the clearest verdict a driller ever files.
CDSS well permit action history 10 of 64 counties
17.5% here 10th of 64 One bar per Colorado county from lowest to highest. Point at one to name it.
Nobody measures what most structures here divert
68% 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 12 of 60 counties
68% here 12th of 60 One bar per Colorado county from lowest to highest. Point at one to name it.
Much of this county sits in a designated groundwater basin
21% of well permits are inside NORTHERN HIGH PLAINS, where new permits are restricted or unavailable. Before anything else about water here, find out whether you can get one.
CDSS well permits 12 of 18 counties
21% here 12th of 18 One bar per Colorado county from lowest to highest. Point at one to name it.
Every town here drinks the same water a well would draw
All 3 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 59 counties
100% here 1st of 59 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
67% 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 17 of 56 counties
67% here 17th of 56 One bar per Colorado county from lowest to highest. Point at one to name it.
A listing's priority date will overstate seniority here
36% 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 20 years.
CDSS water rights, net amounts 19 of 60 counties
36% here 19th of 60 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 156 days a year on DWR's own analysis. The worst year on record here was 189 days.
DWR administrative call analysis 26 of 49 counties
156 days here 26th 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
24% 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 43 of 63 counties
24% here 43rd of 63 One bar per Colorado county from lowest to highest. Point at one to name it.
For one parcel in Kiowa 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 Kiowa County