Colorado · counties
Water in Lake County
What the state and federal record says about water across Lake 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 Lake County
- 353household well permits issued since 2015
- 266of them for use inside the house only
- 87for full household use
- 160feet, 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.
- 456 Live water rights across 399 square miles
- 1,829 Wells drilled across 399 square miles
- 0 ac Irrigated ground across 399 square miles
- 91 ft Well depth middle value across 127 of 399 square miles
- 365 days Days called out middle value across 115 of 399 square miles
Point at any square mile to read what is on it. Hover the maps below to compare them.
Lake 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
399 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 is called out for a large part of the year
The median right is out of priority 361 days a year on DWR's own analysis, against 170 days in the median county. The worst year on record here was 366 days.
DWR administrative call analysis 2 of 49 counties
361 days here 2nd 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
83% of sections carry poorly drained soil, against 36% in the median county, 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 2 of 63 counties
83% here 2nd of 63 One bar per Colorado county from lowest to highest. Point at one to name it.
Water here changes hands and moves
27% of rights carry a transfer, exchange or alternate point event, against 11% in the median county. An active market means a price exists, and it also means water can leave the ground it started on.
CDSS water rights, net amounts 3 of 60 counties
27% here 3rd of 60 One bar per Colorado county from lowest to highest. Point at one to name it.
A lot of the water here is decreed to stay in the stream
11% of rights are instream flow rights, against 2% in the median county, 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 4 of 46 counties
11% here 4th of 46 One bar per Colorado county from lowest to highest. Point at one to name it.
Towns hold a large share of the water here
30% 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 13 of 58 counties
30% here 13th of 58 One bar per Colorado county from lowest to highest. Point at one to name it.
Structures here have measured years where nothing came through
37% of measured structures recorded at least one year diverting nothing. A decree does not stop a headgate running dry.
DWR diversion records 19 of 60 counties
37% here 19th of 60 One bar per Colorado county from lowest to highest. Point at one to name it.
Water systems here have unresolved health violations
2 of this county's 7 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 45 counties
2 here 20th of 45 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
332 reservoirs of record carry no storage decree. Each one is a question somebody has not answered.
CDSS structures 12 of 58 counties
332 here 12th of 58 One bar per Colorado county from lowest to highest. Point at one to name it.
For one parcel in Lake 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 Lake County