Colorado · counties
Water in Logan County
What the state and federal record says about water across Logan 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.
- Groundwater management districts here can set tighter limits than the statute: Frenchman.
- 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 Logan County
- 392household well permits issued since 2015
- 12of them for use inside the house only
- 380for full household use
- 123feet, 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.
- 1,923 Live water rights across 1,836 square miles
- 6,673 Wells drilled across 1,836 square miles
- 103,701 ac Irrigated ground across 1,836 square miles
- 162 ft Well depth middle value across 1,243 of 1,836 square miles
- 97 days Days called out middle value across 334 of 1,836 square miles
Point at any square mile to read what is on it. Hover the maps below to compare them.
Logan 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
1,836 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.
A lot of the water decreed here was never built
12% of rights are conditional only, against 5% in the median county. A court said somebody may build it and nobody has.
CDSS water rights, net amounts 6 of 58 counties
12% here 6th of 58 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
73% 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 12 of 56 counties
73% here 12th of 56 One bar per Colorado county from lowest to highest. Point at one to name it.
Wells here get plugged and abandoned more than most
16.4% of well permits end in a plugging, 875 wells in all. A well sealed shut is the clearest verdict a driller ever files.
CDSS well permit action history 14 of 64 counties
16.4% here 14th of 64 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
56% 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 33 of 64 counties
56% here 33rd of 64 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 81 days a year on DWR's own analysis. The worst year on record here was 239 days.
DWR administrative call analysis 35 of 49 counties
81 days here 35th 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
23% 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 45 of 63 counties
23% here 45th of 63 One bar per Colorado county from lowest to highest. Point at one to name it.
For one parcel in Logan 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 Logan County