Colorado ยท county water record
Water in Pueblo 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.
- 2,495 Live water rights across 2,390 square miles
- 8,394 Wells drilled across 2,390 square miles
- 30,196 ac Irrigated ground across 2,390 square miles
- 184 ft Well depth middle value across 1,063 of 2,390 square miles
- 364 days Days called out middle value across 478 of 2,390 square miles
Point at any square mile to read what is on it. Hover the maps below to compare them.
Pueblo 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
2,390 surveyed sections, drawn 2 by 2 miles 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
35% 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 2 of 25 counties
35% here 2nd of 25 One bar per Colorado county from lowest to highest. Point at one to name it.
Worth knowing
Water here is called out for a large part of the year
The median right is out of priority 296 days a year on DWR's own analysis. The worst year on record here was 366 days.
DWR administrative call analysis 4 of 20 counties
296 days here 4th of 20 One bar per Colorado county from lowest to highest. Point at one to name it.
Worth knowing
Wells here have had to be re-drilled deeper
55 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 7 of 59 counties
55 here 7th of 59 One bar per Colorado county from lowest to highest. Point at one to name it.
Worth knowing
Water systems here have unresolved health violations
5 of this county's 18 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 8 of 44 counties
5 here 8th of 44 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
40% 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 11 of 60 counties
40% here 11th of 60 One bar per Colorado county from lowest to highest. Point at one to name it.
Stands out
There are many impoundments here with no decreed storage right
2,670 reservoirs of record carry no storage decree. Each one is a question somebody has not answered.
CDSS structures 2 of 58 counties
2,670 here 2nd of 58 One bar per Colorado county from lowest to highest. Point at one to name it.
Worth knowing
Half the wells drilled here never had a pump put in
67% 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 15 of 60 counties
67% here 15th 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.
Worth knowing
Towns hold a large share of the water here
15% 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 17 of 58 counties
15% here 17th of 58 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
49% 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 24 of 52 counties
49% here 24th of 52 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 Pueblo County