Colorado · counties
Water in Rio Blanco County
What the state and federal record says about water across Rio Blanco 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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Household well, any lot size
A household well can serve up to three homes, one acre of lawn and garden, and livestock, whatever the size of the lot.
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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.
- 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 Rio Blanco County
- 381household well permits issued since 2015
- 8of them for use inside the house only
- 373for full household use
- 76feet, 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.
- 3,686 Live water rights across 3,230 square miles
- 1,621 Wells drilled across 3,230 square miles
- 29,234 ac Irrigated ground across 3,230 square miles
- 140 ft Well depth middle value across 515 of 3,230 square miles
- 13 days Days called out middle value across 503 of 3,230 square miles
Point at any square mile to read what is on it. Hover the maps below to compare them.
Rio Blanco 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
3,230 surveyed sections, drawn 2 by 2 miles 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.
Permits here expire before anyone drills
76 permits, 5% of all issued, ran out with no well ever completed, against 2% in the median county. Permission is not a well, and permission expires.
CDSS well permit action history 4 of 64 counties
5% here 4th 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
77% of constructed wells have no pump installation on record, against 56% in the median county. 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 5 of 64 counties
77% here 5th of 64 One bar per Colorado county from lowest to highest. Point at one to name it.
Much of what stores water here predates the rules
426 structures here were in place before 1972, when Colorado began requiring a permit to build one, against 105 in the median county. They are lawful because they are old, their records are thin, and what a buyer inherits is whatever the state happens to have written down.
CDSS structures 5 of 59 counties
426 here 5th 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
64% of measured structures recorded at least one year diverting nothing. A decree does not stop a headgate running dry.
DWR diversion records 9 of 60 counties
64% here 9th of 60 One bar per Colorado county from lowest to highest. Point at one to name it.
A listing's priority date will overstate seniority here
38% 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 10 years.
CDSS water rights, net amounts 17 of 60 counties
38% here 17th of 60 One bar per Colorado county from lowest to highest. Point at one to name it.
Nobody measures what most structures here divert
62% 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 18 of 60 counties
62% here 18th of 60 One bar per Colorado county from lowest to highest. Point at one to name it.
Wells here get plugged and abandoned more than most
13.0% of well permits end in a plugging, 220 wells in all. A well sealed shut is the clearest verdict a driller ever files.
CDSS well permit action history 18 of 64 counties
13.0% here 18th of 64 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
55% 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 23 of 56 counties
55% here 23rd of 56 One bar per Colorado county from lowest to highest. Point at one to name it.
For one parcel in Rio Blanco 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.
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