Colorado · counties
Water in San Juan County
What the state and federal record says about water across San Juan County. Each figure names the agency it came from.
Can I drill a well here?
Yes on most land, for up to three homes, a garden and livestock
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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.
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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 San Juan County
- 22household well permits issued since 2015
- 10of them for use inside the house only
- 12for full household use
- 120feet, 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.
- 118 Live water rights across 287 square miles
- 42 Wells drilled across 287 square miles
- 0 ac Irrigated ground across 287 square miles
- 102 ft Well depth middle value across 14 of 287 square miles
- 0 days Days called out middle value across 24 of 287 square miles
Point at any square mile to read what is on it. Hover the maps below to compare them.
San Juan 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
287 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
24% 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 1 of 58 counties
24% here 1st of 58 One bar per Colorado county from lowest to highest. Point at one to name it.
A large share of the well permits issued here are dead
41% of 244 well permits are still live, against 68% in the median county. An expired or cancelled permit is not permission to do anything.
CDSS well permits 1 of 64 counties
41% here 1st of 64 One bar per Colorado county from lowest to highest. Point at one to name it.
Soil here holds water at the surface rather than letting it through
100% of sections have hydrologic group D soil, against 82% in the median county, the slowest-infiltrating class. Good ground for a stock pond, which will hold without lining. Bad ground for a septic absorption field and for well recharge, because one property drives all three.
USDA SSURGO soil survey 1 of 64 counties
100% here 1st of 64 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 1 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 1 of 64 counties
1 here 1st of 64 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
15% 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 2 of 46 counties
15% here 2nd of 46 One bar per Colorado county from lowest to highest. Point at one to name it.
A large share of the water rights on paper here are dead
Only 74% of this county's 302 rights are still live, against 94% in the median county. A records search here turns up a great deal of history alongside the water.
CDSS water rights, net amounts 4 of 60 counties
74% here 4th of 60 One bar per Colorado county from lowest to highest. Point at one to name it.
Many decrees here name a structure that no longer exists
26% of rights attach to a structure DWR marks abandoned, historical or non-existent, against 5% in the median county. A decree citing a ditch that is gone is a title problem, not a water supply.
CDSS water rights, net amounts 4 of 60 counties
26% here 4th of 60 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
72% 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 11 of 64 counties
72% here 11th of 64 One bar per Colorado county from lowest to highest. Point at one to name it.
Nobody measures what most structures here divert
65% 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 15 of 60 counties
65% here 15th of 60 One bar per Colorado county from lowest to highest. Point at one to name it.
Towns hold a large share of the water here
17% 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 16 of 58 counties
17% here 16th of 58 One bar per Colorado county from lowest to highest. Point at one to name it.
A lot of this county is wet ground
40% 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 30 of 63 counties
40% here 30th of 63 One bar per Colorado county from lowest to highest. Point at one to name it.
For one parcel in San Juan 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 San Juan County