wells-co

The Alluvial aquifer

13,890 permits — 2.3% of the register — are recorded against this aquifer.

What this aquifer is

shallow water in river gravels — easy to reach and closely tied to the surface stream, which is why it is regulated differently.

Which aquifer a well draws on is not administrative detail: the Denver Basin formations have their own legal regime, and alluvial water is tied to the surface stream, which is why it is regulated differently. The depth below is the practical consequence.

Medians, on the permits where the Division was told — never a mean, which a few industrial wells would carry away
MeasurementMedian90th percentileColorado median
Depth25 ft87 ft148 ft — shallower here (10,712 permits, 77 %)
Yield100 gpm1050 gpm10 gpm — higher here (1,140 permits, 8 %)
Static water level16.32 ft64 ft58 ft — lower here (4,250 permits, 31 %)

Where they are

CountyPermitsShare
Weld4,92135.4%
Adams1,86413.4%
Arapahoe7135.1%
Denver7095.1%
El Paso6434.6%
Jefferson5844.2%
Boulder4793.4%
Morgan4493.2%
Larimer4133.0%
Douglas3522.5%
Logan2121.5%
Pueblo2061.5%
Chaffee1931.4%
Elbert1671.2%
Garfield1451.0%
Mesa1381.0%
Routt1290.9%
Summit1100.8%
Rio Blanco1070.8%
Lincoln1040.7%
Broomfield990.7%
Lake880.6%
Gunnison690.5%
Moffat630.5%
La Plata580.4%
Fremont580.4%

What happened to these permits

8,781 of the 13,890 permits on this aquifer ended with a well the Division was told about — 63.2%. And 1,043 expired without one: 7.5%.

An expired permit is the trap in a rural sale. A seller can produce a permit that lapsed years ago, and a permit is not a water right — the two are separate, and a purchase turns on both. What an expired permit does and does not mean.

StatusPermitsShare
Well Constructed8,78163.2%
Well Abandoned1,64911.9%
Permit Issued1,1298.1%
Permit Expired1,0437.5%
Final Permit2722.0%
Permit Canceled2551.8%
Application Information Requested2511.8%
Application Received2021.5%
Application Withdrawn1030.7%
Final Permit - Well Replaced, Abandonment Required440.3%

Buying land in Colorado, or need a well drilled?

13,890 well permits are on the Division’s register in Colorado, 1,043 of them expired. This site tells you what a permit says; it does not drill, and it is not advice on a water right. Tell us where and we pass the request to drillers and water-rights advisers working in Colorado.

We take no commission and we recommend no driller. We have no arrangement with any firm today — we are collecting these requests in order to go and find them. What we do with this.

The other aquifers