wells-co

The Lower Dawson aquifer

4,944 permits — 0.8% of the register — are recorded against this aquifer.

What this aquifer is

an aquifer the Division records under this name.

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
Depth480 ft753 ft148 ft — deeper here (3,336 permits, 67 %)
Yield12 gpm15 gpm10 gpm — higher here (2,689 permits, 54 %)
Static water level240 ft470 ft58 ft — higher here (3,391 permits, 69 %)

Where they are

CountyPermitsShare
Douglas2,77456.1%
Elbert1,62232.8%
Arapahoe3527.1%
El Paso1372.8%
Adams350.7%
Weld90.2%
Jefferson60.1%
Denver30.1%

What happened to these permits

3,122 of the 4,944 permits on this aquifer ended with a well the Division was told about — 63.1%. And 537 expired without one: 10.9%.

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 Constructed3,12263.1%
Permit Expired53710.9%
NA3637.3%
Permit Canceled2986.0%
Well Abandoned1773.6%
Application Information Requested1222.5%
Permit Issued1172.4%
Well Replaced - Abandonment Required801.6%
Application Withdrawn390.8%
Pump Installed, No Construction Info Received320.6%

Buying land in Colorado, or need a well drilled?

4,944 well permits are on the Division’s register in Colorado, 537 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