The Unconfined San Luis Valley Aquifer aquifer
3,520 permits — 0.6% 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.
| Measurement | Median | 90th percentile | Colorado median |
|---|---|---|---|
| Depth | 78 ft | 130 ft | 148 ft — shallower here (2,436 permits, 69 %) |
| Yield | 400 gpm | 1000 gpm | 10 gpm — higher here (1,052 permits, 30 %) |
| Static water level | 15 ft | 42 ft | 58 ft — lower here (1,463 permits, 42 %) |
Where they are
| County | Permits | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Alamosa | 1,178 | 33.5% |
| Saguache | 758 | 21.5% |
| Rio Grande | 664 | 18.9% |
| Conejos | 124 | 3.5% |
| Adams | 109 | 3.1% |
| El Paso | 104 | 3.0% |
| Jefferson | 100 | 2.8% |
| Denver | 90 | 2.6% |
| Weld | 81 | 2.3% |
| Costilla | 79 | 2.2% |
| Arapahoe | 54 | 1.5% |
| Pueblo | 37 | 1.1% |
| Boulder | 31 | 0.9% |
| Larimer | 22 | 0.6% |
| Summit | 17 | 0.5% |
| Montrose | 15 | 0.4% |
| Douglas | 10 | 0.3% |
| Prowers | 7 | 0.2% |
| Mineral | 6 | 0.2% |
| Huerfano | 5 | 0.1% |
| Lake | 5 | 0.1% |
| Bent | 5 | 0.1% |
| Rio Blanco | 4 | 0.1% |
| Logan | 4 | 0.1% |
| Eagle | 2 | 0.1% |
| Archuleta | 2 | 0.1% |
What happened to these permits
1,967 of the 3,520 permits on this aquifer ended with a well the Division was told about — 55.9%. And 440 expired without one: 12.5%.
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.
| Status | Permits | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Well Constructed | 1,967 | 55.9% |
| Permit Expired | 440 | 12.5% |
| Well Abandoned | 364 | 10.3% |
| Permit Issued | 225 | 6.4% |
| Permit Canceled | 149 | 4.2% |
| Well Replaced - Abandonment Required | 125 | 3.6% |
| Application Information Requested | 85 | 2.4% |
| Application Received | 76 | 2.2% |
| Application Denied | 52 | 1.5% |
| Permit Expired (Pump Installed) | 12 | 0.3% |
Buying land in Colorado, or need a well drilled?
3,520 well permits are on the Division’s register in Colorado, 440 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
- All Unnamed Aquifers 465,783
- Not stated 19,134
- Dawson 14,024
- Denver 13,929
- Alluvial 13,890
- Ogallala 11,241
- Arapahoe 9,456
- Laramie Fox Hills 7,796
- Upper Dawson 6,943
- Quaternary Alluvium 5,403
- Lower Dawson 4,944
- Unconfined San Luis Vall 3,975
- Laramie-fox Hills 2,605
- Confined San Luis Valley 2,551
- Upper Arapahoe 2,224
- Lower Arapahoe 2,084
- Dakota 1,758
- Confined San Luis Valley Aquifer 1,683