Monitoring/sampling
91,022 of Colorado’s 600,017 well permits are decreed for this — 15.2%.
What this use allows
Monitoring/sampling means not a water supply at all — a hole drilled to watch the groundwater. These sit on the same register and are not wells anyone drinks from.
| Measurement | Median | 90th percentile | Colorado median |
|---|---|---|---|
| Depth | 27 ft | 120 ft | 148 ft — shallower here (52,829 permits, 58 %) |
| Yield | 15 gpm | 350 gpm | 10 gpm — higher here (249 permits, 0 %) |
| Static water level | 19 ft | 109 ft | 58 ft — lower here (17,821 permits, 20 %) |
Where they are
| County | Permits | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Weld | 10,978 | 12.1% |
| Denver | 9,298 | 10.2% |
| Adams | 9,123 | 10.0% |
| Jefferson | 8,093 | 8.9% |
| El Paso | 5,469 | 6.0% |
| Arapahoe | 4,924 | 5.4% |
| Boulder | 3,864 | 4.2% |
| Larimer | 3,225 | 3.5% |
| Garfield | 3,038 | 3.3% |
| Mesa | 2,522 | 2.8% |
| Pueblo | 2,493 | 2.7% |
| Douglas | 2,001 | 2.2% |
| Eagle | 1,202 | 1.3% |
| Montrose | 1,173 | 1.3% |
| Morgan | 1,103 | 1.2% |
| Routt | 1,068 | 1.2% |
| Summit | 999 | 1.1% |
| Gunnison | 993 | 1.1% |
| La Plata | 988 | 1.1% |
| Fremont | 973 | 1.1% |
| Park | 958 | 1.1% |
| Logan | 942 | 1.0% |
| Alamosa | 837 | 0.9% |
| Pitkin | 771 | 0.8% |
| San Miguel | 768 | 0.8% |
| Grand | 718 | 0.8% |
| Moffat | 699 | 0.8% |
| Saguache | 694 | 0.8% |
| Las Animas | 616 | 0.7% |
| Rio Blanco | 601 | 0.7% |
What happened to these permits
40,674 of the 91,022 permits decreed for monitoring/sampling ended with a well the Division was told about — 44.7%. And 26,150 expired without one: 28.7%.
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 | 40,674 | 44.7% |
| Permit Expired | 26,150 | 28.7% |
| Well Abandoned | 18,350 | 20.2% |
| Permit Issued | 3,681 | 4.0% |
| Permit Canceled | 1,242 | 1.4% |
| Application Received | 629 | 0.7% |
| Application Information Requested | 140 | 0.2% |
| See Associated Receipts | 57 | 0.1% |
| Application Withdrawn | 44 | 0.0% |
| Well Replaced - Abandonment Required | 24 | 0.0% |
Buying land in Colorado, or need a well drilled?
91,022 well permits are on the Division’s register in Colorado, 26,150 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 decreed uses
- Domestic 243,096
- Household Use Only 105,372
- Irrigation 47,689
- Stock 31,328
- Commercial 22,356
- Other 18,823
- Not stated 15,448
- Municipal 9,424
- Industrial 8,665
- Geothermal 3,815