On the Crowley County plains, a well permit comes with limits

Out on the open ranch and farm country of Crowley County, a lot of rural homes rely on a well. If you are buying one, it helps to know that a well is not a free, unlimited tap.

Every well in Colorado runs on a permit from the state’s Division of Water Resources. That permit says what the water may be used for. Some permits are household-use-only, which can mean no outdoor irrigation and no watering livestock beyond what the permit allows. Others allow more, but with conditions. The permit, not the size of the property, sets the rules.

This matters on the plains because newcomers often picture a few horses, a big garden, or some irrigated pasture. Whether the existing well actually allows those uses is a question you answer by reading the permit, not by assuming.

Two simple checks before you count on well water: find the actual permit for that well and read its allowed uses, and confirm the well was drilled and recorded the way the permit requires.

Look up the well permit and its conditions through the Colorado Division of Water Resources before relying on it for anything beyond what it states.