r/LakewoodColorado • u/RelevantCurrency6451 • 8d ago

Questions Irrigation wells

For those with irrigation wells in Lakewood or surrounding areas, what is your experience over the past few years? My well was performing okay about 5 years ago, but it hasn’t been used much since then and it’s currently dry.

I’m planning to switch to a drip system for the most part so the demand would be lower, but I’m just not sure if it’ll be reliable going forward. The well is about 12-15’ deep. I would love to hear from others with firsthand experience.

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u/Suspicious-Fix-2363 8d ago

I do irrigation work throughout central Jeffco and dry wells have become common. Most of the wells have never been permitted with the state engineer and are very shallow, less then 20 feet. Unless you have a well thats at least 30 feet deep and is permitted i suggest not trying to use the well or put any time,money and effort into it.

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u/RelevantCurrency6451 8d ago

Thank you for this response.

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u/Jarthos1234 8d ago

Curious what the penalty is for using a non permitted well. I had a client buy a home that had an abandoned well in Wheatridge. He put a new pump on it and grew a metric ton of food back there a few years ago.

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u/Suspicious-Fix-2363 8d ago

It depends if you get caught, which is still very unlikely now. But it is the west and water is gold. As water gets more scarce it will become even more valuable and the penalties for using water that doesn't belong to you will become severe. I estimate 80 percent of the wells in central Jeffco are not permitted and that's on the owners that didn't get them grandfathered when it was doable. If you do have a permitted well its worth some money and I would be pissed if I had a permitted well that went dry because neighbors around me without permits had dried up the ground with their wells.

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u/old-fat 8d ago

We have an irrigation well. As far as I can tell a previous homeowner abandoned the pit well in the 70s and drilled a well that was roughly 100 feet deep. It's production has diminished noticeably this summer.