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Wells, rain barrels and water at home
Most Colorado homeowners never need a water right — they need to know the limits on the permit or statute they are already relying on. Three rules cover almost everything: an exempt well is capped at 15 gallons per minute and three dwellings, and on a lot under 35 acres is usually household-use-only; rain barrels are capped at two barrels and 110 gallons; and your HOA cannot ban either one. C.R.S. § 37-92-602(1)(b)
The pattern worth internalizing is that a household's water limits come from the narrowest document that applies to it, not the widest. A well permit can forbid something the state otherwise allows; a statute can protect something your HOA forbids. These pages work through each in turn.
- A well permit is not a water right
Why the permit in your file is not a water right, and what that costs you in a dry year.
- Exempt wells and the 35-acre rule
15 gpm, three dwellings, one acre — and why 35 acres is the number that decides everything.
- Collecting rainwater in Colorado
Two barrels and 110 gallons, no permit — plus the uncapped route most guides never mention.
- HOAs, lawns and outdoor watering
What an association may not prohibit: rain barrels, xeriscape, vegetable gardens.
Check things in this order
- Your well permit, if you have one. It states its own permitted uses, and a household-use-only permit prohibits outdoor irrigation outright — no HOA rule or drought schedule changes that. DWR well permitting
- Your water provider's current restrictions, if you are on a tap. These are utility rules, not water law, and they change every season.
- Your HOA's rules, measured against C.R.S. § 38-33.3-106.5 — which overrides any declaration that bans rain barrels, xeriscape or vegetable gardens.
When a homeowner does need more
You cross out of this section and into water court territory when you want to serve more than three dwellings from one well, irrigate more than an acre, pump more than 15 gallons per minute, or divert from a stream at all. In most of the South Platte and Arkansas basins that also means a plan for augmentation to replace your depletions. If you are buying rural property and expect to do any of those things, price the water work before you close — buying land with water rights covers the diligence.
Common questions
Do I need a water right to drill a well in Colorado?
Usually not. Most residential wells are exempt wells permitted by the State Engineer under C.R.S. § 37-92-602, outside the priority system. You need a decreed water right when the well would exceed 15 gallons per minute, serve more than three single-family dwellings, or irrigate more than one acre.
Can I be told to stop watering in a drought?
Yes, but usually by your water provider rather than by water rights administration. Municipal and district utilities impose their own outdoor watering restrictions under drought response plans. Separately, a household-use-only well permit prohibits outdoor irrigation at all times.
How much rainwater can a Colorado household collect?
110 gallons across no more than two rain barrels, for outdoor use on the same property, with no permit. Households with an exempt well — or that could qualify for one — may collect rooftop precipitation with no volume cap under a separate statute, but that route requires a permit from the Division of Water Resources.
Primary sources
- C.R.S. § 37-92-602 — exempt wells (Title 37, official text) C.R.S. 2025 edition
- C.R.S. § 38-33.3-106.5 — HOA prohibitions contrary to public policy (Title 38, official text) C.R.S. 2025 edition
- Colorado Division of Water Resources — well permitting read July 22, 2026