# What Kansas water wells are used for

> The 314,779 WWC-5 records by water use — domestic, irrigation, stock, oil field supply, monitoring.

## What the water is used for

The use on a WWC-5 is what the well was drilled for. It is not a permit to use the water in any quantity — that is a water right, and it is a separate instrument.

| Water use | Records | Share |
|---|---|---|
| [Monitoring well/observation/piezometer](/use/monitoring-well-observation-piezometer.md) | 85,904 | 27.3% |
| [Domestic](/use/domestic.md) | 77,399 | 24.6% |
| [Domestic, Lawn and Garden](/use/domestic-lawn-and-garden.md) | 54,905 | 17.4% |
| [Irrigation](/use/irrigation.md) | 24,315 | 7.7% |
| [Oil Field Water Supply](/use/oil-field-water-supply.md) | 18,464 | 5.9% |
| [Domestic, Livestock](/use/domestic-livestock.md) | 17,552 | 5.6% |
| [Dewatering](/use/dewatering.md) | 6,212 | 2.0% |
| [Environmental Remediation, Air Sparge](/use/environmental-remediation-air-sparge.md) | 4,767 | 1.5% |
| [Environmental Remediation, Soil Vapor Extraction](/use/environmental-remediation-soil-vapor-extraction.md) | 3,980 | 1.3% |
| [Public Water Supply](/use/public-water-supply.md) | 2,710 | 0.9% |
| [(unstated)/abandoned](/use/unstated-abandoned.md) | 2,629 | 0.8% |
| [Geothermal, Closed Loop, Vertical](/use/geothermal-closed-loop-vertical.md) | 2,001 | 0.6% |
| [Environmental Remediation, Injection](/use/environmental-remediation-injection.md) | 1,827 | 0.6% |
| [Test hole/well](/use/test-hole-well.md) | 1,726 | 0.5% |
| [Heat Pump (Closed Loop/Disposal), Geothermal](/use/heat-pump-closed-loop-disposal-geothermal.md) | 1,583 | 0.5% |

### What each one means

#### [Monitoring well/observation/piezometer](/use/monitoring-well-observation-piezometer.md)

a use the record files under this heading.

#### [Domestic](/use/domestic.md)

water for a household. The commonest use on the register by a wide margin, and the one most likely to sit under a property somebody is buying.

#### [Domestic, Lawn and Garden](/use/domestic-lawn-and-garden.md)

household water plus a yard — the ordinary rural or small-acreage well.

#### [Irrigation](/use/irrigation.md)

watering crops, at the volume an appropriation allows. These are the deep, high-yield wells, and they are the ones most often tied to a DWR water right.

#### [Oil Field Water Supply](/use/oil-field-water-supply.md)

water for drilling and production. Not a supply anyone drinks from, and it explains clusters of wells where there are few houses.

#### [Domestic, Livestock](/use/domestic-livestock.md)

a household and stock water.

#### [Dewatering](/use/dewatering.md)

not a water supply at all — a well drilled to lower the water table, usually for construction or a quarry.

#### [Environmental Remediation, Air Sparge](/use/environmental-remediation-air-sparge.md)

a well drilled to clean up contamination, not to produce water. Its presence says something about the site’s history.

#### [Environmental Remediation, Soil Vapor Extraction](/use/environmental-remediation-soil-vapor-extraction.md)

a use the record files under this heading.

#### [Public Water Supply](/use/public-water-supply.md)

a use the record files under this heading.

#### [(unstated)/abandoned](/use/unstated-abandoned.md)

a use the record files under this heading.

#### [Geothermal, Closed Loop, Vertical](/use/geothermal-closed-loop-vertical.md)

a use the record files under this heading.

#### [Environmental Remediation, Injection](/use/environmental-remediation-injection.md)

a use the record files under this heading.

#### [Test hole/well](/use/test-hole-well.md)

a use the record files under this heading.

#### [Heat Pump (Closed Loop/Disposal), Geothermal](/use/heat-pump-closed-loop-disposal-geothermal.md)

a use the record files under this heading.

### The water right is a different thing

**34,487** records — 11.0% — carry a
DWR appropriation number, the thread back to a water right on file with the
Division of Water Resources. The other 89.0% do not, which
usually means the well is domestic and below the threshold where an
appropriation is required. A completion record is never a water right.

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Página: https://wwc5.pages.dev/use/
Fonte: Water Wells WWC5 — Kansas Geological Survey, from records filed with the Kansas Department of Health and Environment
Recolha: 2026-08-21