Artificial turf in Henderson, CO, that never draws on your well.

On a household-use-only well, the lawn gets nothing.

On a Henderson well, the permit decides whether outdoor watering is allowed at all. Guideline 2023-1 spells out what a household-use-only permit excludes: growing plants anywhere outside the house, a greenhouse included, and washing vehicles, windows or decks. Watering is limited to personal plants grown indoors.

A permit that does include lawn and garden irrigation still has limits. The irrigated area is capped, and the water can't be used to fill pools, ponds, fountains or waterfalls.

Look your well up before you plan anything green. The state's Well Permits search finds a permit by address, parcel ID or permit number and shows its permitted use. If it says household use only, that well can't keep a lawn alive, and artificial turf is the green that asks nothing of it.

Two groundwater systems carry Henderson addresses.

Not every home here has its own well. EPA drinking water records list two active community water systems at Henderson, 80640 addresses, and both draw groundwater: Hazeltine Heights Water, with 88 service connections, and Tucson WC, with 36 (checked 12 September 2026).

Neither record says anything about lawns. Ask the system that bills you whether it limits outdoor watering before you budget for new grass. Our metro rebate rundown covers the larger providers that publish their terms.

Find the soil treatment area before any base is dug.

Septic systems here fall under Adams County Health Department Regulation O-26, adopted on 20 November 2025 and in force since 5 January 2026 (Board of Health Resolution 2025-012). It treats the ground over the leach field as part of the system.

Section 11.10 restricts use of the surface over any part of the system. The soil treatment area must not be subject to damage or soil compaction from livestock, vehicular traffic, recreational use or other site development activity. A field built to O-26 gets at least 10 inches of final cover of soil suitable for vegetation, graded to divert storm water away.

A turf base is compacted rock, a putting green is recreation, and a dog run is traffic every day. O-26 doesn't name artificial turf, so ask the department's Water Quality team, 303-288-6816, whether turf may sit over or beside your soil treatment area. Its septic system lookup can turn up the record for your system. We place the turf around their answer.

The county doesn't count artificial turf as landscaping.

Chapter 4 of Adams County's Development Standards and Regulations, in the version dated 1 October 2024, says no artificial trees, plants or turf shall be used as a landscape material. An applicant who wants artificial turf must still meet the minimum plant requirements and send the Director of Community and Economic Development a request for an alternative turf design with drainage specifications (Section 4-19-04-01).

That section reaches new development that hadn't applied for a building permit when it took effect, and existing development that needs a change in use permit. For a new single-family house outside eastern Adams County, the chapter also wants the front and side setbacks landscaped and at least 30% of the back yard. Turf behind an existing home is a separate case.

So ask before you build. The county's Planner of the Day, 720-523-6800, answers zoning questions, and Planning & Development takes zoning verification applications through its ePermit Center.

Well, tank and field set the edges of the turf.

Table 6 of O-26 keeps a leach field trench or bed at least 100 feet from a well. A Henderson lot with both has fixed points before any design starts, and the turf works in the room between them and the house.

Keep the septic lids reachable. The county's Use Permit FAQ lists risers and lids below grade among the deficiencies an inspector flags, and they have to be repaired before a permit is issued. Turf edged around a lid, not laid over it, keeps that simple.

At the free visit we measure, check the ground and mark the well, the tank and any known field lines. You approve a custom layout before work starts. Then we prepare the site, build a base for your soil, lay, seam and edge the turf, add infill, finish and clean up, and walk you through the care it needs.