WATER PROBLEMS Huerfano County was part of the Great Plains drought area of the 1930's and of the southwestern drought area of the early 1950's. It is faced with almost perennial water shortages and, during drought, with some critical water problems. The county is largely a bedrock area that is, the more permeable alluvial aquifers are not extensive, and the county is underlain chiefly by bedrock formations of relatively low permeability. Because of its geographic, geologic, and hydrologic setting, the water problems of the county are primarily those of availability and quality.