What to Expect From a Well in Alamosa County

How deep are wells around Alamosa County?

How much water do wells make near Alamosa County?

A 100-Foot Median Is a Starting Point, Not a Bid

Among 6,422 wells reporting depth, the median is 100 feet and the middle half runs from 60-250 feet. For budgeting, that means a bid based only on the median could miss a substantial amount of drilling. Ask the driller what nearby completion records support the proposed depth and how additional footage is priced.

The deeper end matters: the 90th percentile is 600 feet, and the deepest recorded well reaches 3,080 feet. Local ground is mixed sedimentary and alluvial material. Permits frequently name the Unconfined San Luis Valley Aquifer, while many aquifer entries are unnamed or broadly classified. Those labels alone cannot establish the water-bearing material beneath a particular lot.

Strong Reported Yields, but Not All From Household Wells

The median reported pump yield is 23.5 gpm, with the middle half spanning 15.0-400.0 gpm. That wide range reflects a county dataset that includes irrigation and stock wells alongside domestic supplies. Irrigation appears on 33% of permits and domestic or household use on 48%; these use categories can overlap.

Of the 1,816 records reporting yield, 78% report 15+ gpm, while 1% fall in the 1-5 gpm band. The reported share under 1 gpm is 0%, but that does not guarantee a productive well on an untested parcel. For a purchase, get a current pumping test and distinguish the well's physical output from the uses and pumping allowed by its permit.

Shallow Standing Water Does Not Show a Steady Countywide Decline

Static water level is the depth to water while the well is not pumping, not the depth of the drilled hole. Across 533 reported measurements, the median is 12 feet below ground and the middle half is 8-18 feet. A shallow standing level does not establish how much water the well can sustain under pumping.

Decade medians move from 5 feet in the 1970s to 12 in the 1980s, 15 in the 1990s, 12 in the 2000s, 10 in the 2010s and 13 in the 2020s. That is not a steady downward trend. These are changing groups of measurements, not a continuous record from the same wells, so they cannot establish a parcel's long-term supply outlook.

Permit Activity Around Alamosa, Mosca and Hooper

Alamosa County's permit history includes 1,723 permits issued in the 1970s and 1,645 in the 1990s. More recently, the records show 900 in the 2010s and 753 in the 2020s, with the newest permit dated 2026. The latest decade is incomplete, so its total should not be treated as a finished comparison with earlier decades.

The most active drillers in the records are Rocky Mountain Waterworks Llc (Phythian, Donald L.) with 420, Heersink Drilling (Heersink, Scott) with 409, and Valley Pump Company (Self, Clinton L.) with 381. These are historical record counts, not confirmation of current availability. When seeking a bid near Alamosa, Mosca or Hooper, ask about experience with nearby wells and comparable permitted uses.

Budget the Finished Well, Not Just the Hole

The drilling model for Alamosa County's mixed sedimentary and alluvial ground uses $50-$75 per foot. At the 100-foot median depth, that puts the drilled hole at about $5,000-$7,500. A finished well with pump, tank, trenching and electrical is modeled at about $11,000-$19,500.

Treat those figures as a planning allowance, not a parcel-specific quote. The 60-250-foot middle depth range is a reason to request clear footage pricing rather than assume every well will finish at the median. Have the written scope identify casing, grout, pump equipment, trench route, electrical work and testing. Confirm how access conditions and a different final depth would change the price before work begins.

Check Water Quality and Leave Room for Septic

The environmental map identifies 21 PFAS sampling or contamination sites and 2 EPA Superfund or cleanup sites within about 10 miles. A mapped sampling site is not proof that a nearby household well is contaminated, and distance alone does not establish safety. Review the specific site's findings and obtain water testing appropriate to the property before relying on the supply.

Also inspect the wellhead, casing condition and surface drainage. A reported yield does not rule out seasonal supply trouble or predict the outcome of new drilling. Shallow standing water deserves attention during septic evaluation, but a well's static level is not a substitute for examining soil and groundwater conditions at the proposed septic location.

Before Closing on an Alamosa County Lot

Match the DWR permit, completion report and mapped location to the actual well serving the property. Confirm that the permitted uses cover your plans; a household-use permit should not be assumed to authorize irrigation or stock watering. For a new well, verify permit eligibility with DWR before treating water access as settled. Augmentation requirements can matter in over-appropriated basins.

Compare neighboring records within the same part of Alamosa County rather than borrowing expectations from Rio Grande County or Conejos County. Then coordinate the well location with the driveway, house, septic area and utility trench. On an existing home, review current pumping and water-quality results alongside the permit. On vacant land, make water feasibility part of the purchase decision, not an assumption left for construction.

Well permits by decade near Alamosa County

What a new well costs in Alamosa County

How this is built: the median permitted depth here times the per-foot range for this ground, plus the normal system costs. A lot at the 75th-percentile depth (250 ft) would run roughly $18,500–$30,750. See the full Colorado well cost guide.

Environmental sites mapped within about 10 miles

Counts come from EPA, USGS and state datasets layered on the Colorado Well Finder map. A count is not a verdict on any one well; it tells you what to test for.

Buying land near Alamosa County? Know what it costs to build before you buy the dirt.

A listing photo can't tell you whether a lot is a dream or a money pit. Two parcels near Alamosa County can carry the same asking price while one needs an $80,000 driveway and a $45,000 engineered septic the other doesn't. The well numbers on this page are the start of that answer. A Tri-Lakes Site Feasibility Report is the rest of it: a licensed general contractor, excavator and septic installer reads the parcel the way we would if we were about to build on it, and puts the real cost in writing before your money is committed.

Spend a little to know. Or gamble a lot to guess. Realtors sell the view and inspectors look at houses that already exist. We're the people who'd build it, so we catch what quietly turns a "great deal" into a budget disaster: bad access, buried rock, steep grade, soil that won't pass for a normal septic, water that's a fortune to reach. And if the lot is good, you've already got a builder ready to do the work, driveway to drywall.

• Instant Online Report, $99 — type the address and get a buildability read on the spot: parcel, terrain and slope, soil and septic outlook. Cheap enough to run on every lot you're shopping.
• Desktop Report, $500 — a contractor's from-the-desk feasibility read: Regulation 43 and county code, GIS parcel data, terrain, flood and drainage, soil and septic viability, setbacks and buildable envelope, nearby well depths from our 591,000-well database, the likely driveway route, and a preliminary site-development cost breakdown.
• On-Site Report, $2,000 — everything above, then boots and a drone on the actual ground: house pad and septic zone located, access and winter conditions checked, rock and soil observed in person, a 15 to 20 page written opinion you can hand a lender or seller. Credited toward your project if you build with us.

Under contract, comparing parcels, or a realtor with a rural listing whose buyers keep asking "what will it cost to build here?" This is the due-diligence step almost everyone skips, and the one that saves the most.

Common questions about wells in Alamosa County

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