What Alma, Colorado Wells Are Really Like

How deep are wells around Alma?

How much water do wells make near Alma?

Alma well depth depends on the bedrock

The middle half of recorded Alma-area wells runs from 108 to 240 feet. That is a practical range to discuss with a driller, while recognizing that the records extend from shallow wells to a deepest reported depth of 1,002 feet. About 67% of wells fall between 100 and 300 feet, while 19% are under 100 feet.

Granite and gneiss create fractured-bedrock conditions. Water commonly comes from fractures rather than a uniform underground layer, so two lots close together can drill differently. The 90th percentile is 330 feet, which is a useful warning against pricing a project only from the median. Ask for a bid that explains added footage, casing, grout, access, and difficult drilling conditions.

Most Alma wells make usable household flow

Reported pump yields are generally stronger than the depth variation might suggest. The median is 7.0 gallons per minute, and the middle half runs from 5.0 to 10.0 gallons per minute. About 73% of reported wells produce between 5 and 15 gallons per minute, while 17% fall between 1 and 5 gallons per minute.

Only 1% report less than 1 gallon per minute, but a low-producing well can still affect a home if storage and recovery are limited. A yield test is more useful than a nearby address alone. Review the permitted use as well: 95% of the records are domestic or household wells. Colorado exempt household-use wells still have limits, including the 35-gallon-per-minute pumping limit.

Alma water levels look stable in the available record

The reported static water level has a median of 89 feet below ground surface, with the middle half between 50 and 130 feet. Static level means the water stood in the well when measured; it is not the same as the pumping rate or the amount of water a well can sustainably deliver.

The decade comparison does not show a falling trend in this data. Median static water level was 90 feet in the 2010s and 90 feet in the 2020s. Only 271 wells report a static water level, so treat the series as a limited local reference rather than a guarantee for an unbuilt lot. A driller should consider nearby well logs, elevation, and the proposed well location.

Permit history shows long activity around Alma

The records include permits from the 1950s through a newest permit year of 2025. Permit volume was highest in the 2000s, with 736 permits, followed by the 1990s with 578. The database contains 2,737 wells, including 1,838 recorded as constructed.

Allen Drilling & Excavating Co., Inc. (Allen, Jack R.) appears most often, with 890 records. Five Star Inc. (Werner, Peter S.) has 196, and Whitewater Drilling Inc (Benkufski, John D.) has 180. These are permit-record patterns, not a guarantee of current availability or workmanship. Confirm licensing, scheduling, scope, and who will handle the DWR permit for a new well.

What an Alma well can cost to drill

For Alma's fractured mountain ground, the cost model uses a drilling rate of $65-$100 per foot. At the 160-foot median depth, the drilled hole works out to about $10,400-$16,000. That is not the complete water system.

A finished well with pump, pressure tank, trenching, and electrical is modeled at about $16,400-$28,000 at the median depth. A deeper hole, difficult access, additional casing or grout, and longer utility runs can change the bid. Since 13% of wells are between 300 and 600 feet and 1% exceed 600 feet, ask the contractor how the price changes if the first target depth does not produce enough water.

Risks to check before building near Alma

Low yield is not the only issue. Mapped environmental data within about 10 miles includes 11 PFAS sampling or contamination sites, 2,889 historic mine features, and 5 EPA Superfund or cleanup sites. Those mapped features do not prove contamination at a particular parcel, but they are reasons to review site history and test water after construction.

Ask for the well permit, construction report, pump test, and water-quality results for nearby properties. Septic setbacks, suitable soil, driveway access, electrical service, and a legal building location all matter before drilling. In an over-appropriated basin, water rights or an augmentation plan may also affect new use. Confirm the parcel's permit conditions with Colorado DWR rather than assuming a domestic well permits every intended use.

Use nearby records when buying an Alma lot

Start with wells on the same slope or drainage, not just a broad search around town. The records are concentrated in fractured-bedrock aquifers: 2,640 permits name unnamed or fractured bedrock, compared with 15 alluvial wells and 9 in glacial deposits. That makes the exact location especially important.

Compare lots near Fairplay, Blue River, Leadville, Leadville North, Breckenridge, and Copper Mountain only as regional context; geology and access can change quickly across mountain terrain. Before closing, have a Colorado well contractor review nearby depths, yields, water levels, and permit use. For a build, obtain a site-specific drilling estimate and coordinate the well with septic, driveway, trenching, and the house location.

Well permits by decade near Alma

What a new well costs in Alma, CO

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 (240 ft) would run roughly $21,600–$36,000. 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 Alma? 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 Alma 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 Alma

Keep researching

More in Park County

All wells in Park County — county-wide depth, yield and cost figures.

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