What Arvada Well Records Tell Rural Buyers

How deep are wells around Arvada?

How much water do wells make near Arvada?

Arvada well depth depends on the ground below the lot

Arvada’s reported well depths are unusually spread out. The median is 35 feet, and the middle half runs from 22 to 137 feet. About 69% of reported wells are under 100 feet, while 14% fall between 100 and 300 feet, 12% between 300 and 600 feet, and 4% exceed 600 feet. The deepest recorded well reaches 1,740 feet.

That range matters when you request a drilling bid. A nearby shallow well may not predict the result on a lot with different bedrock, fractures, or elevation. Most permits name an unnamed or fractured-bedrock aquifer, while Denver Basin aquifers appear on 99% of permits. Treat the median as a starting point, not a promised completion depth.

How much water Arvada wells produce

The reported median pump yield is 10.0 gallons per minute, with the middle half between 6.0 and 13.6 gallons per minute. About 66% of reported wells produce between 5 and 15 gallons per minute, and 19% report more than 15 gallons per minute. Those are workable results for many household systems, but yield testing and storage still matter.

Low-producing wells are present: 6% report under 1 gallon per minute, and another 9% fall between 1 and 5 gallons per minute. Ask for the well yield, pumping test, and recovery information rather than relying on a neighbor’s result. Colorado exempt household-use wells have a 35 gallon-per-minute pumping limit, and an augmentation plan may be needed in an over-appropriated basin for certain uses.

Water levels around Arvada: shallow recently, but records are limited

Among the 92 records reporting static water level, the median depth to water is 14 feet. The middle half ranges from 8 to 62 feet. That can reduce the amount of pumping lift for a shallow well, but it does not establish the water level on an untested parcel.

The decade figures do not show a simple steady decline. Median depth to water was 22 feet in the 1960s, 60 feet in the 1970s, 14 feet in the 2010s, and 9 feet in the 2020s. The recent records are shallower than the older measurements, but the small reporting set and varying locations make that a local record pattern, not proof of a region-wide rise or fall.

Permit history and drillers working near Arvada

Arvada’s permit record stretches from the 1950s through the newest permit year, 2025. The busiest decade was the 1990s, with 1,738 permits. The record also includes 786 permits from the 2000s, 510 from the 2010s, and 196 from the 2020s. Permit activity does not mean every well was constructed or remains active.

The most common driller entry is Authorized (Pe, Pg), with 1,368 records. Boyles Bros. Drilling Co. appears on 303, and Ground Exploration LLC appears on 257. Those names help identify local records, but a buyer should still obtain the actual well construction report, permit conditions, and current status from Colorado DWR before treating an old well as a dependable supply.

What a new well may cost on an Arvada lot

The local cost model uses Denver Basin sedimentary bedrock and a drilling rate of $50-$70 per foot. At the reported median depth of 35 feet, the drilled hole is estimated at about $1,800-$2,400. That is only the drilling portion, not the complete water system.

A finished well with pump, pressure tank, trenching, and electrical is estimated at $7,800-$14,400. Your bid can move outside that range if the driller has to go deeper, encounters difficult ground, needs special access, or must coordinate with a septic and building layout. Get a written scope that separates drilling, casing and grout, pump equipment, testing, trenching, electrical work, and any required permitting or water-rights work.

Arvada risks to check before closing or building

Low yield is not the only concern. Within about 10 miles, the map shows 349 PFAS sampling or contamination sites, 201 historic mine features, and 59 EPA Superfund or cleanup sites. These mapped sites do not automatically mean a particular well is contaminated, but they are a reason to review the well location, upgradient land uses, and laboratory water tests.

For a property near Fairmount, Wheat Ridge, Westminster, Applewood, Shaw Heights, or Lakeside, compare neighboring permits rather than assuming conditions match across the area. Confirm casing and grout, well construction, pump performance, and a current drinking-water test. A low-yield or dry hole can change the project budget. Septic setbacks, reserve areas, driveway access, and the drilling rig’s working room should be planned together with the house site.

A practical Arvada plan for buying or building

Start with the Colorado DWR permit record for the parcel and nearby wells. Look for depth, aquifer description, construction status, yield, static water level, and the permitted use. Domestic or household wells make up 41% of the use mix, while monitoring wells also account for 41%; do not confuse a monitoring or abandoned record with a usable household supply.

Before closing, make the purchase decision contingent on reviewing the water right or permit, inspecting any existing equipment, and testing the water. For a vacant lot, have a driller and septic designer review access, expected depth, well location, and wastewater setbacks before finalizing the house plan. If the proposed use is more than ordinary household service, confirm whether an augmentation plan or other water-rights approval is required.

Well permits by decade near Arvada

What a new well costs in Arvada, 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 (137 ft) would run roughly $12,850–$21,590. 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 Arvada? 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 Arvada 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 Arvada

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

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