What Aurora Well Records Tell You Before You Buy

How deep are wells around Aurora?

How much water do wells make near Aurora?

Aurora well depths range from shallow to very deep

The recorded median depth near Aurora is 50 feet, but that number hides a wide spread. The middle half of reported wells runs from 29 to 610 feet. About 62% are under 100 feet, while 26% are 600 feet or deeper. The deepest record reaches 2,360 feet.

That spread matters when you request a drilling bid. A shallow neighboring well may support a modest estimate, while a property tapping Denver Basin sedimentary bedrock could require a much deeper hole. Permits identify unnamed or fractured-bedrock aquifers, Denver aquifers, and Dawson aquifers. All of the named aquifer records are Denver Basin wells, but the exact formation and local geology still need to be checked for your parcel.

Most Aurora wells report useful production, but test the lot

Among the wells with a recorded pump yield, the median is 12.0 gallons per minute. The middle half is 10.0 to 15.0 gallons per minute. About 65% report between 5 and 15 gallons per minute, and 34% report more than 15 gallons per minute. Only 1% fall between 1 and 5 gallons per minute, and none are recorded under 1 gallon per minute.

Those figures describe reported wells, not a promise for an unbuilt well. Yield depends on the formation, completion, pump, and test method. Ask for the neighboring well permits and well-completion reports, then have a driller evaluate the proposed location. A yield test and an adequate storage setup are more useful than relying on the area median alone.

Recorded Aurora water levels are shallower in newer measurements

The current recorded median static water level is 27 feet below the surface, with the middle half from 12 to 350 feet. That range is broad enough that one nearby well may not represent another. Static water level is also not the same as the level while pumping, so a pump test remains important.

The decade series does not show a simple dropping water table in these records. Median measured depth to water was 242 feet in the 1980s, 30 feet in the 2010s, and 14 feet in the 2020s. The measurements come from different wells and locations, so they should not be read as a controlled trend study. Treat the series as context, and confirm present conditions with recent neighboring records and an on-site well evaluation.

Aurora permit history shows long, continuing well activity

Permit activity began early and continued through the newest recorded permit year, 2025. The records show 49 permits in the 1950s, 43 in the 1960s, 137 in the 1970s, 289 in the 1980s, 333 in the 1990s, 401 in the 2000s, 243 in the 2010s, and 184 in the 2020s.

Most recorded uses are monitoring wells at 46%, followed by domestic or household use at 27%, stock at 5%, and irrigation at 4%. That mix matters: a large number of permits does not mean every well serves a home. The most active drillers in this record are Authorized (Pe, Pg), Hier Drilling Co Inc (Hier, Bruce A.), and Don Eastwood Drilling Inc. (Eastwood, Don). Confirm current licensing and availability before selecting a contractor.

A median-depth Aurora well may cost $8,500 to $15,500 finished

For Aurora’s Denver Basin sedimentary bedrock, the drilling model uses a typical rate of $50 to $70 per foot. At the 50-foot median depth, the drilled hole works out to about $2,500 to $3,500. That is only the hole, not a functioning household water system.

A finished installation with pump, pressure tank, trenching, and electrical is modeled at $8,500 to $15,500 at the median depth. The wide depth distribution is the reason not to use that figure as a fixed bid. A 600-foot or deeper well can materially change drilling and equipment costs. Get the proposal in writing and ask what happens if the hole is dry, the yield is low, casing or grout requirements change, or trenching and electrical access are more difficult than expected.

Check Aurora water quality, septic clearance, and dry-hole risk

Water quantity is not the only issue. Mapped environmental data within about 10 miles includes 172 PFAS sampling or contamination sites and 21 EPA Superfund or cleanup sites. That does not prove contamination at a particular property, but it is a reason to review site history, well records, and laboratory testing before relying on the water. Historic mine features are not mapped in this area.

Low-yield and dry-hole risk still exists even though the recorded yield distribution is favorable. Confirm casing, grout, pump depth, and construction details. Before building, verify the well permit’s allowed use and coordinate the well location with septic and leach-field setbacks, access for drilling equipment, electrical service, and the proposed house. In an over-appropriated basin, an augmentation plan or other water-right requirement may apply; the permit and current DWR requirements control.

Well permits by decade near Aurora

What a new well costs in Aurora, 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 (610 ft) would run roughly $36,500–$54,700. 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 Aurora? 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 Aurora 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 Aurora

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More in Arapahoe County

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

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