What Wells Are Like in Bark Ranch, Colorado

How deep are wells around Bark Ranch?

How much water do wells make near Bark Ranch?

Bark Ranch well depth reflects fractured mountain rock

Completed wells near Bark Ranch have a median reported depth of 240 feet. The middle half is between 110 and 400 feet, while the 90th percentile is 600 feet. The deepest well in the records reaches 1,428 feet.

The depth mix shows why a single neighboring well is not enough for a bid: 20% are under 100 feet, 36% are from 100 to 300 feet, 33% are from 300 to 600 feet, and 10% are 600 feet or deeper. Most permits name an unnamed fractured-bedrock aquifer. Granite and gneiss can produce water along fractures, so the driller is estimating where those fractures may occur rather than following a uniform water-bearing layer.

What a Bark Ranch well may produce

The reported median yield is 7.0 gallons per minute. The middle half of reported results is 5.0 to 9.0 gallons per minute, and 70% of reported wells fall between 5 and 15 gallons per minute. That is a reasonable production range for many household uses, but the result still depends on storage, fixtures, livestock, irrigation, and how the well is tested.

Low production is present but not dominant: 3% of reported yields are under 1 gallon per minute, 19% are from 1 to 5, and 8% exceed 15. Ask for the well test and pump setting, not just a verbal yield. A low-yield well may still work with a storage tank, while a strong test does not remove the need for water-quality testing.

Water levels in Bark Ranch deserve a closer look

Among the 57 wells reporting static water levels, the median depth to water is 48 feet. The middle half ranges from 15 to 100 feet below the surface. That spread matters for pump selection, trenching, and estimating how much standing water is available in the casing.

The decade figures show a notable change in the available records: the median measured water level was 30 feet below surface in the 2010s and 100 feet in the 2020s. This suggests lower measured water levels in the newer group, but it is not proof of a basin-wide decline. Only 57 records include a static level, and measurement conditions, well locations, and seasons may differ. Treat the trend as a reason to investigate, not as a guaranteed forecast.

Bark Ranch permit history and active drillers

Permit records within the study area include 1,460 wells, with 975 recorded as constructed. The records show the busiest permitting period in the 1970s, with 295 permits. There were 206 in the 1980s, 268 in the 1990s, 166 in the 2000s, 87 in the 2010s, and 60 in the 2020s. The newest permit year is 2025.

The most active drillers named in the records are Ground Water Systems Inc (Wilson, Richard R.) with 295 wells, Ingram Drilling Inc. (Ingram, Stephen E.) with 185, and Norris & Sons (Norris, T A) with 76. That history can help you compare local construction patterns, but it is not an endorsement or a guarantee of availability.

What drilling a Bark Ranch well can cost

Bark Ranch drilling runs through fractured mountain bedrock, so the footage is the main variable. The stated drilling rate is $65 to $100 per foot. At the median depth of 240 feet, the drilled hole models to about $15,600 to $24,000.

A finished system costs more than the hole. Including the pump, pressure tank, trenching, and electrical work, the modeled total at that depth is about $21,600 to $36,000. A lot requiring a deeper hole can move well beyond that range; the recorded 90th-percentile depth is 600 feet. Get a written proposal that separates drilling, casing and grout, pump equipment, water testing, trenching, electrical work, permits, and any unsuccessful-hole terms.

Bark Ranch risks: water quality, dry holes, and site layout

Fractured-bedrock wells can vary sharply from lot to lot. The records show 3% of reported yields under 1 gallon per minute, and the depth range includes wells reaching 1,428 feet. A driller cannot promise a productive fracture. Confirm the contract language for a low-yield or dry hole before work starts, and keep money available for a deeper attempt or storage solution.

Environmental screening also matters. Within about 10 miles are 4 PFAS sampling or contamination sites, 620 historic mine features, and 58 EPA Superfund or cleanup sites. Their presence does not prove a problem at a particular parcel, but it supports laboratory testing before occupying the home and periodic testing afterward. Locate the well, septic system, replacement area, driveway, and building envelope together. Septic setbacks, access for a rig, casing and grout, and electrical trenching can affect both feasibility and cost.

Before buying or building near Bark Ranch

Start with the Colorado Division of Water Resources permit and the construction report for the parcel and nearby wells. Look for actual depth, tested yield, static water level, casing, pump information, and permitted use. Domestic or household use accounts for 92% of the local permit mix, while stock is 2%, irrigation is 1%, and monitoring is 2%. A permit is not the same as a completed, producing well.

For a vacant lot, have a local driller review access and likely well location before closing. Confirm the legal water right and any augmentation requirement that may apply in an over-appropriated basin. For an existing home, order a flow test and independent water-quality testing. Compare nearby areas such as Hidden Lake, Jamestown, Gold Hill, Ward, Sunshine, and Lazy Acres only as local context; the parcel's own geology and permit history control the final answer.

Well permits by decade near Bark Ranch

What a new well costs in Bark Ranch, 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 (400 ft) would run roughly $32,000–$52,000. 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 Bark Ranch? 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 Bark Ranch 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 Bark Ranch

Keep researching

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

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