What Bayfield, Colorado Wells Are Really Like

How deep are wells around Bayfield?

How much water do wells make near Bayfield?

Bayfield well depths vary with the ground beneath the lot

Bayfield's recorded wells have a median depth of 155 feet. The middle half falls between 100 and 200 feet, while the 90th-percentile depth is 295 feet. That gives a reasonable starting range for a drilling estimate, but it does not cap the risk: the deepest record reaches 3,444 feet.

Most wells are not that extreme. 23% are under 100 feet, 67% fall between 100 and 300 feet, 9% are 300 to 600 feet, and 1% exceed 600 feet. Mixed sedimentary and alluvial ground often makes the median useful for budgeting, but fractured-bedrock wells can change quickly from one lot to the next. Ask for nearby well logs before relying on a single depth.

A Bayfield well usually makes usable household flow

The median reported pump yield near Bayfield is 9.0 gallons per minute, with the middle half between 4.5 and 12.0 gallons per minute. That is a solid planning range for ordinary household use, but yield is not the same as storage in the well or guaranteed long-term supply.

Reported results show 3% of wells under 1 gallon per minute, 22% between 1 and 5, 52% between 5 and 15, and 23% above 15. A low-yield well may still work with a storage tank and careful demand management. Ask whether a pump test was sustained long enough, how much recovery occurred, and what the permit allows. Domestic wells are commonly exempt wells, but the permit conditions still control use.

Water levels near Bayfield deserve a closer look

Where a static water level was reported, the median depth to water is 40 feet, with the middle half between 20 and 80 feet. That helps with pump planning and gives a rough picture of how far water may sit below the surface, but static level depends on season, recharge, nearby pumping, and the date of measurement.

The decade series does show a deeper reported median in newer measurements: 35 feet below ground in the 2010s compared with 59 feet in the 2020s. That is a warning to investigate, not proof of a regional decline. Only 73 wells report static water level, so compare logs near the property, check measurement dates, and have the driller evaluate expected drawdown before finalizing a pump design.

Bayfield has a long permit history and several familiar drillers

Colorado DWR records include 2,111 permitted wells within 5 miles of Bayfield, with 1,474 recorded as constructed. Permitting was busiest in the 1990s, with 548 permits, followed by the 2010s with 491. The newest permit year in the records is 2025, so this is not only an old rural well area.

The most active names in these records are Beeman Bros Drilling Inc (Beeman, J. L.) with 259 wells, Dak Drilling LLC (Rathjen, Doug) with 208, and Mortimer Water Well Drilling (Mortimer, Harry) with 198. Permit history helps identify local experience, but it does not guarantee a result on your parcel. Confirm current licensing, insurance, availability, and exactly what the bid includes.

Budget roughly $13,800 to $23,600 for a finished Bayfield well

For the mixed sedimentary and alluvial ground reported in the local cost model, drilling commonly runs $50 to $75 per foot. At the local median depth of 155 feet, the drilled hole works out to about $7,800 to $11,600. A completed system, including pump, pressure tank, trenching, and electrical, is estimated at $13,800 to $23,600.

Use that as a planning range rather than a fixed quote. A deeper hole, difficult access, casing or grout changes, low-yield mitigation, water treatment, or unusual electrical work can move the price. Get a written proposal that separates drilling, casing, grout, development, pump equipment, trenching, power, testing, and permit-related work. The lowest per-foot number may not be the lowest finished project cost.

Check water quality, low yield, septic layout, and buildability

Nearby records list 127 PFAS sampling or contamination sites, 6 historic mine features, and 1 EPA Superfund or cleanup site within about 10 miles. Those mapped sites do not automatically mean a particular well is contaminated, but they are a reason to test before closing and to ask the county or state about site-specific concerns. Test for common well contaminants and anything suggested by local land use.

Low yield, a dry hole, or fractured rock can be more expensive to solve than the initial drilling bid. Also confirm that the well, septic system, replacement area, driveway, and house can fit together while maintaining required setbacks. A domestic permit is not a blanket approval for irrigation or development changes. Review the DWR permit, neighboring logs, septic feasibility, and water-quality results with the appropriate professionals.

Well permits by decade near Bayfield

What a new well costs in Bayfield, 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 (200 ft) would run roughly $16,000–$27,000. 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 Bayfield? 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 Bayfield 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 Bayfield

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More in La Plata County

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

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