Black Hawk Colorado Well Depth, Yield, and Cost

How deep are wells around Black Hawk?

How much water do wells make near Black Hawk?

Black Hawk well depth is controlled by fractured bedrock

The middle half of reported wells near Black Hawk runs from 160 to 402 feet. That is a broad range for estimating a bid. A driller who prices only a shallow hole may leave you exposed to added footage, casing, grout, access work, or difficult drilling in granite and gneiss.

Depths are spread across the records: 13% are under 100 feet, 40% fall from 100 to 300 feet, and 37% run from 300 to 600 feet. Another 10% exceed 600 feet, with the deepest recorded well at 1,401 feet. The 90th percentile is 600 feet, so a bid should explain its footage allowance and the price for drilling beyond it.

What a Black Hawk well may produce

Among the wells that report pump yield, the median is 7.0 gallons per minute, with the middle half between 4.0 and 10.0 gallons per minute. That is generally a workable range for ordinary household planning, but the yield test and storage system matter more than a regional median for a particular home.

The records show 64% producing between 5 and 15 gallons per minute, while 28% fall between 1 and 5. Only 2% report under 1 gallon per minute, and 7% report more than 15. Ask for the well-completion report, test duration, recovery information, and proposed tank size. A good short-term flow rate does not by itself prove dependable long-term supply.

Water levels around Black Hawk need a closer look

The median static water level is 70 feet below the surface, with the middle half from 40 to 100 feet. That affects pump setting, electrical load, and the amount of water available above the pump. It also helps a contractor estimate the finished system, although a water level can change with season, recharge, nearby pumping, and the exact fracture system.

The decade series does not show a simple one-way decline. Median depth to water was 38 feet in the 1970s, 90 feet in the 2010s, and 60 feet in the 2020s. The older and newer measurements are not a substitute for a current site test. Compare nearby completion reports and have the driller measure the new well after construction.

Black Hawk’s permit history shows where experience is concentrated

The records include 2,784 permitted wells within five miles, with 1,862 recorded as constructed. Permit activity was strongest in the 1970s, with 616 permits, and the newest permit year is 2025. The use mix is mainly domestic or household at 84%; monitoring wells account for 10%, while stock accounts for 2%.

Three names appear most often in the drilling records: C. R. Smith Drilling with 543 records, C R Smith Drilling Inc with 329, and James Drilling Company with 138. These are record counts, not endorsements. Confirm current licensing, insurance, access capability, and the exact scope of any proposal before choosing a contractor.

A Black Hawk well budget starts with the footage

In this fractured mountain ground, the drilling model uses $65 to $100 per foot. At the local median depth of 275 feet, the drilled hole models to about $17,900 to $27,500. That is not the complete water-system price.

A finished well including the pump, pressure tank, trenching, and electrical models to about $23,900 to $39,500. Access for a rig, difficult formations, extra casing or grout, water testing, and site restoration can change the proposal. Ask whether the bid covers mobilization, a dry or low-yield hole, casing, development, pump installation, and connection to the house. On a mountain lot, driveway and utility access can be as important to the final price as the hole itself.

Mine features, septic layout, and low-yield risk

Mountain wells can be unpredictable because water travels through fractures rather than a uniform sand or gravel layer. The mapped area has 3,577 historic mine features, 13 PFAS sampling or contamination sites, and 10 EPA Superfund or cleanup sites within about ten miles. Those records do not establish contamination on a specific parcel, but they justify a careful water-quality review and laboratory testing.

Before building, check the well permit, completion report, setback requirements, and septic feasibility. A low-yield well may need storage and careful household demand planning. A dry hole is a real financial risk, so understand the drilling contract before work starts. DWR permit conditions, household-use limits, augmentation requirements in over-appropriated basins, and county septic approval all need to be reviewed for the intended use.

What to do before buying a Black Hawk lot

Start with the neighboring well records, not with a promised number from a listing. Compare depth, reported yield, static water level, aquifer description, permit use, and the age of each completion report. The local records are dominated by unnamed fractured-bedrock wells, with 2,706 entries; only 15 name a Fractured Crystalline aquifer and 11 name Fractured Granite. There are no Denver Basin aquifer wells in this dataset.

For a purchase, make the well inspection and water-quality testing part of due diligence. For vacant land, obtain a driller’s access and footage estimate, confirm a legal building and septic area, and budget the complete system rather than drilling alone. Central is about one mile away, Idaho Springs about four, and St. Mary’s about eight, but distance to a nearby community does not replace parcel-specific geology or permitting review.

Well permits by decade near Black Hawk

What a new well costs in Black Hawk, 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 (402 ft) would run roughly $32,130–$52,200. 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 Black Hawk? 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 Black Hawk 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 Black Hawk

Keep researching

More in Gilpin County

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

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