Cañon City Colorado Well Depth, Yield, and Cost

How deep are wells around Cañon City?

How much water do wells make near Cañon City?

Cañon City well depth depends on the mountain bedrock

Cañon City’s recorded wells are generally shallow by Colorado standards. The median total depth is 51 feet, with the middle half between 33 and 98 feet. Seventy-five percent are under 100 feet, while 13% fall between 100 and 300 feet, 8% between 300 and 600 feet, and 4% are deeper than 600 feet.

That spread matters when you request a drilling bid. A nearby shallow well is a useful reference, not a guarantee. The local permits are dominated by unnamed fractured-bedrock aquifers, with 1,197 wells in that category. Granite and gneiss can produce water along fractures, so two lots close together may require very different drilling depths. The deepest record is 2,200 feet, showing how far local conditions can depart from the median.

What Cañon City wells produce for a household

Among the 184 wells reporting pump yield, the median is 10.0 gallons per minute and the middle half runs from 5.0 to 15.0 gallons per minute. Forty-eight percent report between 5 and 15 gallons per minute, and 28% report more than 15 gallons per minute. Twenty-two percent fall between 1 and 5 gallons per minute, while 2% are under 1 gallon per minute.

A well producing 10.0 gallons per minute is usually a solid starting point for normal household use, but the yield test and storage system still matter. A low-producing well can sometimes serve a home with adequate tank storage, while a high-producing well does not remove the need for proper casing, grout, pump sizing, and water-quality testing. Colorado exempt household-use wells have a 35-gpm pumping limit.

The Cañon City water table is not well documented

Only 28 permitted wells near Cañon City report a static water level, so the water-level record is limited. In those reports, the median depth to water is 58 feet, with the middle half between 16 and 108 feet. That range is wide enough to affect drilling method, pump setting, trenching, and the cost of bringing water into a house.

The available facts do not provide a water-level series by decade, so they do not establish that the local water table is dropping or rising. Treat the 58-foot median as a planning reference rather than a promise for a specific parcel. Ask for the well construction report, static level, pumping test, and recovery information for the subject property and nearby wells in Lincoln Park, Brookside, or Park Center.

Permit history shows long activity around Cañon City

Well permitting has continued in the Cañon City area through 2025. The records list 9 permits from the 1950s, 14 from the 1960s, 68 from the 1970s, 138 from the 1980s, 389 from the 1990s, 217 from the 2000s, 113 from the 2010s, and 77 from the 2020s.

The most active driller names in the records are Authorized (Pe, Pg), with 445 wells; Arkansas Valley Drilling (Moore, Todd A.), with 80; and Young'S Drilling & Pump Serv (Young, Nolen), with 65. Those counts describe permit records, not recommendations or current availability. A buyer should still confirm licensing, recent references, what the bid includes, and whether the proposed work is a new permit, a replacement, or a repair.

Cañon City drilling cost rises quickly with depth

Local cost planning should account for fractured mountain bedrock, including granite and gneiss. The drilling model uses a typical rate of $65-$100 per foot. At the 51-foot median depth, the drilled hole works out to about $3,300-$5,100.

That is not the full water-system price. A finished well with pump, pressure tank, trenching, and electrical is modeled at about $9,300-$17,100 at the median depth. A lot requiring a 300-foot or deeper hole will not fit that median-depth allowance, and difficult access or extra casing can change the bid. Get a written scope showing drilling, casing and grout, development, yield testing, pump equipment, electrical, trenching, permits, and any water treatment separately.

Risks to check before building near Cañon City

Low yield and dry holes are the main physical uncertainties in fractured bedrock. The records show that 2% of reported yields are under 1 gallon per minute, while the depth range reaches 2,200 feet. Before closing, review neighboring construction reports and ask a driller what happens if the first target produces little or no water.

Water quality also deserves direct testing. Within about 10 miles, the mapped record includes 31 PFAS sampling or contamination sites, 88 historic mine features, and 4 EPA Superfund or cleanup sites. These mapped locations do not prove a problem on your parcel, but they justify testing for the contaminants relevant to the property’s location and history. Keep the well and septic system properly separated, confirm suitable building areas, and verify that septic soils, setbacks, access, and drainage work before committing to a house plan.

A practical Cañon City lot-buying plan

Start with the exact parcel, not a countywide average. Search the DWR permit map for wells on the property and nearby properties in Lincoln Park, Brookside, Park Center, Williamsburg, Rockvale, and Florence. Compare reported depth, yield, static water level, aquifer description, construction, and well use. The local records include domestic, stock, irrigation, and monitoring wells, so use only comparable household wells when estimating a future home system.

For a new build, make the offer or due-diligence period long enough to confirm the well permit path, drilling access, septic design, and water-quality testing. If the basin is over-appropriated, an augmentation plan may be needed for some uses. Have a Colorado well contractor and septic professional review the site before you assume a shallow nearby well means an inexpensive or dependable water supply.

Well permits by decade near Cañon City

What a new well costs in Cañon City, 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 (98 ft) would run roughly $12,370–$21,800. 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 Cañon City? 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 Cañon City 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 Cañon City

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