Catherine, Colorado Well Depth, Yield, and Cost

How deep are wells around Catherine?

How much water do wells make near Catherine?

How deep are wells around Catherine?

The median well depth near Catherine is 127 feet. The middle half of reported wells falls between 55 and 250 feet, so a driller bidding a typical site may need to allow for a broad range rather than relying on the median alone. About 42% of wells are under 100 feet, while 40% fall between 100 and 300 feet.

Deeper holes are less common but still present. About 17% are between 300 and 600 feet, the 90th-percentile depth is 355 feet, and the deepest record reaches 1,030 feet. The records identify fractured-bedrock or unnamed aquifers for 2,735 wells, compared with 33 alluvial wells and 2 volcanic wells. Fractured rock can make depth and water production vary sharply between nearby parcels.

Catherine well yield: what can a buyer expect?

Reported production is strong in this local record set. The median pump yield is 15.0 gallons per minute, and the middle half is tightly grouped from 14.1 to 15.0 gallons per minute. About 74% of wells report yields above 15 gallons per minute, while 24% fall between 5 and 15 gallons per minute.

Only 2% report yields between 1 and 5 gallons per minute, and none are listed under 1 gallon per minute. That is encouraging for household planning, but it is not a promise for an un drilled site. Yield tests measure a well under particular conditions. Ask for the complete well construction and pump-test records, then match the result to the home, livestock, irrigation, and storage needs you actually expect.

Is Catherine's water table dropping?

Reported static water levels have varied by measurement decade rather than showing a simple one-way decline. The median depth to water was 38 feet in the 1970s, 33 feet in the 1980s, 27 feet in the 1990s, 18 feet in the 2000s, 75 feet in the 2010s, and 38 feet in the 2020s.

The overall median static water level is 38 feet below the surface, with the middle half from 15 to 164 feet. Those decade figures should not be treated as a continuous water-table record: they come from different wells and measurement years. Before buying, compare the static level, well depth, pumping history, and construction details for nearby wells, especially if a property depends on a shallow completion.

Who drilled near Catherine, and when?

Permit activity around Catherine spans several generations. The records show 4 permits from the 1950s, 96 from the 1960s, 276 from the 1970s, 328 from the 1980s, 778 from the 1990s, 462 from the 2000s, 246 from the 2010s, and 184 from the 2020s. The newest permit year is 2025.

Among the most active drillers in the records are Shelton Drilling Corporation, with 1,021 records; Collins Drilling Co, with 310; and Steve Shelton Drilling, Inc., with 144. These names can help you locate comparable construction records, but the driller listed on an old permit is not automatically available or the right choice for a new site. Verify current licensing, references, access requirements, and the proposed test procedure.

What does a new Catherine well cost?

The local cost model uses mixed sedimentary and alluvial ground at a typical drilling rate of $50 to $75 per foot. Applying that rate to the 127-foot median depth gives a drilled-hole estimate of about $6,400 to $9,500. That is the hole only, not the complete water system.

A finished well including the pump, pressure tank, trenching, and electrical is modeled at about $12,400 to $21,500. A site that needs a deeper hole, difficult access, extra casing or grout, longer utilities, or more involved electrical work can move outside that range. Get the bid in writing and ask what happens if the well must be deepened or produces less water than planned.

Risks to check before building near Catherine

Low yield is not the main pattern in these records, but a strong area-wide median does not remove lot-specific risk. Fractured-bedrock wells can change substantially over short distances, and a dry hole or disappointing yield remains possible. Confirm the permit status, legal use, construction report, pump test, static water level, and any production limitations before treating a nearby well as a guarantee.

Environmental review also matters. Within about 10 miles, the map includes 9 PFAS sampling or contamination sites and 9 historic mine features. There are 0 EPA Superfund or cleanup sites in that area, but that does not replace parcel-specific testing. Plan the well, septic system, driveway, and building locations together so setbacks, access for a rig, casing and grout, drainage, and future maintenance are workable.

Buying or building on a Catherine lot

Start with the Colorado DWR permit record for the parcel and nearby properties around Mulford, El Jebel, and Carbondale. The local use mix is 71% domestic or household, 8% stock, 5% irrigation, and 14% monitoring, so confirm that the existing permit allows the use you need. An exempt household-use well has defined limits, and an augmentation plan may be necessary in an over-appropriated basin.

For a purchase, make the well inspection and water-quality testing part of due diligence. For a new build, have a driller review access, likely depth, casing and grout, pump sizing, storage, power, and the septic layout before finalizing the house site. Nearby Basalt, Cattle Creek, and Snowmass can provide broader context, but the Catherine parcel's own permit and geology control the decision.

Well permits by decade near Catherine

What a new well costs in Catherine, 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 (250 ft) would run roughly $18,500–$30,750. 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 Catherine? 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 Catherine 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 Catherine

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

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