Clark, Colorado Well Depth, Yield, and Cost Guide

How deep are wells around Clark?

How much water do wells make near Clark?

How deep are wells around Clark?

The median reported well depth near Clark is 164 feet. The middle half runs from 68 to 305 feet, so a driller bidding a new well should allow for substantial variation even before reaching the deeper end of the local record. The 90th percentile is 500 feet, and the deepest recorded well is 900 feet.

Depth distribution is mixed: 33% are under 100 feet, 38% fall between 100 and 300 feet, 23% are between 300 and 600 feet, and 6% exceed 600 feet. The main reason is the local fractured mountain bedrock, identified on permits as unnamed or fractured-bedrock aquifer in 727 wells. Fractures, not a uniform sand layer, control where water is found.

What water yield can a Clark well make?

Among the 147 wells reporting pump yield, the median is 8.0 gallons per minute. The middle half ranges from 4.6 to 12.0 gallons per minute. Most reported wells, 64%, produce between 5 and 15 gallons per minute, while 10% report more than 15 gallons per minute.

Low-producing wells are present but not dominant: 4% report under 1 gallon per minute and 22% report between 1 and 5 gallons per minute. For a buyer, a reported yield under 1 gallon per minute deserves careful review of storage, household demand, and any required pumping test. Confirm the actual permit rights and use limits with Colorado DWR rather than treating a yield record as a guaranteed supply.

What does the water-level record show?

The median static water level is 64 feet below ground surface, with the middle half from 30 to 101 feet. That helps a contractor estimate pumping conditions, but only 50 wells report a static water level, so the dataset is much thinner than the depth record.

Measurements by decade show a median of 50 feet below surface in the 2010s and 80 feet in the 2020s. That change suggests deeper measured water levels in the more recent group, but it does not prove a region-wide decline. Different locations, seasons, well depths, and measurement methods can affect the comparison. Get a current measurement from the subject well and ask for neighboring well logs before relying on a trend.

Who has drilled near Clark, and when?

Permit activity extends across several decades, with 5 permits issued in the 1960s, 74 in the 1970s, 83 in the 1980s, 159 in the 1990s, 165 in the 2000s, 96 in the 2010s, and 63 in the 2020s. The newest permit year in the records is 2025. Most permitted uses are domestic or household, accounting for 83%; monitoring wells account for 9%.

The most active drillers in these records are Routt Drilling Co. (Ozbun, Jerald A.) with 102 wells, Aztec Drilling Company (Branstetter, Keith) with 100, and Arrow Drilling (Berglund, Peter R.) with 82. These records can help identify local experience, but they do not replace current licensing, availability, and written bids.

What does a new well cost near Clark?

For fractured granite and gneiss, the drilling rate model is $65-$100 per foot. At the local median depth of 164 feet, the drilled hole works out to about $10,600-$16,400. That is only the drilling portion, not a complete water system.

A finished well with pump, pressure tank, trenching, and electrical is modeled at about $16,600-$28,400 at that same median depth. A deeper-than-median hole can push the price higher, and a difficult access route or extra casing and grout can add work. Ask each bidder to separate drilling, casing, grout, pump equipment, trenching, electrical, testing, and permitting so bids can be compared on the same scope.

Clark well risks: water quality, yield, and septic

Fractured bedrock makes dry holes and low-yield results harder to predict than in a consistent shallow aquifer. The local records include 4% of reported yields under 1 gallon per minute, so a buyer should not assume every parcel matches the 8.0-gallon-per-minute median. A pump test, well construction report, and current production information matter.

There is 1 mapped PFAS sampling or contamination site within about 10 miles, along with 66 historic mine features and no EPA Superfund or cleanup sites. Those mapped features do not determine the safety of a particular well. Test the water before purchase and after construction, especially where mining, septic systems, or other potential sources are nearby. Confirm setbacks, casing, grout, and septic suitability before finalizing a building plan.

What to check before buying or building near Clark

Start with the exact parcel, then review nearby DWR well permits, construction reports, depths, yields, static levels, and permitted uses. The nearby areas of Steamboat Springs, Hayden, Walden, Oak Creek, Craig, and Phippsburg can provide broader context, but wells closest to the property are the better comparison.

For a vacant lot, make the well plan part of the feasibility work rather than waiting until after closing. Confirm legal access for a rig, likely drill-site location, septic and replacement-area layout, electrical routing, and storage needs. A household-use well may be exempt from some permitting requirements, but Colorado rules still control what the well can legally supply; over-appropriated basins may require an augmentation plan. Have a licensed driller and water-rights professional review the permit before relying on it.

Well permits by decade near Clark

What a new well costs in Clark, 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 (305 ft) would run roughly $25,825–$42,500. 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 Clark? 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 Clark 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 Clark

Keep researching

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

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