What to Expect From a Well in Custer County

How deep are wells around Custer County?

How much water do wells make near Custer County?

Why Custer County Depths Vary Across Nearby Lots

Among the 5,000 wells reporting depth, the median is 200 feet. The middle half spans 115–335 feet, while the 90th-percentile depth is 475 feet. For a buyer, that means a bid based only on the median needs room for substantially more drilling.

Permit aquifer entries are dominated by the unnamed/fractured-bedrock category, covering 6,757 wells. In the county's fractured granite and gneiss, usable water depends on intersecting connected, water-bearing fractures. A nearby successful well is useful evidence, but its depth cannot be copied onto your lot. Around Westcliffe and Silver Cliff, ask a driller to compare nearby completion logs and explain the allowance for drilling beyond the proposed depth.

A 7.5 Gpm Median Is Not a Household Guarantee

The 2,708 records with pump yields show a 7.5 gpm median, with the middle half between 5.0 and 11.0 gpm. Most reported yields fall in the 5–15 gpm group, which accounts for 63%. Those figures are encouraging for household planning, but a reported drilling yield is not proof of sustained output during everyday use.

The 3% of reported yields below 1 gpm deserves attention when buying. A slow-producing well may need storage and careful demand management; a larger pump does not create more groundwater. Ask for a current pumping and recovery test, especially if the house will have greater demand than the previous owner placed on the well.

County Water Levels Show Variation, Not a Steady Decline

Static water level is where water stands in a resting well, not the bottom of the drilled hole. Custer County's 753 reported measurements have a median of 80 feet below ground, with the middle half at 53–145 feet. Do not use that shallower measurement as the expected drilling depth.

Decade medians were 80 feet in the 1980s, 75 in the 1990s, 91 in the 2000s, 67 in the 2010s and 80 in the 2020s. That sequence does not show a consistent countywide decline. It also combines measurements from different wells, rather than tracking the same well through time. For a purchase, the property's own water-level and pumping history is more useful.

Custer County's Permit History and Recorded Drillers

Permit activity was highest in the 1990s, with 1,701 permits, followed by 1,384 in the 2000s. Records show 742 in the 2010s and 636 in the 2020s, with the newest permit year listed as 2026. The current decade is incomplete, so its total is not directly comparable with a full decade.

The most active drillers in the records are Nequette Drilling, with 1,561 entries; Arkansas Valley Drilling, with 1,106; and Young'S Drilling & Pump Services, with 582. These are historical record counts, not confirmation of current availability. When seeking bids, ask about recent work near your parcel and how the contractor handles difficult access and uncertain bedrock yield.

Budgeting for a Finished Well Near Westcliffe or Silver Cliff

The county's fractured-mountain-bedrock cost model uses $65–$100 per foot. At the 200-foot median depth, that puts the drilled hole at about $13,000–$20,000. A finished well with pump, tank, trenching and electrical is modeled at $19,000–$32,000.

Treat those as planning figures, not a parcel-specific quote. The 115–335-foot middle-half depth range means the drilling portion alone can vary materially from a median-depth estimate. Access, casing and grout requirements, pump selection and the route to the house also affect the work. Ask for an itemized proposal that separates drilling from completion and states what happens if additional depth or a different well location becomes necessary.

Mine Features, Water Testing and Low-Yield Risk

The environmental mapping identifies 8 PFAS sampling/contamination sites, 2,110 historic mine features and 5 EPA Superfund/cleanup sites within about 10 miles. These are screening flags, not evidence that a particular Custer County well is contaminated. A sampling location also does not necessarily indicate a detected contaminant.

Before buying, obtain a laboratory water test and use nearby site records to discuss appropriate additional testing, including metals or PFAS where warranted. Review casing, grout and the wellhead's condition to assess pathways for surface contamination. Keep water quality separate from water quantity: the 3% of reported yields below 1 gpm warrants testing supply, but the yield records do not establish a dry-hole rate.

Before Closing on a Custer County Building Lot

Start with the parcel's DWR permit and nearby well-completion records, then compare depth, yield and geology rather than choosing the closest well alone. Countywide numbers are a starting point; records around Silver Cliff or Westcliffe may better reflect the ground near your proposed homesite.

Domestic/household use appears on 89% of county permits, but the individual permit controls what you may do. Do not assume household authorization includes outdoor irrigation or livestock. Confirm permitted uses with DWR and whether augmentation is required for the proposed supply.

Before fixing the house location, coordinate well access, septic placement, required separation, driveway construction and utility trenching. A workable site plan needs room to drill and service the well after the home is built.

Well permits by decade near Custer County

What a new well costs in Custer County

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 (335 ft) would run roughly $27,775–$45,500. 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 Custer County? 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 Custer County 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 Custer County

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Towns and areas in Custer County

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