El Jebel Colorado Well Depth, Yield, and Cost

How deep are wells around El Jebel?

How much water do wells make near El Jebel?

El Jebel well depths reflect mixed ground

Among the 1,275 wells with a reported total depth, the median is 120 feet. The middle half runs from 53 to 241 feet, and the 90th percentile is 348 feet. The deepest record reaches 1,030 feet.

Depths are spread across the area: 43% are under 100 feet, 40% are between 100 and 300 feet, 15% are between 300 and 600 feet, and 1% are deeper than 600 feet. For a drilling bid, that spread matters more than the median alone. Mixed sedimentary and alluvial ground supports a typical drilling rate of $50 to $75 per foot, but a particular lot may require substantially more hole.

Most El Jebel wells report strong yields

Only 568 wells in the records report a pump yield, so the yield data is a useful local reference rather than a guarantee for an untested parcel. The reported median is 15.0 gallons per minute, with the middle half between 14.0 and 15.0 gallons per minute.

Seventy-four percent of reported wells produce more than 15 gallons per minute. Another 24% fall between 5 and 15 gallons per minute, and 2% fall between 1 and 5 gallons per minute. No reported wells are under 1 gallon per minute. Even with these favorable records, ask how a proposed well will be tested and make sure storage, pump sizing, and household demand are considered together.

Water levels vary across the El Jebel record

Static water level is reported for 164 wells. The overall median depth to water is 33 feet, with the middle half from 15 to 148 feet below the surface. That range affects casing, pump placement, trenching, and the amount of drilling needed before water is encountered.

The decade pattern does not show a simple steady decline. Median depth to water was 35 feet in the 1970s, 44 in the 1980s, 25 in the 1990s, 15 in the 2000s, 26 in the 2010s, and 68 in the 2020s. The latest group is deeper, but the measurements come from different wells and locations, so treat the pattern as a reason to check nearby records—not proof of a uniformly dropping water table.

Permit history shows long local drilling activity

El Jebel has a long permit history, with records dating to the 1950s and the newest permit issued in 2025. Permits were issued by decade as follows: 2 in the 1950s, 71 in the 1960s, 214 in the 1970s, 267 in the 1980s, 606 in the 1990s, 394 in the 2000s, 187 in the 2010s, and 129 in the 2020s.

The most common recorded use is domestic or household at 70%. Monitoring accounts for 16%, stock for 7%, and irrigation for 6%. The busiest names in these records are Shelton Drilling Corporation, with 842 wells; Collins Drilling Co, with 192; and Steve Shelton Drilling, Inc., with 151. Confirm current licensing, availability, and scope directly before selecting a contractor.

What a new El Jebel well can cost

For the local mixed sedimentary and alluvial ground, the drilling rate model is $50 to $75 per foot. At the 120-foot median depth, the drilled hole works out to about $6,000 to $9,000. That is not the complete water-system price.

A finished well with pump, pressure tank, trenching, and electrical is estimated at $12,000 to $21,000 at the median depth. A deeper-than-typical hole, difficult access, casing or grout requirements, power distance, or a more complicated site plan can change the bid. Ask for a written scope that separates drilling from pump equipment, trenching, electrical, testing, permitting, and any work needed to connect the well to the home.

Check water quality, yield, and the building site

Within about 10 miles of El Jebel, mapped environmental information includes 7 PFAS sampling or contamination sites and 2 historic mine features. There are 0 EPA Superfund or cleanup sites in that mapped set. These records do not establish the quality of water at a specific parcel, so plan for a baseline water test and review the location of nearby sites before closing.

Low-yield and dry-hole risk cannot be ruled out by a favorable area median, especially where permits name fractured bedrock. Confirm the intended household use, well spacing, casing and grout details, and septic setbacks. A well and septic system also need to fit the driveway, house, replacement-area, drainage, and construction-access plan.

Before buying or building near El Jebel

Start with the neighboring permits, not just the countywide summary. Look for reported depth, yield, static water level, aquifer description, construction details, and the actual distance from the proposed well site. Nearby Catherine, Basalt, Mulford, Carbondale, Snowmass, and Cattle Creek can provide context, but the closest comparable wells are usually the most useful.

Have a Colorado well professional review the permit path before you rely on a listing’s water statement. Exempt household-use wells have defined limits, and an augmentation plan may be needed in an over-appropriated basin. For a new build, coordinate the well, septic, access driveway, utilities, and house location before excavation. That planning can prevent a well site from conflicting with the rest of the lot.

Well permits by decade near El Jebel

What a new well costs in El Jebel, 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 (241 ft) would run roughly $18,050–$30,075. 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 El Jebel? 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 El Jebel 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 El Jebel

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

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