What Elizabeth, Colorado Wells Cost and Produce

How deep are wells around Elizabeth?

How much water do wells make near Elizabeth?

Elizabeth well depth: plan for the Denver Basin

Elizabeth-area wells are usually deeper than a shallow domestic well. The median completed depth is 355 feet, with the middle half between 295 and 435 feet. About 61% of wells fall between 300 and 600 feet, while 13% are deeper than 600 feet. The deepest recorded well reaches 2,318 feet, showing how widely local conditions can vary.

For a drilling bid, the 295-to-435-foot range is more useful than the median alone. A lot with nearby wells around the upper end of that range may need a larger drilling allowance than a lot surrounded by shallower records. Permits name the Upper Dawson most often, followed by unnamed or fractured-bedrock aquifers and the Lower Dawson. All named permit aquifers are within the Denver Basin system.

Expected well yield near Ponderosa Park and Franktown

The median reported pump yield near Elizabeth is 12.0 gallons per minute, and the middle half runs from 10.0 to 14.5 gallons per minute. Most reported wells, 74%, produce between 5 and 15 gallons per minute. Another 25% report more than 15 gallons per minute, while 1% report between 1 and 5 gallons per minute. No reported wells in this set are under 1 gallon per minute.

Those figures suggest a generally workable range for household planning, but a yield test is still important. Pump yield is not the same as storage in the well or a guarantee during drought. Review the well permit’s allowed use and household restrictions. An exempt household-use well also has a 35-gpm pumping limit, even if a particular well can produce more.

Elizabeth water levels: variable, not a straight decline

Reported static water levels have a median depth of 180 feet below the surface, with the middle half between 125 and 240 feet. That affects pump sizing, electrical planning, and the cost of bringing water into a house. A water level is a snapshot taken at a particular time, so it should not be treated as the same thing as the well’s total depth.

The decade medians move around rather than showing a steady one-way trend: 135 feet in the 1970s, 164 in the 1980s, 230 in the 1990s, 204 in the 2000s, 170 in the 2010s, and 205 in the 2020s. The record does not support claiming a simple continuing drop. Because only 236 wells report a static water level, ask for the actual neighboring measurements and recent pump information for the parcel you are considering.

Who drilled Elizabeth wells, and when permits were active

Elizabeth’s permit history reflects sustained rural and residential development. The records contain 5,334 permitted wells, with 3,612 recorded as constructed. Permit activity was highest in the 1990s, when 1,495 permits were issued. The 1980s had 909, the 1970s had 805, the 2000s had 732, the 2010s had 441, and the 2020s had 275. The newest permit year in the records is 2025.

The most common drillers in these records are Hamacher Well Works Inc, also listed with Alan Ray Hamacher, at 1,088 wells; Hier Drilling Co Inc, with Bruce A. Hier, at 635; and Parker Drilling/Pump Service Inc., with Tommy E. Thrasher, at 577. Those names help identify local permit history, but they are not a recommendation or a substitute for current references and a written scope of work.

Elizabeth well drilling cost at typical local depths

The cost model for Elizabeth assumes Denver Basin sedimentary bedrock and a drilling rate of $50 to $70 per foot. At the 355-foot median depth, the drilled hole alone is estimated at about $17,800 to $24,800. A finished system, including the pump, pressure tank, trenching, and electrical work, is estimated at about $23,800 to $36,800.

Use those figures as a budgeting range, not a fixed quote. Depth is the biggest visible driver, but access, casing and grout requirements, pump setting, trench length, electrical service, and site conditions can change the final number. Ask each bidder what is included and what happens if the hole must be deepened. A low drilling price that excludes the pump, tank, trenching, or electrical work is not comparable to a completed-well estimate.

Risks to check before buying an Elizabeth lot

Low yield is not the main signal in this record, but dry holes and disappointing production can still occur because Denver Basin and fractured-bedrock conditions vary by location. Confirm neighboring well depths, yields, static levels, and construction details rather than relying only on countywide summaries. The well’s permitted use also matters: 92% of the use records include domestic or household use, while some include stock or irrigation.

Water quality deserves its own review. Mapped environmental information within about 10 miles includes 20 PFAS sampling or contamination sites, 1 historic mine feature, and 2 EPA Superfund or cleanup sites. That does not prove a problem at a particular home. Test the existing well, identify nearby environmental sites, and keep septic setbacks and the proposed building location in the site plan. A new septic system and a new well need coordinated placement and access.

A practical plan for building near Elizabeth

Before you buy, pull the Colorado DWR permit and construction records for the parcel and compare them with nearby wells in Elizabeth, Ponderosa Park, Franktown, and Kiowa. Look for a cluster of depths near the 295-to-435-foot middle range, but budget for the possibility that your site differs. Ask for a current water-quality test and a documented production test where an existing well is present.

For vacant land, obtain a written drilling proposal that separates the hole from the finished system. Confirm the intended household, stock, or irrigation use and check whether an augmentation plan is required in the applicable over-appropriated basin. Before construction, coordinate well access, septic placement, electrical routing, driveway work, and the house site. The records provide a strong local starting point; parcel-specific review is what turns it into a buying decision.

Well permits by decade near Elizabeth

What a new well costs in Elizabeth, 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 (435 ft) would run roughly $27,750–$42,450. 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 Elizabeth? 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 Elizabeth 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 Elizabeth

Keep researching

More in Elbert County

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

Nearby areas