What to Expect From a Well in Evergreen

How deep are wells around Evergreen?

How much water do wells make near Evergreen?

A 305-Foot Well Is a Starting Point, Not a Bid

Of the 6,040 wells reporting depth, the median is 305 feet and the middle half run from 175 to 500 feet. That spread matters when comparing bids: a price based only on the median can leave substantial additional drilling outside your budget. The 90th-percentile depth is 700 feet, and the deepest record is 1600 feet.

Evergreen is fractured mountain bedrock country, with granite and gneiss driving the drilling conditions. Most permits identify an unnamed or fractured-bedrock aquifer; others specifically name Fractured Crystalline or Fractured Granite. Water comes through connected fractures rather than a uniform underground layer. Nearby records toward Upper Witter Gulch or Indian Hills help establish expectations, but even neighboring lots can require different depths.

What Evergreen’s 6.0 Gpm Median Means at the House

The 2,875 reported pump yields have a median of 6.0 gpm, with the middle half between 3.0 and 9.0 gpm. Those figures are useful for planning, but a recorded pump yield is not a promise of sustained production under household demand.

3% of reported yields are under 1 gpm. That is a minority, but a serious concern if you are buying the affected property. Another 34% fall in the 1–5 gpm band, where recovery and storage deserve close attention. Before closing, ask for a current pumping and recovery test rather than relying on the permit entry alone. Storage can help meet short bursts of demand, but it cannot make up for inadequate long-term water production.

Water at 90 Feet Does Not Mean Drilling Stops There

Static water level is the resting depth to water inside the well, not the total drilled depth. Evergreen’s median is 90 feet below the surface, and the middle half is 40–150 feet. Only 322 records report this measurement, so the water-level picture is much thinner than the depth record.

The decade medians do not show a steady decline: 42 feet in the 1960s, 60 in the 1970s, 40 in the 1980s, 150 in the 1990s, 120 in the 2010s and 100 in the 2020s. These are different groups of measurements, not repeated monitoring of the same wells. They do not establish a dropping water table. For a purchase, compare resting level, pumping drawdown and recovery at the actual well.

Evergreen’s Permit History—and the Drillers in It

The local DWR dataset contains 8,647 permit records, with 5,862 recorded as constructed. Permit totals should not be read as a count of operating wells. Issuance was especially active in the 1970s, with 2,019 permits, and the 1990s, with 1,791. The newest permit year is 2025; the 218 permits listed for the 2020s represent an incomplete decade.

The most active drillers in these records are James Drilling Company (Keaton, Michael K.), with 775; Walton, with 695; and Living Water Systems Inc. (Goble, Robert), with 520. These are historical record counts, not confirmation of current availability. Domestic/household use accounts for 94% of the use mix, but the individual permit—not neighborhood custom—controls what a property’s well may serve.

Budgeting a Finished Well in Evergreen Bedrock

The local cost model uses $65–$100 per foot for drilling fractured granite and gneiss. At the 305-foot median depth, that puts the drilled hole at about $19,800–$30,500. A finished well with pump, tank, trenching and electrical is modeled at $25,800–$42,500.

Treat those figures as a planning range, not a parcel-specific quote. With the middle half of depths stretching from 175 to 500 feet, footage alone can change the bill considerably. Ask bidders to spell out casing, grout, testing, pump equipment and connections, along with charges if drilling must continue deeper. Mountain access and the route from well to house also need a site visit. Keep driveway work, septic and other site development separate from the stated finished-well allowance.

Low Yield, Water Quality and Mountain-Site Risks

Within about 10 miles, the environmental map identifies 37 PFAS sampling/contamination sites, 115 historic mine features and 50 EPA Superfund/cleanup sites. Those categories are screening flags, not evidence that a particular Evergreen well is contaminated. Review the sites near the parcel and arrange laboratory testing suited to household use and any identified local concerns.

Water quality and water quantity require separate checks. Fractured rock can produce a weak well or a dry hole, and greater depth does not guarantee usable water. Inspect the wellhead, casing condition and drainage around it. For a new build, coordinate well placement with the proposed septic system, replacement area, foundation and construction access before fixing the site plan.

Before Buying a Lot Near Upper Bear Creek or Genesee

Start with the actual parcel, then work outward through neighboring well records. A record near Upper Bear Creek or Genesee may be more useful than the Evergreen-wide median if its terrain and geology resemble the lot. Look at depth and yield together, and distinguish a permit from a documented completed well.

Confirm the permit status and allowed uses with DWR. Do not assume a household-use permit allows lawn irrigation, livestock watering or service to another dwelling. For an existing home, request the construction report, pump information, current water testing and a pumping/recovery test. For vacant land, have the driller and site contractor review access, the well location, septic feasibility and utility routing before you commit to a house footprint.

Well permits by decade near Evergreen

What a new well costs in Evergreen, 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 (500 ft) would run roughly $38,500–$62,000. 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 Evergreen? 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 Evergreen 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 Evergreen

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

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