Fort Collins Colorado Well Depth, Yield and Cost

How deep are wells around Fort Collins?

How much water do wells make near Fort Collins?

Fort Collins well depths are usually shallow, but the spread is wide

Among wells with reported depths, the median is 28 feet. The middle half runs from 20 to 45 feet, and 92% are under 100 feet. That is the pattern a buyer is most likely to encounter near Fort Collins, but it does not eliminate difficult sites.

The records include wells from 100 to 300 feet, 300 to 600 feet, and more than 600 feet. The deepest record is 901 feet. Most permits name an unnamed or fractured-bedrock aquifer, with 2,686 wells in that category. In fractured granite or gneiss, water-bearing fractures can change quickly across a parcel. A driller should not price or promise a new well from the area median alone.

What Fort Collins wells produce for household water

Reported pump yields have a median of 15.0 gallons per minute, with the middle half between 10.0 and 40.0 gallons per minute. The yield mix is favorable on paper: 58% report more than 15 gallons per minute, while 38% fall between 5 and 15 gallons per minute.

Low-yield wells still occur. One percent report less than 1 gallon per minute, and 3% report between 1 and 5 gallons per minute. Those wells may require careful storage and demand planning. A buyer should ask for the well construction report, pump test information and any production limitations. A Colorado exempt household-use well is generally limited to 35 gallons per minute, and a permit controls the allowed use.

The water table near Fort Collins looks fairly consistent

Reported static water levels are shallow. The median depth to water is 12 feet, and the middle half is 8 to 15 feet below the surface. That can reduce pumping lift, but it also means groundwater is close enough to be affected by surface conditions, drainage and septic placement.

The decade comparison does not show a dropping water table in these records. The median static level was 12 feet below the surface in the 2010s and 10 feet in the 2020s. The dataset includes only 116 static-water-level reports, so treat the comparison as a local record signal rather than a guarantee for an individual lot. Water levels can differ substantially in fractured rock.

Permit history shows long use around Fort Collins

Permitted well activity extends from the 1950s through the newest permit year, 2025. The largest decade in the records is the 1990s, with 518 permits. The 2000s account for 394, the 2010s for 414, and the 2020s for 264. These figures describe permit issuance, not necessarily active wells today.

Domestic and household wells make up 37% of the use mix. Monitoring wells account for 34%, irrigation for 9%, and stock use for 4%. The most active drillers named in the records are Authorized (Pe, Pg), Schott Bros. Drilling (Schott, Carl), and Lesh Drilling Inc. (Lesh Jr., Ed). Check the actual permit and construction report for the property rather than relying only on a driller’s name.

Fort Collins well drilling cost depends on depth and rock

The cost model for this area assumes fractured mountain bedrock, including granite and gneiss. The modeled drilling rate is $65-$100 per foot. At the 28-foot median depth, the drilled hole is estimated at about $1,800-$2,800.

A finished well is a larger project than the drilled hole. Including the pump, pressure tank, trenching and electrical, the modeled total is about $7,800-$14,800 at the median depth. A deeper hole, difficult access, casing, grout, water testing or changes to the electrical and trench layout can move the bid. Ask for a written scope that separates drilling from completion and site work.

PFAS, old mines and septic layout deserve a close check

Environmental screening matters around Fort Collins. The mapped area within about ten miles includes 93 PFAS sampling or contamination sites, 22 historic mine features and 19 EPA Superfund or cleanup sites. These mapped locations do not prove contamination at a particular parcel, but they are a reason to review the property’s history and test the well water.

Low yield and dry holes remain possible in fractured bedrock even where nearby wells are productive. Confirm casing and grout details, well construction, pump performance and water quality. Septic setbacks, replacement-area requirements, drainage and the proposed building location should be reviewed before excavation. An existing well does not automatically make a lot suitable for every home plan.

Before buying or building near Fort Collins

Start with the Colorado Division of Water Resources permit and construction records for the parcel. Compare nearby wells in Timnath, Laporte, Loveland, Windsor and Wellington, but use those records as context rather than proof of the result on your lot. The local data includes both shallow wells and much deeper exceptions.

For a purchase, make the well inspection, production information, water-quality testing and permit review part of due diligence. For a new build, have a licensed driller evaluate access, geology, casing, grout, pump sizing and storage before you finalize the house site. Also confirm whether the intended use requires an augmentation plan, particularly in an over-appropriated basin, and coordinate the well with septic and driveway construction.

Well permits by decade near Fort Collins

What a new well costs in Fort Collins, 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 (45 ft) would run roughly $8,925–$16,500. 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 Fort Collins? 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 Fort Collins 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 Fort Collins

Keep researching

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

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