Wells and Drilling Costs in Fremont County

How deep are wells around Fremont County?

How much water do wells make near Fremont County?

Why Fremont County Well Depths Spread So Widely

Of the 7,003 wells reporting depth, the median is 182 ft, with the middle half between 80 and 320 ft. That spread matters more to a drilling bid than the median alone: a quote built around the county midpoint may leave substantial additional footage to pay for.

The permit aquifer field groups 10,026 wells as unnamed or fractured bedrock, while 54 name Alluvial and 19 name Dakota. In fractured granite and gneiss, a driller is looking for water-bearing fractures, and neighboring holes can perform differently.

The depth distribution reaches 500 ft at the 90th percentile, and 6% fall in the 600+ ft category. Compare nearby logs around Howard, Coaldale or your actual building site before choosing a budget depth.

What a 7.0 Gpm Fremont County Well Can Tell You

Reported pump yields cluster in a useful range for household planning: the median is 7.0 gpm, and the middle half runs from 4.5 to 10.0 gpm. Among the 3,276 wells with yield reports, 61% fall in the 5–15 gpm category. A reported drilling yield, however, is not a guarantee of sustained supply under daily use.

The 3% reporting under 1 gpm deserve particular attention from buyers. A low-producing well may require storage and careful demand management; have its pumping performance and recovery evaluated before closing.

Also check what the permit allows. Domestic/household use appears on 83% of county records, but household permission should not be treated as permission for irrigation or every planned outdoor use.

Fremont Water Levels Are Deeper in Recent Records

Static water level is where water stands in a resting well, not the bottom of the drilled hole. Fremont County's 827 reported static levels have a median depth to water of 85 ft, with the middle half between 50 and 160 ft below ground.

Decade medians were 38 ft in the 1970s, 45 ft in the 1980s, 90 ft in the 1990s, 85 ft in the 2000s, 80 ft in the 2010s and 100 ft in the 2020s. Recent records show deeper median water levels than early records, but the pattern is not a steady decline.

These are different groups of measurements, not repeat readings from the same wells. They suggest a concern worth investigating, not proof that the water level beneath a particular Florence or Cotopaxi parcel is dropping.

Fremont's Permit History and Recorded Drillers

Fremont County's largest permit decade was the 1990s, with 2,460 permits, followed by 2,171 in the 2000s. Records show 1,133 in the 2010s and 858 in the 2020s, with the newest permit dated 2026. The current decade is incomplete, so its total is not directly comparable with a finished decade.

The most active drillers in the records are Arkansas Valley Drilling (Moore, Todd A.) with 1,190, American Drilling Service (Dewberry, Bradford W.) with 893, and Finney Drilling (Finney, Larry D.) with 731.

Those are historical record counts, not confirmation of current availability. When gathering bids around Cañon City, Rockvale or Williamsburg, ask about recent work in comparable ground and request a written explanation of what the drilling price includes.

Budgeting a New Well in Fremont's Mountain Bedrock

The supplied drilling model uses $65–$100 per foot for fractured mountain bedrock. At Fremont County's 182 ft median depth, that puts the drilled hole at about $11,800–$18,200. A finished well with pump, tank, trenching and electrical is modeled at $17,800–$30,200.

Treat that as a planning range, not a parcel quote. The 80–320 ft middle-half depth range leaves plenty of room for the footage charge to change. Access, casing and grout requirements, pump selection and the route to the house also affect the scope.

Have the bid separate drilling from completion work and explain how additional depth is authorized. On a steep lot near Coaldale or Howard, settle rig access and utility routing before relying on the finished-well estimate.

Mine Features, Water Quality and Low-Yield Risk

The environmental map includes 14 PFAS sampling/contamination sites, 404 historic mine features and 20 EPA Superfund/cleanup sites within about 10 miles. Those mapped features are reasons to investigate a parcel, not evidence that its well water is contaminated. A sampling location also does not automatically mean contamination was detected.

Before buying, obtain laboratory testing appropriate to drinking-water use and the property's setting. Ask the testing professional whether nearby mine features or cleanup records call for additional analyses.

Water quantity needs its own check. Fractured bedrock can produce a weak well or a dry hole despite a productive neighbor. Review casing and grout records, and coordinate the well location with septic design, drainage, building placement and equipment access before committing to a site plan.

Before You Buy a Lot in Penrose, Cotopaxi or Beyond

Start with the parcel's DWR permit, well completion report and pump record. Confirm that the documents describe the well actually serving the property and that authorized uses match your plans. A well permit is not, by itself, proof of a completed or dependable supply.

Next, compare nearby wells in the same terrain. The 182 ft county median is useful background, but records close to your lot in Penrose, Lincoln Park or Cotopaxi are more relevant than a countywide average. Look at depth, yield and the dates and conditions of testing together.

For vacant land, confirm permit eligibility with DWR before purchase. Household-use restrictions or augmentation requirements may affect the plan. Lay out the well, septic system, driveway and house together rather than treating water as an issue to solve after construction starts.

Well permits by decade near Fremont County

What a new well costs in Fremont 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 (320 ft) would run roughly $26,800–$44,000. 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 Fremont 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 Fremont 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 Fremont County

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