What to Expect From a Well in Gilpin County

How deep are wells around Gilpin County?

How much water do wells make near Gilpin County?

Why a Gilpin County Bid Needs Room Beyond 250 Feet

Among 3,309 wells reporting depth, the median is 250 feet, and the middle half runs 150-380 feet. That spread matters when comparing bids: a contractor pricing only the median depth may leave substantial additional footage outside the base price. Ask how deeper drilling and additional casing would be charged.

Gilpin County is fractured mountain bedrock, including granite and gneiss. Most permits identify an unnamed or fractured-bedrock aquifer; Denver Basin aquifer wells account for 0%. Water depends on the fractures the borehole intersects. The 90th-percentile depth is 523 feet, showing why a shallower neighboring well is useful evidence, but not a promise for your lot.

A Reported 7.0 GPM Is a Starting Point, Not a Guarantee

The 1,415 wells with reported pump yields have a 7.0 gpm median, with the middle half at 4.0-10.0 gpm. Those rates can support household planning, but a reported drilling-time yield is not the same as a current sustained pumping test.

Reported yields fall under 1 gpm for 2% of wells, while 27% fall in the 1-5 gpm band. For a buyer, the lower-yield records are a reason to investigate recovery and storage needs before closing. A pressure tank alone does not solve inadequate well production. Ask for a test that documents pumping rate, drawdown and recovery, then have the pump and storage system matched to the results.

Water at 50 Feet Does Not Mean a 50-Foot Well

Only 307 records report a static water level. Their median is 50 feet below ground, with the middle half at 30-82 feet. Static level is where water rests in the well when it is not being pumped. It is not the total drilling depth or proof of how much water the well can deliver.

Decade medians were 35 feet in the 1960s and 1970s, 32 feet in the 1990s, 70 feet in the 2010s and 50 feet in the 2020s. That is not a steady decline. These grouped records do not establish a countywide water-table trend because they are not repeated measurements of the same wells under comparable conditions.

Gilpin's Permit Record Reflects Long-Established Well Use

Permit issuance was especially active in the 1970s, with 979 permits, and the 1990s, with 957. The records extend through 2025. Domestic and household use accounts for 92%, consistent with wells serving mountain properties rather than broad irrigation development.

The most active driller entries are C. R. Smith Drilling (Smith, Calvin R.), with 885 records; C R Smith Drilling Inc (Smith, Frank), with 645; and Ground Water Systems Inc (Wilson, Richard R.), with 415. These are historical record counts, not confirmation of current availability.

Of 4,554 permitted wells, 3,267 are recorded as constructed. That difference should not be treated as a dry-hole count; a permit record alone does not establish construction or performance.

Budgeting the Hole and the Finished Gilpin County System

The local cost model uses $65-$100 per foot for drilling fractured granite and gneiss. At the 250-foot median depth, the drilled hole is about $16,200-$25,000. A finished well with pump, tank, trenching and electrical is modeled at $22,200-$37,000.

Treat those figures as planning ranges, not a parcel-specific quote. Mountain access, required casing and grout, pump selection, and the route from the well to the house all affect the scope. Ask the driller to separate footage charges from completion equipment and explain what happens if the hole must go deeper. Coordinate driveway access and utility trenching before pricing the work, rather than assuming those items are straightforward.

Mining History and Low-Yield Risk Deserve Separate Checks

The supplied environmental mapping identifies 4,519 historic mine features, 42 PFAS sampling/contamination sites and 30 EPA Superfund/cleanup sites within about 10 miles. Those are screening flags, not evidence that a particular Gilpin County well is contaminated. A PFAS sampling location also does not necessarily indicate a detection.

Review nearby site records and obtain current laboratory testing, including routine drinking-water tests and additional analytes guided by mining history or identified contamination. Inspect the wellhead, casing and surface drainage. Separately, assess production: fractured bedrock can produce a weak well or an unsuccessful hole. Before committing to a building layout, verify that the well, septic system and construction access can meet applicable siting requirements.

Before Buying a Lot Near Rollinsville or Black Hawk

Start with the parcel's DWR permit, completion report and pump records. Confirm the authorized uses rather than assuming a household well allows outdoor watering, livestock or additional dwellings. New permits depend on the parcel and applicable water rules; augmentation may be necessary where the proposed use requires it in an over-appropriated basin.

Compare neighboring wells around Rollinsville or Black Hawk before relying on broader figures from Clear Creek County or Boulder County. Favor nearby records with similar terrain and bedrock conditions. For an existing home, obtain a current yield test and water-quality results. For vacant land, have the proposed well location, septic area, driveway and house site reviewed together before finalizing the purchase.

Well permits by decade near Gilpin County

What a new well costs in Gilpin 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 (380 ft) would run roughly $30,700–$50,000. 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 Gilpin 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 Gilpin 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 Gilpin County

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Towns and areas in Gilpin County

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