Grand Junction Colorado Well Depth, Yield and Cost

How deep are wells around Grand Junction?

How much water do wells make near Grand Junction?

Grand Junction well depths vary sharply by ground conditions

The local depth profile is dominated by shallow records: 93% of reported wells are under 100 feet. Another 2% fall between 100 and 300 feet, 2% between 300 and 600 feet, and 3% are deeper than 600 feet. The deepest recorded well is 1,690 feet.

For a driller's bid, the median is a useful starting point, not a guarantee. A site near shallow alluvial material may fit the local pattern, while fractured-bedrock conditions or an unusual permit area can require substantially more drilling. The aquifer records support that caution: 1,783 wells name an unnamed or fractured-bedrock aquifer, compared with 75 alluvial wells and 6 Entrada wells.

What Grand Junction wells produce

Among the 44 records reporting pump yield, the median is 5.5 gallons per minute. The middle half spans 0.1 to 12.6 gallons per minute, so nearby wells can perform very differently. A yield test is more useful for a specific purchase than the regional median.

The low-yield share deserves attention: 39% of reported yields are under 1 gallon per minute. Another 2% are in the 1 to 5 gallon-per-minute range, 36% produce 5 to 15 gallons per minute, and 23% report more than 15 gallons per minute. Ask for the original well test and confirm the intended household, irrigation or livestock demand. A storage tank can help manage a slow well, but it does not create more groundwater.

Water levels near Grand Junction are shallow, not steadily falling

The 111 records with static water-level measurements show a median depth to water of 14 feet, with the middle half between 10 and 19 feet. That is useful for planning a pump setting, trenching and construction access, but a static level is not the same as a tested production rate.

The decade figures do not show a simple dropping water table. The median was 16 feet below surface in the 2000s, 10 feet in the 2010s, and 18 feet in the 2020s. Measurement locations, seasons, pumping and different well types can affect those comparisons. Check the actual neighboring logs rather than treating the regional series as a prediction for one lot.

Permit history shows long activity and heavy monitoring use

Grand Junction has 2,007 wells in Colorado DWR permit records, with 757 recorded as constructed and 1,141 reporting a total depth. The permit count rose from 10 in the 1950s to 523 in the 2010s; the 2020s already contain 303 permits, with the newest permit year listed as 2025.

Use type matters when comparing nearby records. Monitoring wells account for 78% of the use mix, while domestic or household wells account for 4%, stock wells 1% and irrigation wells 2%. The most active named record holder is Authorized (Pe, Pg), with 826 records. Da Smith Drilling Company has 22, and Layne, Christensen Co. has 12. Confirm who will perform current work and verify licensing before signing a contract.

Grand Junction well drilling cost starts shallow but finishes higher

For the mixed sedimentary and alluvial ground described in this area, the drilling rate model is $50 to $75 per foot. At the local median depth of 20 feet, the drilled hole works out to about $1,000 to $1,500. That is only the hole, not a functioning water system.

A finished well with pump, pressure tank, trenching and electrical is modeled at $7,000 to $13,500 at that median depth. A deeper-than-typical hole, difficult access, casing or grout requirements, power distance and site conditions can move the quote. Request a written scope that separates drilling, casing, grout, development, pump equipment, water testing and electrical. The deepest records show why a low median should not be used as a guaranteed price for every Grand Junction parcel.

Environmental and building checks belong in the offer review

Within about 10 miles, the mapped environmental inventory includes 74 PFAS sampling or contamination sites, 9 historic mine features and 38 EPA Superfund or cleanup sites. Those locations do not automatically make a property unsafe, but they are a reason to identify the proposed well, check the distance to potential sources and obtain current laboratory testing before relying on the water.

Low yield and dry-hole risk also deserve a written discussion, especially because 39% of reported yields are under 1 gallon per minute. Confirm septic setbacks, well access for a rig, casing and grout requirements, and the buildable area before finalizing plans. A DWR permit is not a guarantee of water quality, sufficient yield or approval for every intended use. Household-use wells, water rights and any augmentation-plan requirement should be reviewed for the specific parcel.

Well permits by decade near Grand Junction

What a new well costs in Grand Junction, 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 (28 ft) would run roughly $7,400–$14,100. 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 Grand Junction? 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 Grand Junction 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 Grand Junction

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