What to Expect From a Well in Gunnison County

How deep are wells around Gunnison County?

How much water do wells make near Gunnison County?

A 70-Foot Median, With a Much Deeper Mountain Tail

Among the 5,407 wells reporting depth, the median is 70 feet and the middle half runs from 37 to 180 feet. That spread matters when comparing bids: a quote built around the median can fall short if your lot needs a deeper bore. Although 59% of reported depths are under 100 feet, the 90th percentile reaches 350 feet.

Permit aquifer labels are mostly unnamed or fractured bedrock; only 58 wells explicitly name Alluvial. Those labels do not prove the geology beneath a particular parcel. In fractured mountain rock, productive openings can be irregular. Compare nearby logs around Marble or Mount Crested Butte for terrain and formation, not merely proximity.

Gunnison County Yield Records Favor Usable Flows

The 15 gpm median reported yield is encouraging, and the middle half spans 7 to 15 gpm. But yields appear in only 1,992 records, so this is a picture of reporting wells rather than a guarantee for all permitted locations.

At the lower end, 1% report less than 1 gpm and 12% report 1–5 gpm. A buyer encountering a low-yield well should ask about sustained pumping, recovery and storage before accepting it as adequate. A brief completion test is not the same as reliable household performance. Also separate physical capacity from legal use: a productive well does not automatically come with permission to irrigate or supply additional buildings.

Water Often Stands Above the Bottom of the Well

Static water level is the resting depth to water, not the total drilled depth. In Gunnison County, the 527 reporting records show a 27-foot median, with the middle half between 9 and 60 feet below ground. A bore may extend substantially deeper to reach water-bearing fractures and accommodate the pump.

The decade medians do not show a steady countywide decline: they move from 45 feet in the 1970s to 18 in the 1980s, 22 in the 1990s, 16 in the 2000s, 30 in the 2010s and 27 in the 2020s. These are different groups of measurements, not continuous monitoring of the same wells. Ask for current static and pumping levels on the property itself.

The County's Permit History Peaks in the 1990s

The busiest listed permit decade was the 1990s, with 2,100 permits, followed by 1,501 in the 2000s. Records list 837 in the 2010s and 544 in the 2020s, with the newest permit year being 2025. The latest decade is incomplete, and issuance does not establish when a well was actually drilled.

Bob Williams Drilling Co. (Williams, Robert F.) leads the listed drilling records with 3,340 entries; Shelton Drilling Corporation (Shelton, Wayne) has 253. These are historical record counts, not confirmation of current availability. Domestic/household use accounts for 76% of permits, but monitoring accounts for 11%. Check the use and construction documents before treating a nearby map point as a comparable household well.

Budget Beyond the Borehole in Gunnison County

The supplied drilling model assumes fractured mountain bedrock, including granite and gneiss, at $65–$100 per foot. At the county's 70-foot median depth, that puts the drilled hole around $4,600–$7,000. A finished well with pump, tank, trenching and electrical is modeled at $10,600–$19,000.

Treat that as a planning allowance, not a parcel quote. The 37–180-foot middle depth range leaves substantial room for a different drilling bill. Ask the driller to spell out casing, grout, difficult-ground charges and what happens if the bore produces too little water. On a mountain building site, rig access and the route from the well to the house also need review before settling the budget.

Mine History and Water Testing Deserve a Close Look

The environmental inventory lists 13 PFAS sampling/contamination sites, 360 historic mine features and 6 EPA Superfund/cleanup sites within about 10 miles of the mapped area. These are screening flags, not evidence that every nearby well is contaminated. A sampling location is not necessarily a confirmed contamination source.

Before buying, obtain laboratory testing for drinking-water quality and ask local health officials which additional tests fit the property's mine history or mapped environmental concerns. Review casing, grout, drainage and septic placement as well. Low-yield records also warrant caution, but the supplied data do not establish a dry-hole rate. Neither a nearby producing well nor an issued permit guarantees success on an undrilled lot.

Buying in Almont or Building Near Somerset

Start with the parcel's DWR permit and match it to the well actually serving the property. Confirm allowed uses, construction details and any conditions before assuming household permission covers livestock, irrigation or another dwelling. Exempt household-use wells have restrictions, and some proposed uses may require augmentation in an over-appropriated basin.

For a lot in Almont, Somerset or Crested Butte, compare neighboring wells in similar terrain, then have the driller review access and the proposed location. Coordinate the well with septic suitability, required separation, the driveway and the building footprint. For an existing home, request a pumping and recovery assessment, current water testing and repair records before making the purchase contingent on a dependable supply.

Well permits by decade near Gunnison County

What a new well costs in Gunnison 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 (180 ft) would run roughly $17,700–$30,000. 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 Gunnison 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 Gunnison 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 Gunnison County

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