What to Expect From a Well in Hinsdale County

How deep are wells around Hinsdale County?

How much water do wells make near Hinsdale County?

An 86-Foot Median, With Room for Much Deeper Drilling

Among the 816 wells reporting depth, the median is 86 feet and the middle half runs from 42 to 200 feet. That is a broad bidding range: a contractor should not price a parcel solely around the county median. The 90th-percentile depth is 382 feet, showing that substantially deeper work is part of the local record.

Permits mostly identify an unnamed or fractured-bedrock aquifer. In granite and gneiss, usable water depends on intersecting connected fractures, not simply reaching a predictable layer. Compare nearby wells in similar terrain around Lake City, rather than substituting averages from San Juan County or Mineral County. Ask how additional footage, casing and difficult ground affect the bid.

Reported Yields Are Encouraging, but Test the Individual Well

The 305 wells with reported pump yields have a 15.0 gpm median, with the middle half between 7.0 and 15.0 gpm. Those results are encouraging for household supply, but they describe reported tests—not a promise of sustained output at your lot.

In the reporting group, 2% produce under 1 gpm and 12% fall in the 1–5 gpm band. A low-output well can require storage and careful demand management. Before buying, request a pumping and recovery test rather than relying on the seller’s description. A strong pump rating does not establish aquifer capacity, and physical yield does not expand the uses allowed by the well permit.

Water Levels Do Not Show a Documented Countywide Decline

Static water level is the depth to standing water before pumping, not the total depth of the borehole. Only 69 wells report this measurement. Their median is 40 feet below ground, with the middle half from 19 to 75 feet.

The decade medians move from 88 feet below ground in the 2010s to 30 feet in the 2020s. The newer median is shallower, so this series does not show a dropping water table. It also does not establish countywide recovery: these records are not necessarily repeated measurements of the same wells. For a purchase, current static level, pumping drawdown and recovery at the actual well are more useful than that comparison alone.

Hinsdale’s Permit Activity Peaked in the 1990s

Recorded permit issuance increased from 138 in the 1970s to 230 in the 1980s, then reached 256 in the 1990s. The records list 194 in the 2000s, 111 in the 2010s and 68 in the 2020s, with the newest permit dated 2025. The latest decade is incomplete and should not be compared as a full decade.

Bob Williams Drilling Co. (Williams, Robert F.) leads the listed drillers with 341 records, followed by Irrigation Engineering & Supp. (Burk, Coy) with 57 and Valley Pump Company (Self, Clinton L.) with 48. These are historical record counts, not confirmation of current availability. Domestic/household use accounts for 78% of the permit use mix.

Budget Beyond the Drilled Hole in Mountain Bedrock

The supplied Hinsdale County cost model uses $65–$100 per foot for fractured mountain bedrock. At the 86-foot median depth, that puts the drilled hole around $5,600–$8,600. A finished well with pump, tank, trenching and electrical is modeled at $11,600–$20,600.

Treat those figures as a planning allowance, not a parcel-specific quote. The 42–200-foot middle depth range alone gives a driller reason to spell out footage charges. Mountain access, rig setup, casing and grout requirements, and the route to the house also matter. Request a written scope showing what is included, what changes with depth, and what you owe if drilling does not find a usable supply.

Mine Features, Water Testing and Septic Placement

The environmental mapping lists 805 historic mine features, 4 PFAS sampling/contamination sites and 4 EPA Superfund/cleanup sites within about 10 miles. Those mapped features are reasons to investigate location and drainage—not evidence that a particular household well is contaminated. A PFAS sampling location does not by itself establish a detection.

For an existing well, arrange laboratory testing for bacteria and nitrate, then discuss metals and other site-specific testing with the laboratory or local health authority. Inspect the wellhead, casing seal and drainage. Fractured rock can produce low yield or an unsuccessful hole, so review those contract terms too. Locate septic, the building footprint and well access together before committing to site work.

Before Closing on a Lake City or Hinsdale County Lot

Start with the DWR permit and completion report for the parcel, then compare neighboring wells with similar terrain and geology. The county’s 838 recorded constructed wells offer a useful starting point, but a permit entry alone does not prove an operable water supply. For an existing home, obtain current yield and water-quality results.

For vacant land, confirm permit eligibility and intended uses before finalizing the house and septic layout. An exempt household-use permit does not automatically allow outdoor irrigation or livestock watering. Uses outside an exemption may require an augmentation plan in an over-appropriated basin. Keep room for drilling equipment and future service access, and resolve the water-supply contingency before closing.

Well permits by decade near Hinsdale County

What a new well costs in Hinsdale 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 (200 ft) would run roughly $19,000–$32,000. 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 Hinsdale 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 Hinsdale 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 Hinsdale County

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Towns and areas in Hinsdale County

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