Johnson Village, Colorado Well Guide

How deep are wells around Johnson Village?

How much water do wells make near Johnson Village?

Johnson Village well depths and mountain bedrock

Johnson Village wells are generally shallow by mountain-well standards. The middle half of reported depths runs from 50 to 122 feet, and 60% are under 100 feet. Another 36% fall between 100 and 300 feet. The 90th-percentile depth is 198 feet, while the deepest recorded well reaches 700 feet.

For a drilling bid, the median is a starting point, not a promised refusal depth. The local ground is fractured granite and gneiss, so a driller may hit a productive fracture early or need to continue substantially deeper. A bid should explain the per-foot rate, casing and grout, testing, pump work, and what happens if the first hole does not produce enough water.

What Johnson Village wells produce

Reported well yield is usually workable for domestic use in this area. The median is 12.0 gallons per minute, and the middle half is 10.0 to 15.0 gallons per minute. A large majority, 71%, report yields from 5 to 15 gallons per minute, while 26% report more than 15 gallons per minute. Only 3% report 1 to 5 gallons per minute, and none are recorded under 1 gallon per minute.

These are reported pumping results, not a guarantee of household pressure or storage. Ask whether the test was a short yield test or a longer test, and check the well permit's allowed use. Most local permits are domestic or household wells. An exempt household-use well still has a 35-gallon-per-minute pumping limit.

Water levels around Johnson Village

The median static water level is 40 feet below the ground surface, with the middle half between 21 and 75 feet. That helps with preliminary pump planning, but the actual water level depends on the lot, season, construction, and nearby pumping. A deeper static level also means more lift for the pump and can affect electrical and equipment choices.

The decade figures do not show a simple uninterrupted decline. Median depth to water was 28 feet in the 1970s, 25 in the 1980s, 30 in the 1990s, 31 in the 2000s, 51 in the 2010s, and 45 in the 2020s. The more recent readings are deeper than most earlier decades, but the records come from different wells and measurement locations, so they should not be treated as proof of a uniform water-table drop.

Permit history and drillers near Johnson Village

The permit record shows long-term development around Johnson Village, with 20 permits in the 1950s, 44 in the 1960s, 311 in the 1970s, 210 in the 1980s, 522 in the 1990s, 473 in the 2000s, 360 in the 2010s, and 210 in the 2020s. The newest permit year is 2026. The records include 2,638 wells, although construction, depth, yield, and water-level information are not complete for every permit.

The most active listed drillers are Whitewater Systems, Inc. (Shake, Shawn), with 226 records; Twin Lakes Drilling Co. (Schaffer, James O), with 220; and Mccoy Drilling Inc (Dennison, Lynn A.), with 196. These records show local experience, but get current references and a written scope before hiring.

Johnson Village well drilling cost

Fractured mountain bedrock is the main cost driver here. The drilling model uses $65 to $100 per foot. At the 80-foot median depth, the drilled hole works out to about $5,200 to $8,000. A finished system, including pump, pressure tank, trenching, and electrical, is modeled at about $11,200 to $20,000.

That range can move when the hole must go deeper, access is difficult, casing or grout requirements change, or the pump must lift water from a deeper level. Treat the median-depth estimate as a planning figure rather than a fixed quote. Ask for separate prices for drilling, casing, grouting, testing, pump equipment, power, trenching, and any work needed to abandon an unsuccessful hole.

Risks to check before building near Johnson Village

Low yield is not the dominant pattern in the records, but fractured rock remains unpredictable and a nearby result does not guarantee the same result on your parcel. Review neighboring permits for depth, yield, static water level, construction, and intended use. Also verify water quality instead of assuming that clear water is safe.

Within about 10 miles, the mapped environmental record includes 5 PFAS sampling or contamination sites, 353 historic mine features, and 6 EPA Superfund or cleanup sites. Those maps do not by themselves prove contamination at a property, but they are reasons to order a well-water test and investigate mine or industrial history. Septic placement, replacement area, driveway access, drainage, and the building footprint must also be planned around the well and required separation areas.

Buying or building a lot in Johnson Village

Start with the Colorado DWR permit and construction records for the parcel and nearby properties. Confirm that the proposed use matches the permit, and check for any augmentation-plan issue if the property is in a basin where additional water use requires augmentation. An exempt household-use well is commonly used for domestic needs, but the permit terms still control.

For a new build, locate the well, septic system, access route, utilities, and house together before closing. Budget from the local $11,200-$20,000 finished-well model, then leave room for site-specific drilling and electrical work. Nearby Buena Vista, about 2 miles away, and Nathrop, about 5 miles away, provide useful local context, but the well record for the actual lot matters more than town averages.

Well permits by decade near Johnson Village

What a new well costs in Johnson Village, 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 (122 ft) would run roughly $13,930–$24,200. 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 Johnson Village? 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 Johnson Village 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 Johnson Village

Keep researching

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All wells in Chaffee County — county-wide depth, yield and cost figures.

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