Keystone, Colorado Well Depth, Yield, and Cost

How deep are wells around Keystone?

How much water do wells make near Keystone?

Keystone well depth reflects shallow mountain bedrock

The median reported well depth near Keystone is 80 feet. The middle half runs from 49 to 150 feet, so a driller bidding a typical lot may be working in that range rather than automatically planning a very deep hole. The 90th-percentile depth is 218 feet, and the deepest record reaches 550 feet.

Depth records are concentrated at the shallow end: 57% are under 100 feet, while 39% fall between 100 and 300 feet. Only 4% are between 300 and 600 feet, with 0% at 600 feet or more. Those figures help compare bids, but fractured granite and gneiss can change the result quickly from one parcel to the next.

What Keystone wells produce

Reported well yields are generally useful for household planning. The median is 12.0 gallons per minute, and the middle half is 10.0 to 15.0 gallons per minute. Among wells with yield records, 53% produce between 5 and 15 gallons per minute, while 43% report more than 15 gallons per minute.

Only 3% report 1 to 5 gallons per minute, and 0% report under 1 gallon per minute. That is encouraging for a buyer, but a good well test still matters. Pumping capacity, storage, pressure equipment, and the permitted use all affect how comfortably a home can operate. Do not treat a nearby yield as a promise for an unbuilt well.

Keystone water levels and what the records show

Only 29 wells in the records report a static water level, so the water-level sample is limited. Within that group, the median depth to water is 30 feet, with the middle half from 25 to 60 feet. This gives a useful starting point for pump and trench discussions, not a site-specific water-table measurement.

The permit counts by decade do not establish a water-level trend. They show permitting activity, not water-level measurements: 27 permits in the 1960s, 44 in the 1970s, 77 in the 1980s, 149 in the 1990s, 116 in the 2000s, 42 in the 2010s, and 31 in the 2020s. A current well test and site evaluation are more useful than assuming the water table is rising or dropping.

Who has drilled around Keystone, and when

Permit records extend through the newest permit year of 2025. The busiest names in this local record set are Golden Eagle Drilling Corporation, associated with Shelton, Joe Wayne, with 75 wells; Buena Vista Drilling, associated with Shelton, William L, with 68; and Arrow Drilling Co., associated with Berglund, Paul R., with 42.

The permit history is concentrated in the 1980s through the 2000s, with 77 permits in the 1980s, 149 in the 1990s, and 116 in the 2000s. Treat these names as a starting point for checking local experience and references, not as a recommendation. Confirm current licensing, insurance, scope, and who will handle the pump and electrical work.

Keystone well drilling cost at the recorded median depth

Keystone drilling runs through fractured mountain bedrock, including granite and gneiss. The cost model uses a drilling rate of $65 to $100 per foot. At the local median depth of 80 feet, the drilled hole works out to about $5,200 to $8,000.

A finished well is more than the hole. Including the pump, pressure tank, trenching, and electrical, the modeled total is about $11,200 to $20,000 at that depth. A bid can move outside that range if the hole is deeper, access is difficult, casing or grouting requirements change, or the site needs unusual trenching. Ask for drilling, casing, development, pump, power, and testing as separate line items.

Risks to check before buying or building in Keystone

Fractured-bedrock wells can vary sharply over short distances. A lot may produce less than a nearby well, require more drilling, or encounter a dry hole. Review the nearest permits and construction reports, then ask for a written contingency plan. The local records show 13 PFAS sampling or contamination sites, 907 historic mine features, and 20 EPA Superfund or cleanup sites within about 10 miles.

Those mapped sites do not prove contamination at a particular property. Test existing water for the contaminants relevant to the site and inspect well casing, grout, storage, and the pressure system. A septic designer must also confirm separation distances, soil conditions, and a workable drainfield location before a building envelope is finalized.

A practical Keystone lot-buying plan

Start with the Colorado DWR permit and construction records for the property and nearby parcels. Confirm the permitted use: 65% of the local permits are domestic or household, 1% are stock, 0% are irrigation, and 10% are monitoring. A domestic permit does not automatically solve every water-rights or land-use question, especially in a mountain basin.

For a new build near Montezuma, Dillon, Breckenridge, Frisco, Silverthorne, or Blue River, price access and utilities along with drilling. Have a driller review the road, pad, casing, pump setting, and power route before closing. If the lot depends on a new well, make the purchase contingent on permit review, septic feasibility, and a defined drilling and water-quality testing plan.

Well permits by decade near Keystone

What a new well costs in Keystone, 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 (150 ft) would run roughly $15,750–$27,000. 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 Keystone? 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 Keystone 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 Keystone

Keep researching

More in Summit County

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

Nearby areas