Planning a Well in Las Animas County

How deep are wells around Las Animas County?

How much water do wells make near Las Animas County?

A 150-Foot Median Leaves Plenty of Room in the Bid

Among the 3,088 wells reporting depth, the middle half run 70-300 feet. That spread matters more to a drilling allowance than the median alone: nearby records at the deeper end can justify a substantially different bid. The 90th-percentile depth is 516 feet, while the deepest reported well reaches 2,458 feet. That extreme is not a reasonable default for a household budget.

Alluvium and plains sedimentary rock provide the broad drilling context. Most permits carry an unnamed or fractured-bedrock aquifer label; Dakota and Cheyenne also appear. Those labels do not establish a uniform water-bearing layer. Compare local completion logs around Trinidad, Aguilar or Kim rather than assuming the county median applies equally across them.

What 6.5 Gpm Means for a County Home Well

The 6.5 gpm median yield comes from 632 reported pump yields. The middle half produce 3.0-10.0 gpm, and 58% fall in the 5-15 gpm band. These records give a useful starting point for household planning, but a reported pump yield is not a guarantee of sustained supply through every season.

At the low end, 3% report under 1 gpm and 28% fall in the 1-5 gpm band. A buyer looking at a low-producing well needs a current pumping and recovery test, plus a storage and demand assessment. Do not assume a stronger well can legally support landscaping or livestock: the DWR permit's authorized uses still control.

Water Levels Do Not Show a Steady Countywide Decline

Static water level is the depth to resting water in the well, not the bottom of the drilled hole. Among 246 reporting wells, the median is 54 feet below ground, with the middle half at 30-178 feet. That helps frame pump planning, but it does not tell you how far water will draw down while pumping.

Decade medians are 51 feet in the 2000s, 100 feet in the 2010s and 45 feet in the 2020s. This is not a steadily deepening series. It also does not prove recovery: the summaries may represent different wells and locations. For a property near Segundo or El Moro, repeated measurements from that well are more useful than countywide decade comparisons.

The Permit Surge and the Drillers in the Records

The largest decade count is 3,660 permits in the 2010s, compared with 1,171 in the 1990s and 845 in the 2000s. Records include 341 permits in the 2020s, with the newest permit year listed as 2025. Permit issuance is not the same as completed drilling, and the current decade is incomplete.

The most active listed drillers are Boday Well Drilling under Alex Boday, with 611 records; Boday Well Drilling under Kathleen Boday, with 362; and Snyder Well Pump Service under Marion M. Snyder, with 280. These are historical record counts, not confirmation of current availability. Domestic/household uses account for 34% of permits and stock uses 26%, so compare intended use as well as location when reviewing neighbors.

Budgeting the Hole and the Finished Well Separately

For the county's alluvium and plains sedimentary rock, the model uses $35-$55 per foot. At the 150-foot median depth, that puts the drilled hole at about $5,200-$8,200. A finished well with pump, tank, trenching and electrical is modeled at $11,200-$20,200. These are planning ranges, not parcel-specific quotes.

Ask the driller what the footage price includes, particularly casing and grout, and how additional depth or difficult conditions will be billed. Then separate the pump installation and utility connection work. On a lot near Cokedale or Starkville, access and the proposed house location deserve a site review before accepting a finished-well allowance. The county's broad depth range makes an extra-depth contingency important.

Mine Features, PFAS Mapping and Site Constraints

The environmental mapping includes 703 PFAS sampling/contamination sites, 304 historic mine features and 1 EPA Superfund/cleanup site within about 10 miles. These are screening flags, not proof that a particular domestic well is contaminated. A PFAS sampling location does not necessarily indicate a detection, and distance alone cannot establish a groundwater connection.

Review the mapped sites around the parcel and choose laboratory tests based on local concerns. Check casing, grout and surface drainage as well. Low yield is documented in the permit data; a nearby producing well still cannot rule out an unsuccessful hole on your land. Before setting the house location, coordinate the well, septic system, replacement area and construction access so the layout meets applicable setbacks.

Before Closing on Land Near Weston, Kim or Trinidad

Start with the parcel's DWR permit, construction report and any pump-test or water-quality records. Confirm that the well serves the property being sold and that its authorized uses match your plans. An exempt household-use permit does not automatically allow outdoor watering. In an over-appropriated basin, uses outside an available exemption may require augmentation.

Next, compare nearby completed wells for depth, yield and aquifer notes. The county's 150-foot median is useful background, but the closest comparable logs should guide the drilling discussion. For an existing home, make current yield and water-quality checks part of due diligence. For vacant land, have the driller and site contractor review access, septic placement and the house layout before committing to a build budget.

Well permits by decade near Las Animas County

What a new well costs in Las Animas 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 (300 ft) would run roughly $16,500–$28,500. 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 Las Animas 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 Las Animas 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 Las Animas County

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Towns and areas in Las Animas County

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