What Loveland Wells Cost, Produce, and Require

How deep are wells around Loveland?

How much water do wells make near Loveland?

Loveland well depths: shallow records with deeper exceptions

The recorded median well depth near Loveland is 27 feet. The middle half runs from 20 to 49 feet, so many local drilling bids may look modest compared with mountain areas where bedrock wells extend much farther. Still, the shallow median does not define every parcel.

87% of recorded wells are under 100 feet, while 7% fall between 100 and 300 feet, 4% between 300 and 600 feet, and 1% exceed 600 feet. The 90th percentile is 137 feet, and the deepest record reaches 700 feet. Fractured granite and gneiss can change abruptly across short distances, so use nearby well logs to frame a bid rather than relying on the median alone.

How much water a Loveland well may produce

Among the limited pump-yield records, the median is 9.7 gallons per minute. The middle half ranges from 1.5 to 15.0 gallons per minute. That spread is important for a home buyer: a well near the low end may require careful household use and storage planning, while a stronger well gives more operating room.

The records show 19% under 1 gallon per minute, 11% from 1 to 5, 37% from 5 to 15, and 33% above 15 gallons per minute. A yield under 1 gallon per minute is not automatically unusable, but it deserves a professional assessment of recharge, storage, fixtures, and intended use. Confirm the actual test method and duration before comparing wells.

Loveland water levels and what the records suggest

Reported static water levels are generally shallow in this dataset. The median depth to water is 11 feet, with the middle half between 8 and 20 feet below the surface. That can reduce pumping lift, but it also means shallow groundwater may be more exposed to surface conditions.

The decade summaries do not show a simple falling water table: the median reported level was 18 feet below surface in the 2010s and 8 feet in the 2020s. A smaller depth means water was measured closer to the surface, not farther down. Only 30 wells report static water level, so treat this as a limited permit-record signal rather than a basin-wide trend. A current measurement on the property is more useful for a purchase decision.

Who has drilled near Loveland, and how active permits are

Permit activity spans several generations. Records show 26 permits from the 1950s, 8 from the 1960s, 41 from the 1970s, 110 from the 1980s, 261 from the 1990s, 176 from the 2000s, 200 from the 2010s, and 99 from the 2020s. The newest permit year is 2025.

The most frequent driller names in these records are Authorized (Pe, Pg) with 367 records, Boyles Bros. Drilling Co. (Lensch, George E) with 75, and Drilling Engineers Inc. (Smith, Chester C.) with 51. These names show local record history, not a guarantee of current availability or performance. Check the Colorado DWR permit and construction documents before treating an old log as comparable.

What a new Loveland well may cost to drill

Local cost planning is based on fractured mountain bedrock, including granite and gneiss. The drilling rate is typically $65 to $100 per foot. At the recorded median depth of 27 feet, the drilled hole is modeled at about $1,800 to $2,700.

That is only the hole. A finished well with pump, pressure tank, trenching, and electrical is modeled at about $7,800 to $14,700. A contractor’s proposal can move outside that range when access, casing, grout, difficult rock, water testing, or site conditions add work. Ask what is included and how the price changes if the driller must continue below the expected depth. Fractured-bedrock production is unpredictable, so keep a contingency and do not compare bids by footage alone.

Loveland risks: water quality, yield, septic, and building plans

Permit records name the unnamed or fractured-bedrock aquifer for 1,040 wells, with 61 in the Pierre Shale and 55 in alluvial material. No wells in this dataset are identified in the Denver Basin aquifer. Groundwater conditions can differ by formation and by lot, so test the water rather than assuming a neighboring result applies.

Within about 10 miles, the map includes 274 PFAS sampling or contamination sites, 38 historic mine features, and 9 EPA Superfund or cleanup sites. Those mapped sites do not prove contamination at a home, but they justify a records review and laboratory testing. Also check well separation from septic systems, available building envelopes, driveway access, casing and grout details, and whether the intended use fits the permit. Domestic or household use accounts for 22% of permits; monitoring accounts for 50%.

Buying or building on a Loveland well lot

Before closing, obtain the well permit, construction report, pump-yield test, static water level, and recent water-quality results if they exist. Compare the property with nearby records, especially wells in the same fractured-rock setting. A local median of 27 feet and 9.7 gallons per minute helps frame expectations, but the reported range includes low-producing wells and records as deep as 700 feet.

For a new build, confirm the water right or exempt-well status with Colorado DWR, the permitted uses, and any limits that apply. An exempt household-use well generally has a 35-gallon-per-minute pumping limit. In an over-appropriated basin, an augmentation plan may be required. Have the driller and excavation contractor review access, staging, trench routes, septic placement, electrical service, and the building site together before you commit to plans.

Well permits by decade near Loveland

What a new well costs in Loveland, 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 (49 ft) would run roughly $9,185–$16,900. 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 Loveland? 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 Loveland 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 Loveland

Keep researching

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

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