Manzanola Colorado Well Depth, Yield, and Cost

How deep are wells around Manzanola?

How much water do wells make near Manzanola?

Manzanola’s shallow wells and the exceptions

Constructed well records near Manzanola have a median total depth of 40 feet. The middle half runs from 32 to 46 feet, and 94% of the depth records are under 100 feet. For a drilling bid, that points to a relatively short bore on many ordinary plains parcels.

There are important exceptions. The 90th percentile is 59 feet, while the deepest well on record is 1,550 feet. The depth mix also includes 2% between 100 and 300 feet and 4% at 600 feet or more. Local geology, the exact lot, intended use, and drilling conditions can change the estimate sharply.

What Manzanola wells make for water

The reported yield numbers are unusually strong, with a median of 275 gallons per minute and a middle half from 15 to 802.5 gallons per minute. Of the wells that report yield, 81% are listed above 15 gallons per minute, while 19% fall between 5 and 15 gallons per minute.

Do not treat the median as a promise for a new household well. Only 36 wells report pump yield, and irrigation wells can produce very differently from domestic wells. Ask for a pumping test or nearby completion information. An exempt household-use well is generally limited to 35 gallons per minute for pumping, even if the aquifer can produce more.

Water levels around Manzanola

The 12 wells with static water-level records show a median depth to water of 18 feet, with the middle half between 10 and 21 feet. Those measurements suggest that water is commonly encountered fairly shallowly in the local record, which helps explain the shallow well-depth pattern.

There is not enough decade-by-decade static-water-level information in these records to call a rising or falling long-term water-table trend. A buyer should not infer that the water level will be the same on every parcel. Seasonal conditions, pumping nearby, well construction, and the exact alluvial or sedimentary setting can matter more than the area median.

Who has drilled near Manzanola, and when

Permit activity extends across the area’s history rather than being limited to recent growth. Records show 52 permits in the 1950s, 49 in the 1960s, 20 in the 1970s, 19 in the 1980s, 53 in the 1990s, 44 in the 2000s, 40 in the 2010s, and 13 in the 2020s. The newest permit year is 2025.

The most frequent driller names in the records are Crandall, H A with 48 wells, Broce Drilling with 19, and Parrish Drilling with 13. These names help with local research, but a historical permit does not establish current availability or guarantee a result.

What a new Manzanola well may cost

The local cost model uses a typical drilling rate of $35-$55 per foot for alluvium and plains sedimentary rock. At the 40-foot median depth, the drilled hole works out to roughly $1,400-$2,200. That is the hole only, not the complete water system.

A finished well with pump, pressure tank, trenching, and electrical is modeled at $7,400-$14,200. Your quote can move outside that range if the site needs unusual casing or grout, deeper drilling, difficult access, longer trenching, treatment, or more involved electrical work. Have the driller separate drilling, completion, pump, and site-work allowances in writing.

Manzanola risks to check before closing

Yield is not the only risk. The mapped area within about 10 miles includes 2 PFAS sampling or contamination sites, 2 historic mine features, and 3 EPA Superfund or cleanup sites. That does not prove a problem at a particular parcel, but it supports checking environmental records and testing water before relying on it.

The permits name an unnamed or fractured-bedrock aquifer on 465 wells, Alluvial on 5, and Quaternary Alluvium on 5; 0 are Denver Basin aquifer wells. Confirm the permit status and allowed use with Colorado DWR. For a home, also plan septic setbacks, a suitable drainfield area, legal access for drilling equipment, and enough room for the well, pressure system, and future repairs.

Buying or building near Manzanola

Before purchasing, obtain the permit and construction record for the subject well and compare nearby wells in Manzanola, Olney Springs, Crowley, Fowler, Rocky Ford, Ordway, and Sugar City. The nearby records can show how variable depth, construction, use, and reported yield may be across the plains.

For vacant land, make the water plan part of due diligence rather than assuming the 40-foot median applies to the lot. Confirm a legal water supply, an approvable septic layout, equipment access, and the expected electrical route. If the parcel will support irrigation, livestock, or a new home, have a qualified contractor and the water-rights professionals review those uses before you close.

Well permits by decade near Manzanola

What a new well costs in Manzanola, 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 (46 ft) would run roughly $7,610–$14,530. 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 Manzanola? 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 Manzanola 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 Manzanola

Keep researching

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

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