What Merino, Colorado Wells Are Really Like

How deep are wells around Merino?

How much water do wells make near Merino?

Merino well depths are usually shallow

Merino-area wells have a median reported depth of 80 feet. The middle half runs from 63 to 100 feet, so a driller working from nearby records may initially price a relatively shallow hole. Still, the deepest record reaches 480 feet, and 6% of wells fall between 300 and 600 feet.

Depth is influenced by the exact ground under the lot, the target water-bearing zone, casing and grout requirements, and the intended use. Records show 69% of wells under 100 feet and 25% between 100 and 300 feet. For a bid, use local records as a planning range rather than treating the median as a guaranteed stopping point.

Reported yields are strong, but verify the well

Among the 196 wells reporting a pump yield, the median is 15.0 gallons per minute. The middle half stretches from 15.0 to 1200.0 gallons per minute, and 94% report more than 15 gallons per minute. Only 1% report between 1 and 5 gallons per minute, while none report under 1 gallon per minute.

Those figures are encouraging for a Merino buyer, but they describe reported tests, not a promise for an unbuilt well. Ask for the neighboring well’s completion report and pumping information. A domestic permit still controls legal use, and an exempt household-use well is subject to Colorado rules, including the 35 gallon-per-minute pumping limit.

Merino water levels look stable in the records

The 43 wells reporting static water levels show a median depth to water of 16 feet. The middle half is from 10 to 23 feet below the surface. That suggests a relatively shallow water level for many sites, which can reduce pumping lift compared with a much deeper water table.

The decade comparison does not show a documented drop: the median static water level is 16 feet in both the 2010s and the 2020s. This is not a full groundwater study. Static levels depend on season, recent pumping, measurement method, and location. Have the driller check nearby records and measure an existing well before relying on the data for a new building plan.

Long permit history, with several local drillers

Merino has a long well-permit record, with permits issued from the 1950s through the 2020s and the newest permit year listed as 2026. The busiest decade in the records was the 2000s, with 183 permits. The use mix is mainly domestic or household at 43%, stock at 27%, and irrigation at 28%; monitoring accounts for 8%.

The most active named drillers are Canfield, Leslie George, with 113 records; Stewart Drilling Co., Stewart, Dennis W., with 91; and Canfield Drilling Company, Canfield, Harold E., with 55. Older records may not reflect current availability or pricing. Treat these names as useful permit-history leads, then confirm who is licensed and working locally now.

What a Merino well may cost to drill

The local cost model uses a typical drilling rate of $35 to $55 per foot for alluvium and plains sedimentary rock. At the 80-foot median depth, the drilled hole is modeled at about $2,800 to $4,400. That is only the drilling portion.

A finished well with pump, tank, trenching, and electrical is modeled at about $8,800 to $16,400 at the median depth. The final bid can move with access, casing and grout, pump size, rock or difficult formations, trench length, electrical work, and whether the hole must go deeper. Ask for separate line items and clarify what happens if the well is dry or does not meet the intended use.

Checks before buying near Atwood or Merino

Low yield is not the main pattern in the reported Merino data, but an individual parcel can still produce a poor well or require a deeper hole. The aquifer labels also deserve attention: 887 records name an unnamed or fractured-bedrock aquifer, while 14 are alluvial and 9 identify the Ogallala. Fractured formations can vary sharply over short distances.

Within about 10 miles, mapped environmental information includes 3 PFAS sampling or contamination sites, with no historic mine features and no EPA Superfund or cleanup sites. Check the exact parcel, test existing water for bacteria, nitrate, and site-relevant contaminants, and keep the well separated from septic components as required. Confirm the permit, legal use, access for drilling, and building-site layout before excavating.

Well permits by decade near Merino

What a new well costs in Merino, 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 (100 ft) would run roughly $9,500–$17,500. 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 Merino? 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 Merino 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 Merino

Keep researching

More in Logan County

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

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