What to Know About Wells in Minturn, Colorado

How deep are wells around Minturn?

How much water do wells make near Minturn?

Minturn well depths vary with the mountain bedrock

The median reported well depth near Minturn is 40 feet. The middle half runs from 19 to 116 feet, and 67% of recorded depths are under 100 feet. Another 27% fall between 100 and 300 feet, while 3% are between 300 and 600 feet and 3% exceed 600 feet. The deepest record is 990 feet.

For a drilling bid, the 40-foot median is a useful starting point, not a promise. Fractured granite and gneiss can produce water through specific fractures, so a nearby shallow well does not rule out a deeper hole on your lot. Ask for a written allowance for additional footage, casing, grout and difficult access.

Reported well yields near Minturn are mostly usable, but records are limited

Only 14 wells report a pump yield, so the yield sample is much smaller than the permit count. In that group, the median is 15.0 gallons per minute, with the middle half from 12.0 to 80.0 gallons per minute. No reported wells are under 1 gallon per minute or between 1 and 5 gallons per minute. Forty-three percent report 5 to 15 gallons per minute, and 57% report more than 15 gallons per minute.

Those figures suggest a favorable result among the wells with testing information. They do not establish what an untested lot will make. Confirm the proposed well's permitted use, pump test results and storage design. Colorado exempt household-use wells also have a 35 gallon-per-minute pumping limit.

The shallow water levels do not prove a declining table

Ten wells report a static water level. The median depth to water is 8 feet, and the middle half is 7 to 40 feet. That is shallow compared with the full range of drilling depths, but it should not be read as a guarantee that water will stand near the surface on a new well.

The permit counts by decade do not show a water-level trend. Records include 1 permit from the 1960s, 31 from the 1980s, 24 from the 1990s, 39 from the 2000s, 26 from the 2010s and 16 from the 2020s. The newest permit year is 2022. For a purchase, request current static-level and production information from nearby owners when available.

Permit history reaches from Minturn to Red Cliff and Vail

Permit records near Minturn span several decades, with the largest listed decade being the 2000s at 39 permits. The records include domestic or household wells at 16%, stock wells at 2% and monitoring wells at 67%. No wells are listed for irrigation. That high monitoring share matters: the overall database is not a direct picture of private household wells.

The most active drillers named in the records are Authorized (Pe, Pg), with 38 wells, Golden Eagle Drilling Corporation (Shelton, Joe Wayne), with 12, and Steve Shelton Drilling, Inc. (Shelton, Steve), with 5. These names describe permit history, not a recommendation or guarantee of current availability.

A median-depth Minturn well pencils out at $8,600-$16,000 finished

Minturn drilling conditions are modeled as fractured mountain bedrock, including granite and gneiss. The typical drilling rate is $65-$100 per foot. At the 40-foot median depth, the drilled hole works out to about $2,600-$4,000. A finished well, including pump, tank, trenching and electrical, is estimated at $8,600-$16,000.

The deepest recorded well is 990 feet, so the median-cost example should not be used as a fixed project price. A longer hole, difficult road access, extra casing or unexpected bedrock can change the bid. Get the drilling footage allowance and the included equipment in writing before comparing proposals.

Mine features, PFAS sites and septic layout deserve a close look

Within about 10 miles of Minturn, the map includes 5 PFAS sampling or contamination sites, 90 historic mine features and 6 EPA Superfund or cleanup sites. These mapped sites do not automatically mean a particular well is contaminated, but they justify checking the well location, drainage direction and available water-quality records.

Low yield and dry holes remain possible in fractured bedrock even when nearby records look good. Test water for the conditions relevant to the site and proposed use. Before building, confirm well separation from the septic system, room for the drainfield, winter access, electrical routing and equipment space. An augmentation plan may also matter in an over-appropriated basin.

Use nearby records to screen a Minturn lot before you buy

Start with the exact parcel and compare permitted wells near it, rather than relying on the overall Minturn median. Red Cliff is about 2 miles away, Vail 7 miles, Avon 10 miles and Copper Mountain 10 miles; Edwards is 14 miles away and Fulford 15 miles away. Those areas provide context, but geology and water conditions can change across short mountain distances.

For an existing home, verify the permit, construction record, pump equipment, static level and recent water test. For a vacant lot, make the well feasibility review part of due diligence before closing. Have a Colorado driller and septic professional assess access, siting and the likely depth range, then budget for a result that may differ from the local median.

Well permits by decade near Minturn

What a new well costs in Minturn, 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 (116 ft) would run roughly $13,540–$23,600. 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 Minturn? 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 Minturn 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 Minturn

Keep researching

More in Eagle County

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

Nearby areas