Nathrop Colorado Well Depth, Yield, and Cost

How deep are wells around Nathrop?

How much water do wells make near Nathrop?

Nathrop well depth is usually shallow, but bedrock controls the bid

The local depth median is 100 feet, and 47% of recorded wells are under 100 feet. Another 39% fall between 100 and 300 feet. That makes a standard drilling estimate possible, but not certain: 13% are between 300 and 600 feet, and 2% exceed 600 feet. The deepest record is 840 feet.

Most permits name an unnamed or fractured-bedrock aquifer: 1,220 wells, compared with 39 alluvial wells and 1 Quaternary Alluvium well. In granite and gneiss, water commonly depends on fractures, so two nearby lots can drill very differently. For a bid, the 59-to-200-foot middle half is more useful than the median alone. Ask what happens to the price if the hole must continue toward the local 90th-percentile depth of 321 feet.

What Nathrop wells produce for household use

Among the 499 wells reporting pump yield, the median is 12.0 gallons per minute and the middle half is 9.0 to 14.0 gallons per minute. The records show 74% producing between 5 and 15 gallons per minute, while 21% report more than 15 gallons per minute. Another 5% fall between 1 and 5 gallons per minute, and 0% are under 1 gallon per minute.

That is a solid local record for domestic wells, but a pump-yield entry is not the same as an unlimited supply. A buyer should ask for the well construction report, pump test information, storage setup, and any production limitations. Household use is the main permit purpose at 80%; stock use is 10%, monitoring is 10%, and irrigation is 1%, so irrigation expectations require separate review.

Nathrop water levels and the decade comparison

Only 192 wells report a static water level, so the water-level sample is smaller than the depth and yield record. The median static water level is 68 feet below the surface, with the middle half from 44 to 162 feet. That tells you where water stood when those wells were measured, not necessarily the level during pumping or a dry season.

The decade comparison shows a higher median depth to water in the 2020s than in the 2010s: 76 feet below surface versus 58 feet. That change suggests the measured wells had deeper water levels in the newer decade, but it does not by itself prove a region-wide declining water table. Measurement dates, locations, well construction, and pumping conditions matter. Have a driller compare nearby records rather than relying on a countywide assumption.

Permit history shows steady drilling around Nathrop

There are 1,271 permitted wells in the records for the area, with 845 recorded as constructed. Permit activity was limited in the 1950s and 1960s, with 17 and 9 permits respectively, then increased to 83 in both the 1970s and 1980s. The 1990s show 256 permits, followed by 288 in the 2000s, 158 in the 2010s, and 180 in the 2020s. The newest permit year is 2026.

The most active names in the records are American Drilling Service, associated with Dewberry, Bradford W., with 184 wells; Whitewater Systems, Inc., associated with Shake, Shawn, with 128; and Mccoy Drilling Inc, associated with Dennison, Lynn A., with 126. These counts describe permit history, not a performance ranking. Confirm current licensing, insurance, scope, and references before hiring anyone.

Nathrop well drilling cost: plan for the full installation

Local ground conditions are fractured mountain bedrock, described in the cost model as granite or gneiss. The typical drilling rate is $65 to $100 per foot. At the 100-foot median depth, the drilled hole is estimated at $6,500 to $10,000. That is only the hole, not a working water system.

A finished well with pump, pressure tank, trenching, and electrical is estimated at $12,500 to $22,000 at the median depth. A deeper hole can move outside that range, especially if casing, grout, access, difficult setup, or additional electrical work is needed. Get the bid in writing and identify the included depth, casing and grout, pump size, testing, trenching distance, power connection, and the price per additional foot.

What to investigate before building near Nathrop

Low yield and dry-hole risk are the main technical concerns in fractured bedrock, even though the reported yield distribution is favorable. The records also map 6 PFAS sampling or contamination sites, 527 historic mine features, and 6 EPA Superfund or cleanup sites within about 10 miles. Those mapped sites do not automatically make a particular well unsafe, but they justify a location-specific water test and a review of nearby land uses.

Check the well permit and construction record through Colorado DWR, then test for bacteria, basic chemistry, and contaminants appropriate to the property history. Confirm setbacks between the well, septic system, leach field, fuel storage, mines, and surface water. Before closing, make sure the proposed home, driveway, drilling rig access, septic design, and electrical route can all fit on the lot.

Well permits by decade near Nathrop

What a new well costs in Nathrop, 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 (200 ft) would run roughly $19,000–$32,000. 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 Nathrop? 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 Nathrop 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 Nathrop

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More in Chaffee County

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

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