Norwood, Colorado Well Depth, Yield, and Cost

How deep are wells around Norwood?

How much water do wells make near Norwood?

Norwood’s well depths reflect fractured mountain bedrock

The median permitted well depth near Norwood is 126 feet. The middle half runs from 60 to 250 feet, so a bid based only on the median can be misleading. The 90th-percentile depth is 330 feet, and the deepest recorded well is 850 feet.

Depths are spread across the area: 40% are under 100 feet, 42% fall between 100 and 300 feet, 17% reach 300 to 600 feet, and 1% are deeper than 600 feet. The local permits mostly name an unnamed fractured-bedrock aquifer, with 489 wells in that category. Granite and gneiss can produce water through fractures rather than a uniform underground layer, so neighboring wells are valuable evidence but not a promise.

A 7.0 gpm median is a workable starting point

Reported well yield has a median of 7.0 gallons per minute, with the middle half between 3.0 and 10.0 gallons per minute. That is generally a useful range for a household, but storage and pump design still matter, especially if irrigation or stock water is part of the plan.

Only 65 wells report a pump yield, so the yield data is not complete for all permitted wells. Six percent of reported wells are under 1 gallon per minute, 25% produce 1 to 5, 48% produce 5 to 15, and 22% produce 15 or more. Ask for the well completion report and pumping test rather than relying on a nearby well’s result.

Recorded water levels are not showing a simple decline

The median static water level is 40 feet below the surface, with the middle half from 20 to 90 feet. Static water level means the water level when the well is not being pumped; it is not the same as well depth or guaranteed available supply.

The decade series does not suggest a dropping table in these records. The median measured level was 52 feet below ground in the 2010s and 40 feet in the 2020s, meaning the more recent median is shallower. Only 31 wells report a static water level, however, so this should be treated as limited local evidence rather than a basin-wide trend. A driller can check the site and nearby logs for a better comparison.

Permit history shows steady local drilling through 2025

Colorado DWR records contain 520 permitted wells within the Norwood search area, including 324 recorded as constructed. The newest permit year is 2025. Permit activity was highest in the 1990s and 2000s, with 120 and 124 permits respectively. There were 39 permits in the 2010s and 33 in the 2020s.

The most active names in the records are Mccracken Well Drilling Inc (Mccracken, Alan E.) with 67 wells, Gordon Smith And Company (Smith, Gordon R.) with 42, and Valley Drilling Co. (Stoy, Kenneth) with 35. These records show who has worked in the area; confirm current licensing, availability, insurance, and the exact scope of a new-well proposal before hiring.

Norwood drilling costs rise quickly with depth

Norwood’s fractured granite and gneiss make depth the main cost variable. The drilling model uses $65 to $100 per foot. At the local median depth of 126 feet, the drilled hole works out to about $8,200 to $12,600.

A finished well is more than the hole. Including the pump, pressure tank, trenching, and electrical, the modeled total at the median depth is about $14,200 to $24,600. A deeper-than-typical hole can push the price higher, and difficult access, casing, grout, water testing, or a dry hole may be handled separately. Get a written bid that says what happens if the first target depth does not produce enough water.

Check contamination, septic space, and low-yield risk

Water quality deserves its own investigation. Mapped sites within about 10 miles include 6 PFAS sampling or contamination sites and 5 historic mine features. There are 0 EPA Superfund or cleanup sites in the mapped data, but that does not make an individual well automatically safe. Test the water after construction and review the site history, especially near mining activity.

Low yield and dry holes are practical risks in fractured rock. Confirm the intended household use with Colorado DWR before drilling; an exempt household-use well is subject to its permit terms and the 35-gallon-per-minute pumping limit. Leave enough workable area for a septic system, replacement area, driveway, and building setbacks. Septic placement and well protection need to be planned together.

Use nearby records before buying a Norwood lot

Start with the exact parcel, then compare permitted wells in Norwood and nearby Redvale, which is 7 miles away. Naturita and Placerville are each 16 miles away, while Nucla is 17 miles away. Those surrounding records can help a driller understand the broader rock setting, but the closest wells should carry the most weight.

Before closing, ask for every existing well permit, construction report, pump test, water-quality result, and repair record. For an undeveloped lot, obtain a site-specific drilling estimate and verify rig access, electrical service, trench length, and septic feasibility. If the property is in an over-appropriated basin, ask whether an augmentation plan or other water-right requirement affects the proposed use.

Well permits by decade near Norwood

What a new well costs in Norwood, 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 (250 ft) would run roughly $22,250–$37,000. 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 Norwood? 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 Norwood 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 Norwood

Keep researching

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

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