What to Expect From a Well in Ouray County

How deep are wells around Ouray County?

How much water do wells make near Ouray County?

A 220-Foot Starting Point, Not a Depth Guarantee

Of the 780 wells reporting depth, the median is 220 feet. The middle half spans 110-322 feet, and the 90th-percentile depth is 503 feet. A driller's bid should explain how added footage is charged rather than treating the median as a stopping depth.

Most permits identify an unnamed or fractured-bedrock aquifer: 1,131 records carry that description. Dakota appears on 42 permits and Dakota Sandstone on 16. In fractured rock, water depends on the openings the borehole intersects, so neighboring wells can differ substantially.

The deepest recorded well is 4,421 feet. That is an extreme record, not a sensible household-well budget assumption. Nearby completed wells are more useful than the county maximum.

Reported Yields Center on 10 GPM

The 311 wells with reported pump yields have a 10.0 gpm median, with the middle half between 4.0 and 15.0 gpm. Those figures help frame household supply expectations, but a permit-record yield is not a guarantee of sustained output today.

Among reported yields, 5% are under 1 gpm and 22% fall in the 1-5 gpm band. A buyer looking at a low-yield well should have pumping and recovery evaluated before relying on it. Storage may help manage short periods of heavy demand, but it cannot create water.

Ask for the completion report and a current pumping test. In fractured bedrock, drilling deeper does not necessarily produce a stronger well.

Water Levels Do Not Show a Countywide Decline

Static water level is the depth to water while the well is resting, not the depth of the drilled hole. Only 97 Ouray County records report it. Their median is 100 feet below ground, with the middle half at 42-162 feet.

The median measured level was 122 feet below ground in the 2010s and 108 feet in the 2020s. The later median is shallower, so this series does not indicate a dropping water table. It also does not prove that individual wells are recovering: these are grouped measurements, not necessarily repeat readings from the same wells.

For a purchase, ask for the subject well's measurement history and pumping drawdown rather than sizing equipment from the county median.

Ouray County's Permit History and Recorded Drillers

The busiest listed permit decade was the 1990s, with 256 permits, followed by 195 in the 2000s and 129 in the 2010s. The 2020s show 113, with the newest permit dated 2025. Do not compare that partial decade directly with a completed decade.

Valley Drilling Co. (Stoy, Kenneth) leads the listed driller records with 325, followed by Mccracken Well Drilling Inc (Mccracken, Alan E.) with 103 and Western Drilling Services, Llc (Kuchler, Richard A.) with 62. These are historical record counts, not confirmation of current availability.

Domestic/household use appears on 71% of permits. For any property, read the actual DWR permit: the county's common use does not establish that lot's authorized uses.

Budgeting a Mountain-Bedrock Well

The supplied cost model assumes fractured mountain bedrock, such as granite or gneiss, at $65-$100 per foot. At the 220-foot median depth, the drilled hole is about $14,300-$22,000. A finished well with pump, tank, trenching and electrical is modeled at $20,300-$34,000.

Treat that as a planning allowance, not a parcel quote. The 110-322-foot middle depth range means otherwise similar properties can require substantially different drilling budgets.

Get a written scope covering casing, grout, testing, pump equipment and the connection to the house. Ask how difficult rig access, unstable ground, additional footage or an unsuccessful borehole would be billed. Keep driveway, septic and house construction separate from the well allowance.

Mine Features, PFAS Mapping and Low-Yield Risk

The environmental mapping lists 322 historic mine features, 9 PFAS sampling/contamination sites and 5 EPA Superfund/cleanup sites within about 10 miles. These counts are screening flags, not evidence that a particular Ouray County well is contaminated. A sampling location also does not, by itself, establish contamination.

Before closing, get current water-quality testing and ask which additional tests make sense for the property's surrounding land uses and mine history. Review the well's casing, grout and surface drainage, along with nearby septic locations.

Low yield deserves a separate check from water quality. Have the supply tested and discuss unsuccessful-drilling terms before work starts. Coordinate well and septic siting with the proposed house and rig access before fixing the building layout.

Before Buying in Ridgway, Loghill Village or Ouray

Start with wells closest to the parcel, then compare depth, yield and reported aquifer. Records around Ridgway, Loghill Village, Portland or Ouray are more useful when they share the lot's terrain and geologic setting. A nearby well across a geologic boundary may be a poor comparison.

For an existing home, match the DWR permit and completion report to the physical well. Confirm authorized household, outdoor and stock uses rather than assuming acreage grants permission.

For vacant land, establish the permit path before committing to construction. Exempt household-use permits can restrict outdoor use, and some proposed uses may require augmentation. Have the driller and site contractor review access, well placement, septic layout and utility routing together.

Well permits by decade near Ouray County

What a new well costs in Ouray County

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 (322 ft) would run roughly $26,930–$44,200. 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 Ouray County? 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 Ouray County 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 Ouray County

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