What to Expect From a Well in Pitkin County

How deep are wells around Pitkin County?

How much water do wells make near Pitkin County?

From Aspen to Redstone, Depth Depends on the Ground

The 105-foot median comes from 2,855 depth reports. The middle half falls between 60 and 210 feet, a useful starting range for comparing bids—not a depth guarantee. Ask what the bid includes at the planned depth and how additional footage will be charged. The 90th-percentile depth is 380 feet, so a budget based only on the median can come up short.

Permit aquifer labels are mostly unnamed or fractured bedrock, covering 4,517 wells; Mancos appears on 107 and Alluvial on 46. Mountain bedrock supplies water through fractures that can change over short distances. Around Aspen, Snowmass and Redstone, compare nearby construction logs and ground conditions rather than assuming all county wells encounter the same formation.

A Reported 15 gpm Is Encouraging, Not a Supply Guarantee

Among 948 reported pump yields, Pitkin County’s median is 15.0 gpm, with the middle half at 10.0–15.0 gpm. That is an encouraging starting point for a household supply, but a reported pumping result does not establish year-round performance. Test duration, recovery and seasonal conditions matter.

The records put 1% below 1 gpm and 5% between 1 and 5 gpm. Low-yield wells are a small share of these reports, but buying one can mean managing demand and adding storage. Have an existing well’s sustained output and recovery checked before relying on it for a home. Water available at the pump also does not establish permission to irrigate or supply other uses; the permit controls those uses.

Pitkin County Water Levels Do Not Show a Steady Decline

Static water level is the depth to standing water before pumping, not the bottom of the well. The 232 reported measurements have a median of 50 feet below ground, with the middle half between 24 and 116 feet. Keep that distinction clear when reviewing a driller’s log or planning pump installation.

Decade medians move from 37 feet in the 1980s to 95 in the 1990s, then 48 in the 2000s, 67 in the 2010s and 51 in the 2020s. That sequence does not show a steady countywide decline. These are grouped measurements, not repeated readings from the same wells. A lot-specific assessment needs local measurements and pumping history, especially where separate bedrock fractures supply neighboring properties.

Who Drilled Pitkin County’s Wells—and When

The largest permit decade shown is the 1990s, with 1,136 permits, followed by 782 in the 2000s. Records show 452 in the 2010s and 323 in the 2020s, with the newest permit dated 2025. The latest decade is incomplete, so that smaller total should not be treated as a direct measure of declining drilling activity.

Shelton Drilling Corporation leads the listed driller records with 1,516, followed by Collins Drilling Co with 485 and Steve Shelton Drilling, Inc. with 368. These are historical record counts, not confirmation of current availability. Domestic/household use accounts for 71% of permits, while monitoring accounts for 16%. Check the actual use and construction record before treating a mapped well as a residential comparison.

Budgeting a New Well in Pitkin County Mountain Bedrock

The local cost model uses fractured mountain bedrock—granite or gneiss—and a drilling rate of $65–$100 per foot. At the 105-foot median depth, the drilled hole is modeled at about $6,800–$10,500. A finished well with pump, tank, trenching and electrical is modeled at about $12,800–$22,500.

Use those figures as planning allowances, not a parcel quote. The county’s 60–210-foot middle depth range leaves substantial room for footage costs to change. Ask the driller to separate drilling, casing, grout and testing from the pump and service connection. Mountain access, rig setup and the trench route to the house also deserve an on-site review before you commit to a construction budget.

Mine Features, PFAS Records and Low-Yield Ground

The mapped environmental screen within about 10 miles lists 16 PFAS sampling/contamination sites, 130 historic mine features and 2 EPA Superfund/cleanup sites. Those records warrant a closer look, but proximity alone does not establish contamination in a particular well. A sampling location is not automatically a confirmed contaminated household supply.

Before buying, obtain current laboratory testing and ask local environmental health staff which additional tests fit the property’s setting. Inspect the wellhead, casing and surface drainage, and review nearby septic placement. A permitted location does not guarantee a productive borehole in fractured rock. Discuss unsuccessful drilling and low-yield contingencies before work starts, and coordinate the well, septic system, building footprint and equipment access rather than designing them independently.

Before Closing on a Woody Creek or Snowmass Lot

Start with the parcel, then work outward. For property in Woody Creek, Snowmass Village or Norrie, examine nearby depth reports, construction logs and pumping tests on comparable ground. A county median is useful for screening; neighboring wells are more useful for framing questions for the driller. Even close wells can intercept different fractures.

Match the DWR permit to the property and confirm its allowed uses. Household-use permission should not be assumed to include outdoor watering or livestock. Depending on location and intended use, augmentation requirements may affect the plan. For an existing home, request water-quality results, pump service records and a current performance test. For vacant land, resolve permit eligibility, rig access, septic feasibility and the service route before finalizing the house location.

Well permits by decade near Pitkin County

What a new well costs in Pitkin 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 (210 ft) would run roughly $19,650–$33,000. 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 Pitkin 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 Pitkin 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 Pitkin County

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Towns and areas in Pitkin County

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