What Portland, Colorado Well Records Tell Buyers

How deep are wells around Portland?

How much water do wells make near Portland?

Portland well depths depend on fractured mountain rock

The median reported well depth near Portland is 138 feet. The middle half runs from 77 to 263 feet, so a bid based only on the median may be too low or too high for a particular parcel. The 90th percentile is 495 feet, and the deepest record reaches 4,421 feet.

Depths are spread across the area: 35% of reported wells are under 100 feet, 42% are between 100 and 300 feet, 17% fall between 300 and 600 feet, and 6% are deeper than 600 feet. Permits most often name unnamed fractured-bedrock aquifers, including granite and gneiss conditions where water follows fractures rather than a uniform layer.

Portland well yields are usually workable, but not uniform

Among the 70 wells reporting pump yield, the median is 12.0 gallons per minute. The middle half ranges from 5.6 to 15.0 gallons per minute. That is a generally useful production range for a household well, but the spread matters when sizing storage, pumps, and a future home.

Only 3% of reported yields are under 1 gallon per minute. Another 13% are between 1 and 5 gallons per minute, while 53% produce between 5 and 15 gallons per minute and 31% report more than 15 gallons per minute. A low-yield well may still work with storage, but it deserves a specific pump and tank plan before construction.

Static water levels near Portland vary across the slope

The 25 reported static water levels have a median depth to water of 60 feet. The middle half extends from 8 to 144 feet. That range is wide enough to affect pump selection, well design, trenching, and the cost of bringing water to a building site.

The permit series does not show a simple decade-by-decade water-level trend. It does show continuing drilling activity: permits were issued in every decade from the 1950s through the 2020s, with the newest permit year being 2025. A static level from a neighboring well is useful local evidence, but it should not be treated as a guaranteed water level on another lot.

Permit history shows steady drilling around Portland

Domestic and household permits make up 75% of the recorded use mix. Stock wells account for 15%, irrigation for 6%, and monitoring for 10%. That pattern fits a mountain area where many parcels depend on individual wells rather than a broad municipal supply.

The most active drillers in the records are Valley Drilling Co. (Stoy, Kenneth), with 60 wells; Mccracken Well Drilling Inc (Mccracken, Alan E.), with 31; and Bill Kissner Drilling Inc (Kissner, Bill F.), with 11. These records can help identify local experience, but the current driller should still review access, geology, casing, grout, and the intended use before pricing the work.

Portland well drilling cost starts with the rock

For Portland’s fractured mountain bedrock, the drilling model uses a typical rate of $65 to $100 per foot. At the 138-foot median depth, the drilled hole is estimated at about $9,000 to $13,800. That is the hole only, not the complete water system.

A finished well with pump, pressure tank, trenching, and electrical is estimated at $15,000 to $25,800 at the median depth. Deeper drilling, difficult access, casing and grout requirements, or a low-yield result can change the final price. Ask for a bid that separates drilling from completion equipment and site work, rather than comparing a per-foot number alone.

Check water quality, mine history, and building constraints

Mapped environmental records within about 10 miles include 7 PFAS sampling or contamination sites, 555 historic mine features, and 5 EPA Superfund or cleanup sites. Those records do not prove that a particular well is contaminated, but they are a reason to test before purchase and to ask how the site relates to mines, drainage, and known environmental areas.

Low yield and dry holes remain possible in fractured bedrock even when nearby wells produce well. Before building, confirm the permit’s allowed use, test the water, and plan separation between the well, septic system, and structures. If the property is in an over-appropriated basin, an augmentation plan may be needed for the proposed use. Colorado DWR permit records should be checked alongside county building and septic requirements.

Use nearby records before buying a Portland lot

Start with wells closest to the parcel, then compare depths, reported yields, and static water levels rather than relying on a countywide average. Records near Ouray, 4 miles away, and Ridgway, 6 miles away, can provide context, but the local fractured-rock pattern makes the immediate neighborhood more useful than a distant comparison.

For a purchase, make water availability and quality part of due diligence. Have a licensed driller review access and likely depth, request a complete cost range, and preserve enough room for the well, septic system, driveway, and house site. For a new build, design around the actual well yield and storage plan. A domestic exempt well has a 35 gallon-per-minute pumping limit, and its permit conditions still control the allowed use.

Well permits by decade near Portland

What a new well costs in Portland, 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 (263 ft) would run roughly $23,095–$38,300. 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 Portland? 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 Portland 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 Portland

Keep researching

More in Ouray County

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

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