Red Cliff, Colorado Well Guide

How deep are wells around Red Cliff?

How much water do wells make near Red Cliff?

Red Cliff well depth depends on fractured mountain rock

The recorded median well depth near Red Cliff is 58 feet. The middle half runs from 31 to 104 feet, and 71% of reported wells are under 100 feet. That gives a buyer a reasonable starting point, but it does not make a shallow well certain. The deepest well on record is 990 feet, and 3% of the depth records are 600 feet or deeper.

Fractured granite and gneiss can change quickly across a mountain parcel. A drill bit may encounter a productive fracture at modest depth or continue much farther through tight rock. For a drilling bid, ask for a per-foot rate and a clear explanation of casing, grout, mobilization, and what happens if the hole must continue beyond the planned depth.

Reported Red Cliff yields are strong, but the sample is small

Among the 17 wells reporting a pump yield, the median is 15.0 gallons per minute. The middle half is 15.0 to 85.0 gallons per minute, and 82% report more than 15 gallons per minute. No reported well is under 1 gallon per minute; 6% fall between 1 and 5 gallons per minute, while 12% fall between 5 and 15 gallons per minute.

Those figures are encouraging, but the yield data cover only a small part of the permit record. A pumping result is not the same as guaranteed household supply. Ask for the neighboring well yields, the test duration, recovery information, and the intended use. An exempt household-use well remains subject to its permit conditions and Colorado’s 35 gpm exempt-well pumping limit.

The Red Cliff water-level records do not show a clear trend

Only 5 wells near Red Cliff report a static water level, so the dataset is too limited for a reliable decade-by-decade trend. The median depth to static water is 50 feet, with the middle half between 12 and 65 feet. That describes the reported wells; it does not establish the water level on every lot or prove that groundwater is rising or falling across the area.

Static water level also changes with season, recharge, pumping, and local geology. Have the driller measure the new hole after construction and record the result. For an existing home, request the well permit, well construction information, pump details, and any recent production or water-level testing before relying on the well for a purchase.

Red Cliff permit activity spans several drilling eras

Permit records show activity near Red Cliff from the 1970s through the 2020s. The record includes 1 permit from the 1970s, 27 from the 1980s, 47 from the 1990s, 38 from the 2000s, 7 from the 2010s, and 27 from the 2020s. The newest permit year is 2022.

The most common driller names in these records are Authorized (Pe, Pg), with 25 wells; Golden Eagle Drilling Corporation (Shelton, Joe Wayne), with 19; and Steve Shelton Drilling, Inc. (Shelton, Steve), with 5. These records show who appears most often, not who is available now or best for a particular lot. Confirm current licensing, insurance, schedule, and references directly before signing a contract.

A Red Cliff well at median depth still has a full project cost

Red Cliff’s fractured mountain bedrock is commonly granite or gneiss. The drilling model uses $65 to $100 per foot. At the 58-foot median depth, the drilled hole is estimated at about $3,800 to $5,800. That is only the hole, not the complete water system.

A finished well with pump, pressure tank, trenching, and electrical is modeled at about $9,800 to $17,800 at the median depth. A deeper hole can raise both drilling and completion costs. Before comparing bids, confirm whether each proposal includes casing, grout, development, pump sizing, storage, electrical work, trenching, permitting support, and testing. Mountain access and the building site can also affect excavation and installation work.

Check mines, PFAS, septic, and dry-well risk before closing

The mapped area within about 10 miles includes 4 PFAS sampling or contamination sites, 247 historic mine features, and 6 EPA Superfund or cleanup sites. Those entries do not automatically mean a particular well is contaminated, but they are reasons to review the property’s location, watershed, and prior land use. Test the finished well through a qualified laboratory, especially when a mine or cleanup site is nearby.

Low yield and dry holes remain possible in fractured bedrock even when nearby records look favorable. A home also needs suitable separation and layout for the well, septic system, access, and building foundation. Ask the county and Colorado DWR about setbacks, permit conditions, augmentation requirements, and wastewater approval before buying a lot. An over-appropriated basin may require an augmentation plan for the proposed use.

What to do before buying or building near Red Cliff

Start with the permit records for the exact parcel and then compare nearby wells toward Minturn, Vail, Copper Mountain, and other relevant mountain areas. Look for construction depth, reported yield, water level, use, and aquifer information, while remembering that all 168 records name an unnamed or fractured-bedrock aquifer and none name a Denver Basin aquifer.

For a purchase, make the contract contingent on reviewing the well permit, testing the water, confirming septic feasibility, and obtaining a contractor’s site-specific estimate. For a new build, have a licensed driller inspect access and propose a target depth, casing and grout plan, pump system, and testing program. Do not treat the 58-foot median or 15.0 gpm yield median as a promise for your lot.

Well permits by decade near Red Cliff

What a new well costs in Red Cliff, 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 (104 ft) would run roughly $12,760–$22,400. 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 Red Cliff? 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 Red Cliff 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 Red Cliff

Keep researching

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

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