Rockvale, Colorado well depth, yield, and drilling costs

How deep are wells around Rockvale?

How much water do wells make near Rockvale?

Rockvale well depth depends on the bedrock

Rockvale’s recorded median well depth is 51 feet, and the middle half of wells falls from 35 to 120 feet. That sounds shallow, but it does not describe every lot. The 90th-percentile depth is 417 feet, and the deepest recorded well is 1,870 feet. Depth records also show that 71% of wells are under 100 feet, while 13% fall from 100 to 300 feet, 11% from 300 to 600 feet, and 4% exceed 600 feet.

For a drilling bid, use the median as a local reference, not a promise. Fractured granite and gneiss can carry water in narrow zones, so one neighbor’s shallow success may not repeat across the road. Ask for a written estimate that explains footage, casing, grout, pump work, and what happens if the hole must go deeper.

What Rockvale wells produce

Among the Rockvale-area permits that report pump yield, the median is 6.0 gallons per minute. The middle half runs from 3.5 to 10.8 gallons per minute. Half of the reported wells produce from 5 to 15 gallons per minute, while 28% produce from 1 to 5 gallons per minute. Only 3% are under 1 gallon per minute, and 18% report more than 15 gallons per minute.

Those figures describe well production, not unlimited household use. A 1-gallon-per-minute well may work with adequate storage and conservative demand, but it leaves less margin for irrigation, livestock, guests, or leaks. Confirm the permitted use and ask for the driller’s yield test, recovery information, and pump-storage design before treating the reported median as your expected supply.

Rockvale water levels and the local trend

Only 41 wells in the records report a static water level, so the water-level sample is much smaller than the depth sample. Within those measurements, the median depth to water is 70 feet, and the middle half ranges from 22 to 100 feet below the surface.

The decade figures move from a 60-foot median in the 2010s to 75 feet in the 2020s. That is a deeper reported water level in the newer decade, but the limited number of measurements means it should not be treated as proof of a broad water-table decline. Static levels vary with location, season, pumping history, and measurement conditions. Have the existing well measured under comparable conditions, and ask whether the level recovers after pumping.

Who has drilled around Rockvale, and when

Permit activity around Rockvale is not new. Records show 6 permits from the 1950s, 17 from the 1960s, 64 from the 1970s, 128 from the 1980s, 397 from the 1990s, 192 from the 2000s, 151 from the 2010s, and 58 from the 2020s. The newest permit year is 2025. Of 1,235 permits, 871 are recorded as constructed.

The most active drillers named in these records are Authorized (Pe, Pg), with 317 wells; Arkansas Valley Drilling (Moore, Todd A.), with 107; and Finney Drilling (Finney, Larry D.), with 69. These records show local experience, not an endorsement. Verify current licensing, insurance, references, and availability, then compare the proposed construction details rather than choosing only by the lowest bid.

Rockvale drilling cost at typical local depth

The cost model for Rockvale assumes fractured mountain bedrock, including granite and gneiss. The typical drilling rate is $65 to $100 per foot. At the 51-foot median depth, the drilled hole models at about $3,300 to $5,100. A finished well with pump, pressure tank, trenching, and electrical models at about $9,300 to $17,100.

That finished range is a planning figure, not a guaranteed contract price. A hole reaching the deeper part of the local record can change the budget substantially, and difficult access, casing, grout, surface conditions, power distance, or low production can add work. Get the bid broken into drilling, casing, grout, development, pump, tank, trenching, electrical, testing, and permit-related items.

Rockvale risks to check before closing or building

Most permits name an unnamed or fractured-bedrock aquifer: 1,197 wells do so. Only 15 name an alluvial aquifer and 6 name the Dakota Sandstone; no wells in this dataset name a Denver Basin aquifer. That makes local well history especially important. Review construction records, pump tests, water quality results, and any history of low yield, dry holes, or repairs.

Environmental screening also deserves attention. Within about 10 miles are 33 PFAS sampling or contamination sites, 88 historic mine features, and 5 EPA Superfund or cleanup sites. Their presence does not establish contamination at a particular parcel. Test the existing or new well through a qualified laboratory, and place septic, wells, driveways, and building areas with groundwater flow, setbacks, access, and future maintenance in mind.

A practical Rockvale plan for buying or building

Before buying near Rockvale, obtain the DWR permit, construction report, pump-yield information, static water level, well test, and recent laboratory results. Compare several nearby records in Williamsburg, Florence, Brookside, Lincoln Park, Cañon City, or Park Center, but give the greatest weight to wells with similar elevation, geology, and lot conditions. A nearby well can improve your estimate without proving what your parcel will produce.

For a vacant lot, confirm legal water supply, permitted household use, septic feasibility, access for a large drilling rig, and the location of power and trench runs before closing. If the basin is over-appropriated, ask Colorado water counsel or the permitting authority whether an augmentation plan is needed. Plan storage and conservation around the tested yield, and keep a contingency for deeper drilling or a low-producing hole.

Well permits by decade near Rockvale

What a new well costs in Rockvale, 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 (120 ft) would run roughly $13,800–$24,000. 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 Rockvale? 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 Rockvale 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 Rockvale

Keep researching

More in Fremont County

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

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