Rye, Colorado Well Depth, Yield, and Cost

How deep are wells around Rye?

How much water do wells make near Rye?

Rye wells are usually shallow, but the range is wide

Rye’s recorded wells have a median total depth of 103 feet. The middle half runs from 71 to 200 feet, meaning a driller bidding a normal residential well will usually be working within that range, not automatically planning for a deep hole. Still, the local record has a long tail: the 90th percentile is 360 feet, and the deepest recorded well is 1,405 feet.

Depth is split fairly evenly around the shallow range. 40% of wells are under 100 feet, while 46% fall between 100 and 300 feet. Another 12% are between 300 and 600 feet, and 2% exceed 600 feet. Alluvium and plains sedimentary rock help shape drilling conditions, but a nearby well is still the best first comparison.

Most Rye wells make usable household volumes

Among the wells that report a pump yield, the median is 7.5 gallons per minute, with the middle half between 5.0 and 13.0 gallons per minute. That is a workable range for ordinary household use when the well, pressure tank, storage, and plumbing are properly designed. It does not mean the well can produce that rate continuously without testing and confirming the well’s recovery.

The low-yield tail matters when comparing properties. 4% of reported wells produce under 1 gallon per minute, and 19% produce between 1 and 5 gallons per minute. Meanwhile, 56% are in the 5 to 15 gallon-per-minute range and 21% report more than 15 gallons per minute. Ask for the well yield test, not just a seller’s verbal estimate.

Rye water levels look broadly steady in the records

The median static water level is 55 feet below the surface, with the middle half from 30 to 150 feet. A shallow water level can reduce pumping lift, but it does not by itself prove that the well will produce enough water or that the water is suitable to drink. Static level, pumping level, recovery, and water quality are separate questions.

The decade comparison does not show a clear dropping trend in these records. The median measurement was 56 feet below ground in the 2010s and 52 feet in the 2020s. Only 61 wells report a static water level, so treat that comparison as a local indicator rather than a guarantee for an individual parcel. A current measurement is more useful when evaluating an existing well.

Rye permit history shows long-running local drilling

Rye has a long well-permit history, with 1,256 permitted wells in the mapped area and 884 recorded as constructed. Permits were issued across every decade listed in the records, including 23 in the 1950s, 216 in the 1990s, and 68 in the 2020s. The newest permit year is 2025.

The most active drillers named in these records are Reeves, Mark, with 126 wells; Arkansas Valley Drilling (Moore, Todd A.), with 101; and Spradlin Drilling (Spradlin, Wayne), with 95. These names can help you research local history, but confirm current licensing, availability, scope, and references before selecting a contractor.

A median-depth Rye well pencils out at a defined range

For alluvium and plains sedimentary rock near Rye, the drilling-rate model uses $35 to $55 per foot. At the local median depth of 103 feet, the drilled hole works out to about $3,600 to $5,700. That is the hole itself, not the complete water system.

A finished well with pump, pressure tank, trenching, and electrical is modeled at about $9,600 to $17,700 at the median depth. A deeper-than-typical hole, difficult access, extra casing or grout, longer trenching, or electrical work can move the bid outside that range. Get the driller to separate drilling, casing, grout, development, pump equipment, testing, and site restoration so competing bids are actually comparable.

Check water quality, septic setbacks, and the build site

The mapped area within about 10 miles includes 2 PFAS sampling or contamination sites and 2 historic mine features. It has 0 EPA Superfund or cleanup sites. That is not a property-specific safety clearance. Test an existing well for the contaminants relevant to the site and its history, and have a new well tested after construction before relying on it for drinking water.

Low yield and dry holes remain possible even where nearby records look favorable, especially around fractured bedrock. Confirm the permitted use: 93% of local wells are domestic or household wells, while stock, irrigation, and monitoring uses are also recorded. Before building, verify well access for a rig, septic separation and soil requirements, legal water use, and the location of the house, driveway, septic system, and utility trench.

Use nearby wells to price and investigate a Rye lot

When buying near Rye, start with the Colorado DWR permit and construction records for the parcel and immediate neighbors. Compare depth, aquifer description, yield test, static and pumping levels, well age, casing, and current equipment. Records from Colorado City may offer useful context at about 5 miles, while Beulah Valley, Gardner, Walsenburg, Pueblo West, and La Veta are farther away and may not match Rye’s ground conditions.

For a vacant lot, make well feasibility part of the purchase investigation rather than waiting until after closing. Confirm a driller can reach the site, identify a compliant well location, and budget both the drilling range and the complete pump-and-site system. Colorado DWR permitting still applies, and an exempt household-use well has a 35 gallon-per-minute pumping limit. Over-appropriated basins may also require an augmentation plan.

Well permits by decade near Rye

What a new well costs in Rye, 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 (200 ft) would run roughly $13,000–$23,000. 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 Rye? 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 Rye 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 Rye

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More in Pueblo County

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

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