Silver Cliff, Colorado Well Depth, Yield, and Cost

How deep are wells around Silver Cliff?

How much water do wells make near Silver Cliff?

How deep are wells around Silver Cliff?

The median permitted well near Silver Cliff is 225 feet deep. The middle half runs from 150 to 325 feet, which is the most useful range when you are asking for a preliminary drilling bid. A contractor quoting only the median may understate the risk on a difficult parcel.

Depths vary substantially in this fractured granite and gneiss setting. About 54% of reported wells are between 100 and 300 feet, while 30% fall between 300 and 600 feet. The record includes a well at 1,345 feet, and 4% are deeper than 600 feet. Nearby Westcliffe may provide useful context, but the adjacent well log is more valuable than a regional average.

What water yield can a Silver Cliff well make?

Reported pump yield has a median of 7.5 gallons per minute, with the middle half between 5.0 and 12.0 gallons per minute. That is a workable range for many household uses, but the number is a tested or reported well result, not a promise for a new hole.

Most reported wells, 65%, produce between 5 and 15 gallons per minute. Another 13% report more than 15 gallons per minute. Low-yield wells still occur: 19% are in the 1-to-5-gallon range and 3% are under 1 gallon per minute. Ask how a driller handles storage, pump sizing, and a low-producing fracture before you rely on the median.

Is the water table changing near Silver Cliff?

Static water level is the distance from the ground surface down to the water when the well is not being pumped. Among records that report it, the median is 80 feet, with the middle half from 60 to 140 feet.

The decade comparison deserves attention. The median measured water level was 68 feet below surface in the 2010s and 100 feet in the 2020s. That suggests deeper measured water levels in the newer decade, although the records may represent different locations, seasons, well types, and measurement conditions. It is not enough by itself to prove a uniform decline across Silver Cliff. Have the seller provide recent pumping and water-level information for the specific well.

Who has drilled wells near Silver Cliff, and when?

The permit history shows sustained drilling activity, with the largest decade totals in the 1990s and 2000s. Records list 413 permits from the 1990s, 318 from the 2000s, 156 from the 2010s, and 153 from the 2020s. The newest permit year is 2026.

In the records, Nequette Drilling, also listed as Nequette, David J., has 457 wells; Arkansas Valley Drilling, listed as Moore, Todd A., has 245; and Finney Drilling, listed as Finney, Larry D., has 128. These are the most active names in this dataset, not a recommendation. Confirm current licensing, insurance, availability, and the exact scope of a bid before hiring.

What does it cost to drill a well in Silver Cliff?

Here, the ground is described as fractured mountain bedrock, including granite and gneiss. A typical drilling rate is $65 to $100 per foot. At the local median depth of 225 feet, the drilled hole works out to about $14,600 to $22,500.

That is not the complete water-system price. A finished well with a pump, pressure tank, trenching, and electrical is estimated at about $20,600 to $34,500 at the median depth. Fractured rock can require deeper drilling before a productive water-bearing zone is found, so ask what happens if the hole is dry or produces less than expected. Get separate line items for casing, grout, pump equipment, power work, trenching, testing, and any difficult access.

Risks to check before building on a mountain lot

Low yield is not the only concern. The mapped area has 8 PFAS sampling or contamination sites, 1,982 historic mine features, and 4 EPA Superfund or cleanup sites within about 10 miles. Those mapped features do not prove contamination at a property, but they justify a proper water test and review of nearby land uses, mine history, and well construction.

Most permits name an unnamed or fractured-bedrock aquifer, covering 1,632 wells; only 2 name Quaternary Alluvium, and no wells name a Denver Basin aquifer. Check casing and grout, well setbacks, septic placement, and the proposed building footprint together. A septic system, access route, and house location may need to be planned around rock, slope, drainage, and the well's protection area.

Buying or building near Silver Cliff: a practical check

Start with the Colorado DWR permit and construction record for the property, then compare it with nearby wells in Silver Cliff, Westcliffe, and other relevant parts of Custer County. Confirm the well's permitted use, tested yield, static level, pump details, and whether the records describe a completed well or only a permit.

For a vacant parcel, have a driller assess access, likely bedrock, siting, and the consequences of a low-yield or dry hole before you remove a contract contingency. A household well may be an exempt-use well, but the permit terms still control. In an over-appropriated basin, an augmentation plan may be required for some uses. Treat the well, septic system, driveway, and house as one site-design problem rather than separate projects.

Well permits by decade near Silver Cliff

What a new well costs in Silver 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 (325 ft) would run roughly $27,125–$44,500. 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 Silver 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 Silver 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 Silver Cliff

Keep researching

More in Custer County

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

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