Silverthorne, Colorado Well Depth, Yield, and Cost

How deep are wells around Silverthorne?

How much water do wells make near Silverthorne?

Silverthorne well depths reflect mountain bedrock

The median recorded well depth near Silverthorne is 96 feet. The middle half runs from 40 to 191 feet, so many wells are relatively shallow, but the spread matters when you request a drilling bid. Half of the reported wells fall outside that middle range. About 51% are under 100 feet, while 40% are between 100 and 300 feet. Another 9% reach 300 to 600 feet, and 1% exceed 600 feet.

The deepest recorded well is 995 feet. Fractured granite and gneiss can produce water through individual fractures rather than a uniform layer, so a nearby shallow completion does not set a reliable limit for your lot. Ask a driller to review nearby logs, access, casing, and grout assumptions before treating the median as a fixed target.

What a Silverthorne well may produce

Reported pump yields are generally workable for household use. The median is 10.0 gallons per minute, and the middle half is 7.0 to 15.0 gallons per minute. The records show 64% producing between 5 and 15 gallons per minute, while 27% report more than 15 gallons per minute. Another 9% fall between 1 and 5 gallons per minute.

No reported wells in this dataset are under 1 gallon per minute, but that does not remove the risk of an unsuccessful new hole. A yield test is not the same as storage in the well or guaranteed flow during every season. Confirm the permit's allowed use, storage needs, and any household demand before relying on a production number. An exempt household-use well still has Colorado limits, including the 35 gallons-per-minute pumping limit.

Water levels around Silverthorne

Among the wells reporting static water level, the median depth to water is 22 feet. The middle half measures from 12 to 60 feet below the surface. That is useful for estimating pump setting and construction, but static water level is not the same as the level while pumping. It can also vary with location, season, recharge, and nearby pumping.

The decade figures do not show a simple dropping water table. The median measured depth to water was 70 feet in the 1990s, 50 feet in the 2010s, and 14 feet in the 2020s. Those measurements come from different wells and locations, so the change should not be read as a basin-wide trend. Have the driller measure the actual well and review the original log before sizing equipment.

Permit history and drillers in the local record

Permit activity near Silverthorne spans decades. Records show 9 permits from the 1950s, 94 from the 1960s, 119 from the 1970s, 155 from the 1980s, and 258 from the 1990s. There were 209 in the 2000s, 77 in the 2010s, and 118 in the 2020s. The newest permit year is 2025.

The most active names in these records are Buena Vista Drilling (Shelton, William L) with 163 wells, Authorized (Pe, Pg) with 155, and Golden Eagle Drilling Corporation (Shelton, Joe Wayne) with 104. Treat this as permit history, not a recommendation. Verify current licensing, availability, insurance, and experience with your access conditions.

What drilling costs near Silverthorne

Silverthorne drilling commonly means working through fractured mountain bedrock, including granite and gneiss. The cost model uses a drilling rate of $65 to $100 per foot. At the local median depth of 96 feet, the drilled hole works out to about $6,200 to $9,600.

That is not the complete water-system price. A finished well including the pump, pressure tank, trenching, and electrical is modeled at about $12,200 to $21,600 at the median depth. A deeper hole, difficult access, casing or grout requirements, hard rock, and power distance can move the bid higher. Request a written estimate that separates drilling, casing, grout, development, pump equipment, trenching, electrical, testing, and permits so competing bids describe the same work.

Risks to investigate before closing or building

Low yield and dry-hole risk remain important in fractured bedrock, even though reported nearby yields are mostly moderate or strong. Confirm the well construction report, pump test, static water level, water-quality results, and legal use before buying. The permit use mix is 60% domestic or household, 24% monitoring, 3% stock, and 1% irrigation, so a monitoring well is not evidence of a usable household supply.

Environmental review also matters. Within about ten miles, the mapped record includes 12 PFAS sampling or contamination sites, 37 historic mine features, and 7 EPA Superfund or cleanup sites. These findings do not automatically mean your water is unsafe, but they justify testing and checking site history. Confirm septic setbacks, drainfield space, winter access, building location, and local water-right requirements before finalizing a lot plan.

A practical plan for a Silverthorne lot

Start with the DWR permit and construction records for the property and nearby wells in Silverthorne, Dillon, Frisco, and Keystone. Compare depths, reported yields, aquifer descriptions, static levels, and the dates of measurements. Then have a licensed driller inspect the proposed access route and identify where a rig, casing materials, pump equipment, and spoils can be handled.

For a new build, coordinate the well location with the septic system, foundation, driveway, utility trench, and winter snow storage before drilling. Confirm the intended household use is allowed by the permit and that an augmentation plan is not required for the property or basin. Budget for the complete installed system rather than the drilling footage alone. Finally, make water-quality testing, well-flow testing, and a review of construction records conditions of the purchase when the property depends on private water.

Well permits by decade near Silverthorne

What a new well costs in Silverthorne, 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 (191 ft) would run roughly $18,415–$31,100. 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 Silverthorne? 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 Silverthorne 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 Silverthorne

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