What Silverton Well Records Tell You Before You Buy

How deep are wells around Silverton?

How much water do wells make near Silverton?

Silverton well depth depends on the bedrock

Silverton’s reported well depths are generally modest: 60% are under 100 feet, while 35% fall between 100 and 300 feet. The middle half, from 56 to 134 feet, is the most useful range when discussing an initial drilling bid. A driller should still price the work with uncertainty because the local permits identify an unnamed or fractured-bedrock aquifer for 100 wells, compared with 5 alluvial wells.

Fractured granite and gneiss can produce water along narrow cracks rather than through a consistent, shallow layer. One nearby lot may work at a shallow depth while another requires a deeper hole. The deepest recorded well is 325 feet, so a bid should explain the footage rate, casing and grout assumptions, and what happens if the hole must continue.

Reported yields are strong, but the sample is small

The 11 Silverton-area records that report pump yield show a median of 12.0 gallons per minute. The middle half is 8.5 to 15.0 gallons per minute. Among those reported wells, 45% produce between 5 and 15 gallons per minute, and 36% report more than 15 gallons per minute. No reported well is under 1 gallon per minute; 18% fall between 1 and 5 gallons per minute.

That is encouraging for domestic use, but it is not a promise for an untested parcel. Ask for the well completion report, pumping test details, storage tank size, and recovery information. A well’s practical supply depends on both its flow and the amount of water stored in the casing and tank.

Water levels are shallow in the records, with no trend to prove

Only 11 permits report a static water level. Their median depth to water is 10 feet, with the middle half from 4 to 42 feet. Those measurements suggest that some completed wells encounter water relatively close to the surface, but they do not establish the water level beneath every Silverton property.

The permit counts rise across the record: 2 in the 1970s, 8 in the 1980s, 11 in the 1990s, 12 in the 2000s, 30 in the 2010s, and 37 in the 2020s. That is permit activity, not a water-table trend. The available static-level data are too limited to claim that groundwater is dropping or rising.

Recent Silverton permits show who has been working nearby

The newest permit in this search is from 2025, and most recent activity appears in the 2010s and 2020s. The most common driller entry is Authorized (Pe, Pg), associated with 26 records. Mccracken Well Drilling Inc (Mccracken, Alan E.) appears on 8, and Cascade Drilling, Lp (Cain, Shawn) appears on 6.

Those records can help you identify contractors familiar with the area, but a permit list is not a performance guarantee. Confirm current licensing, insurance, availability, and what each bid includes. Before construction, check Colorado DWR requirements for the intended use. Household wells may be exempt wells, but the permit conditions and local water-rights situation still matter.

A Silverton well budget starts around the median depth

For fractured mountain bedrock, the local drilling model uses $65 to $100 per foot. At the 92-foot median depth, the drilled hole works out to about $6,000 to $9,200. A finished system, including pump, pressure tank, trenching, and electrical, is modeled at about $12,000 to $21,200.

That is a planning range, not a fixed quote. A hole near the 325-foot record depth would carry much more drilling footage before equipment and site work are added. Ask whether the proposal includes casing, grout, development, water testing, permits, mobilization, difficult access, and a dry-hole or low-yield policy. The cost of the access route can also change the final number on a steep mountain lot.

Mines, septic, and access deserve a close review

Environmental screening matters around Silverton. Mapping within about 10 miles shows 6 PFAS sampling or contamination sites, 7,413 historic mine features, and 21 EPA Superfund or cleanup sites. These mapped features do not prove contamination at a specific parcel, but they are reasons to review site history, test existing water, and ask the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment or local authorities about nearby concerns.

Low yield and a dry hole remain possible in fractured rock even though the reported yield sample is favorable. Confirm septic setbacks, replacement-area requirements, driveway access for a drill rig, building envelope, and winter access before closing. For a lot near Ophir, Telluride, Mountain Village, Ouray, Portland, or Rico, compare nearby well reports rather than relying on a countywide assumption.

Buy the lot only after matching the well to the build

Start with the recorded wells closest to the parcel, especially completed wells with depth, yield, and static-level information. Then have a licensed driller review geology, access, likely siting, and the permit path. A shallow median depth can make early budgeting easier, but it should not be treated as a guaranteed drilling depth.

For a home, confirm that the planned well can serve household demand and that the septic system can fit with required setbacks. If the property is intended for more than ordinary exempt household use, review water rights and any augmentation-plan requirements for the basin. Before you make the purchase decision, obtain a written drilling estimate, verify the well permit status, test existing water when available, and keep enough contingency for deeper drilling or a replacement location.

Well permits by decade near Silverton

What a new well costs in Silverton, 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 (134 ft) would run roughly $14,710–$25,400. 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 Silverton? 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 Silverton 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 Silverton

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