Tall Timber Colorado Well Guide

How deep are wells around Tall Timber?

How much water do wells make near Tall Timber?

How deep are wells around Tall Timber?

Depths vary widely in this mountain setting. The middle half of reported wells runs from 45 to 400 feet, while the median is 225 feet. About 31% are under 100 feet, 29% fall between 100 and 300 feet, and 32% are between 300 and 600 feet. Another 9% reach 600 feet or more; the deepest record is 1,402 feet.

For a drilling bid, that spread matters more than the median alone. A nearby shallow well does not prove the same fracture system exists under your lot. Use wells in Tall Timber and nearby Seven Hills, Mountain Meadows, Crisman, Pine Brook Hill, Sugarloaf, and Sunshine as local evidence, not as a promised depth.

What water yield can a Tall Timber well make?

The median reported pump yield is 7.0 gallons per minute, with the middle half between 5.0 and 10.0 gallons per minute. That is a workable range for many household uses, but the well’s storage, pressure system, and permitted use still matter. A pumping test and the actual well report are more useful than a regional average.

Reported results are mixed: 70% produce 5 to 15 gallons per minute, 18% are in the 1 to 5 gallon-per-minute range, and 3% are under 1 gallon per minute. That low-yield group is a real buying risk. Ask how the test was performed and whether the result represents sustained production rather than a short-term recovery rate.

What do Tall Timber water levels show?

Among the 145 wells reporting a static water level, the median depth to water is 49 feet, with the middle half from 11 to 100 feet below the surface. This is the water standing in the well when it is not being pumped, not necessarily the depth where the producing fracture begins.

The decade medians are uneven: 29 feet in the 1960s, 41 in the 1970s, 40 in the 1980s, 6 in the 2000s, and 80 in both the 2010s and 2020s. The more recent records show deeper reported water levels, but the small subset and changing locations do not prove a region-wide dropping water table.

Who has drilled here, and how active is the area?

The permit history shows long-term development around Tall Timber. Records include 65 permits from the 1950s, 186 from the 1960s, 876 from the 1970s, 580 from the 1980s, 656 from the 1990s, 406 from the 2000s, 305 from the 2010s, and 235 from the 2020s. The newest permit year is 2025.

In the records, the most active listed drillers are Ground Water Systems Inc. (Wilson, Richard R.) with 829 wells, Authorized (Pe, Pg) with 467, and Ingram Drilling Inc. (Ingram, Stephen E.) with 274. Those counts describe permit records, not a recommendation or proof that a company is currently available.

What does it cost to drill a well in Tall Timber?

Fractured granite and gneiss make drilling cost sensitive to depth and ground conditions. The local model uses a drilling rate of $65 to $100 per foot. At the 225-foot median depth, the drilled hole works out to about $14,600 to $22,500.

A finished household well costs more than the hole. Including the pump, tank, trenching, and electrical, the model puts a median-depth finished well at about $20,600 to $34,500. Treat that as a planning range, not a fixed bid. A deeper-than-expected hole, difficult access, casing or grout requirements, water treatment, and site-specific electrical or trenching work can change the final price. Get a written scope tied to the proposed depth and equipment.

What risks should a Tall Timber buyer check?

Low yield and dry holes are the main physical uncertainties in fractured bedrock. The records include wells under 1 gallon per minute, and depth ranges from shallow wells to a recorded 1,402 feet. Before closing, obtain the permit, construction report, pump test, static water level, and water-quality results for the property and the closest comparable wells.

Environmental history also deserves a site-specific review. Within about 10 miles are 80 PFAS sampling or contamination sites, 779 historic mine features, and 68 EPA Superfund or cleanup sites. These mapped features do not automatically mean a property is contaminated. Test the well water, check septic setbacks and soil conditions, and confirm that the lot has enough room for a compliant septic system, driveway, building site, and replacement area.

Buying or building on a Tall Timber lot

Start with Colorado DWR records and compare several nearby wells rather than relying on one favorable result. The local permit mix is primarily domestic or household use at 77%, and 4,210 wells name an unnamed or fractured-bedrock aquifer. There are only 70 permits naming Alluvial and 36 naming Quaternary Alluvium, with 0% in Denver Basin aquifers. Confirm the proposed well’s allowed use, especially if the property will have more than ordinary household demand.

For a new build, price access, drilling, pump equipment, electrical service, trenching, septic design, and water testing together. An exempt household-use well may be subject to Colorado’s 35-gallon-per-minute pumping limit, while an over-appropriated basin may require an augmentation plan. Have the driller and a water-rights professional review the permit before construction begins.

Well permits by decade near Tall Timber

What a new well costs in Tall Timber, 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 (400 ft) would run roughly $32,000–$52,000. 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 Tall Timber? 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 Tall Timber 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 Tall Timber

Keep researching

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

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