Trail Side, Colorado Well Depth, Yield, and Cost

How deep are wells around Trail Side?

How much water do wells make near Trail Side?

Trail Side wells are usually shallow

The median reported well depth near Trail Side is 100 feet. The middle half runs from 68 to 125 feet, so that range is a reasonable starting point when reviewing a drilling bid or a neighboring permit. Forty-nine percent of wells are under 100 feet, while 51% fall between 100 and 300 feet. One percent are between 300 and 600 feet, and none are recorded at 600 feet or deeper.

The deepest well on record is 500 feet. Local ground conditions are described as alluvium and plains sedimentary rock, while permits most often identify an unnamed or fractured-bedrock aquifer. That combination can produce useful shallow wells, but fractured material remains less predictable than a uniform sand and gravel section. A driller should confirm casing and grout requirements for the specific site.

Reported yield is strong, but ask what was tested

Of the local records, 311 report a pump yield. The median reported yield is 15.0 gallons per minute, and the middle half ranges from 15.0 to 466.5 gallons per minute. Ninety-five percent of reported wells produce more than 15 gallons per minute. Five percent fall between 5 and 15 gallons per minute, with none reported below 5 gallons per minute or between 1 and 5 gallons per minute.

Those figures are encouraging for a household buyer, but a permit yield is not the same as a guaranteed long-term supply. Ask for the well construction report, pump test information, and any production history. An exempt household-use well is generally limited to 35 gallons per minute for pumping, and larger or different uses can require different water-rights review.

Water levels are relatively close to the surface

Only 69 wells report a static water level, so this part of the dataset is smaller than the depth and permit totals. Among those records, the median depth to water is 33 feet, with the middle half from 16 to 51 feet below the surface. That helps explain why many wells in the area can be completed at modest total depths, but it should not be used as a site-specific water-level promise.

The decade comparison deserves attention. The median reported water level was 22 feet below the surface in the 2010s and 35 feet in the 2020s. That is a deeper recent median in this dataset, but the number of reporting wells and their locations can change by decade. Check the closest permits and current test information before assuming the water table is steadily dropping.

Trail Side has a long permit history

Permits appear across nearly every decade in the record. The largest listed decade is the 1950s with 285 permits, followed by 267 in the 1970s, 244 in the 2000s, 213 in the 1990s, 143 in the 2010s, 128 in the 1980s, 118 in the 1960s, and 68 in the 2020s. The newest permit year is 2025.

Canfield Drilling Company, also listed as Canfield, Harold E, is the most active driller in these records with 360 entries. Canfield, Leslie George has 211, and Authorized (Pe, Pg) has 181. These names show who appears often in the permit history; they are not a recommendation or a substitute for checking current licensing, references, and availability.

What a new well may cost near Trail Side

The local cost model uses a typical drilling rate of $35 to $55 per foot for alluvium and plains sedimentary rock. At the 100-foot median depth, the drilled hole works out to about $3,500 to $5,500. That is only the hole. A finished system with pump, pressure tank, trenching, and electrical is modeled at about $9,500 to $17,500.

A written bid should identify the assumed depth, casing and grout, pump equipment, electrical distance, trenching, testing, permits, and restoration. A shallow well can still cost more than expected if access is difficult, the pump setting changes, or the well must go deeper. Compare bids on the same scope rather than comparing only the per-foot drilling rate.

Check water quality, low-yield risk, and building limits

Environmental review matters around Trail Side. Mapping within about 10 miles shows 22 PFAS sampling or contamination sites and 3 EPA Superfund or cleanup sites. There are no historic mine features mapped in that area. These records do not prove contamination at a particular parcel, but they are a reason to test existing well water and discuss PFAS and other appropriate laboratory work before closing.

Also inspect the septic and building plan, not just the well permit. Confirm the proposed well location, septic setbacks, reserve area, access for a rig, electrical route, and room for tanks or treatment equipment. Permits in the area are used for domestic or household use, stock, irrigation, and monitoring, so the permitted use must match the buyer’s intended use. Over-appropriated basins may require an augmentation plan.

Well permits by decade near Trail Side

What a new well costs in Trail Side, 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 (125 ft) would run roughly $10,375–$18,875. 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 Trail Side? 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 Trail Side 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 Trail Side

Keep researching

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

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