What Vernon, Colorado Wells Are Really Like

How deep are wells around Vernon?

How much water do wells make near Vernon?

Vernon well depths and the plains geology

Vernon wells are commonly deeper than a shallow domestic well. Among 236 records reporting total depth, the median is 270 feet. The middle half falls between 202 and 330 feet, the 90th percentile is 376 feet, and the deepest recorded well is 438 feet.

The depth mix helps a driller price the job: 58% are between 100 and 300 feet, while 39% are between 300 and 600 feet. Only 4% are under 100 feet, and none are reported at 600 feet or more. Permits name an unnamed or fractured-bedrock aquifer for 304 wells, the Ogallala for 126, and the High Plains Aquifer for 4. Those differences can matter from one lot to the next, so a bid should allow for local conditions rather than assume the median is a guarantee.

How much water Vernon wells produce

Yield records are available for 98 wells. Their median reported pump yield is 15.0 gallons per minute, with the middle half between 11.0 and 25.0 gallons per minute. Two-thirds of those reported wells, or 67%, produce 15 gallons per minute or more. Another 33% fall between 5 and 15 gallons per minute.

No reported well in this set is under 5 gallons per minute. That is encouraging for a household buyer, but it is not a promise for an unbuilt well. Yield depends on the formation, completion, pump setting, and testing method. Ask for the actual well construction and pump-test documents, not just a seller’s statement that the well has “good water.” DWR permit records can show what was authorized and reported, but they do not replace a current inspection.

Vernon water levels and the measurement trend

Only 23 wells report a static water level, so this part of the record is thinner than the depth data. The median depth to water is 155 feet, with the middle half between 130 and 180 feet below the surface. That gives a useful planning range for pump and electrical discussions, but it is not a site-specific water level.

The decade medians move from 142 feet below surface in the 1960s to 175 feet in the 2020s. That suggests water was measured deeper in the more recent records, but the small number of reported measurements and differences in locations and conditions make it unsafe to call this a confirmed regional decline. A buyer should obtain the well’s own static level and recent pumping information before sizing equipment.

Who has drilled around Vernon, and when

Vernon’s permit history is long but uneven. The records include 6 permits from the 1950s, 16 from the 1960s, 43 from the 1970s, 25 from the 1980s, 42 from the 1990s, 28 from the 2000s, 26 from the 2010s, and 14 from the 2020s. The newest permit year is 2025. Use mix includes domestic or household wells at 35%, stock at 29%, irrigation at 48%, and monitoring at 1%.

The most active names in these records are Wellstone Industries Dba Twiss & Wilson Drilling Inc. with 48 permits, Schaal Drilling Co. with 14, and Zion Drilling Service with 11. Those counts describe recorded activity, not current availability or a recommendation. For a new project, verify licensing, references, access requirements, casing and grout specifications, and the proposed completion plan.

What a new Vernon well may cost

For Vernon’s alluvium and plains sedimentary rock, the drilling model uses a typical rate of $35-$55 per foot. At the 270-foot median depth, that puts the drilled hole at about $9,400-$14,800. This is only the hole, not the complete water system.

A finished well with pump, pressure tank, trenching, and electrical is modeled at about $15,400-$26,800 at that median depth. A lot with difficult access, extra casing, deeper-than-expected drilling, or unusual electrical and trenching needs can fall outside that range. Get the bid in writing and ask what happens if the driller must continue past the planned depth. Compare the completion details, not just the per-foot rate.

Vernon risks to check before closing

Low yield is not the leading signal in the reported sample, but the sample includes only 98 yield records. Dry-hole risk and water-quality risk still need a property-specific review. The mapped area within about 10 miles contains 54 PFAS sampling or contamination sites and 1 EPA Superfund or cleanup site. There are 0 historic mine features in that mapped area. These mapped sites do not prove a problem at a particular address, but they are a reason to test rather than assume.

Check the well permit, construction report, casing and grout, pump test, static water level, and laboratory results. Confirm septic setbacks, replacement-area requirements, driveway access, and the proposed house location before drilling. A Colorado DWR permit controls what the well may legally serve. In over-appropriated basins, an augmentation plan may be needed, and an exempt household-use well still has a 35-gallon-per-minute pumping limit.

Buying or building near Vernon, Wray, and Yuma

Before buying a lot, map the nearest permitted wells and separate domestic, stock, irrigation, and monitoring records. Vernon’s records include wells tied to the Ogallala and High Plains Aquifer as well as unnamed or fractured-bedrock aquifer descriptions, so nearby wells are useful evidence but not a substitute for a site investigation. Review properties around Wray, Laird, Eckley, Idalia, Yuma, and Kirk only as local comparisons; the well at your address remains the important one.

For a build, make the well location, septic field, reserve area, driveway, and utility trench part of one site plan. Budget using the $15,400-$26,800 finished-well model, then keep room for a deeper hole or added site work. If the property already has a well, make the purchase contingent on records, inspection, water testing, and a satisfactory flow test.

Well permits by decade near Vernon

What a new well costs in Vernon, 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 (330 ft) would run roughly $17,550–$30,150. 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 Vernon? 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 Vernon 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 Vernon

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

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