Westcliffe Colorado Well Depth, Yield, and Cost

How deep are wells around Westcliffe?

How much water do wells make near Westcliffe?

How deep are wells around Westcliffe?

Westcliffe-area wells have a median total depth of 140 feet. Half of the recorded wells fall between 100 and 228 feet, but the range is broad: 25% are under 100 feet, 59% are between 100 and 300 feet, and 14% are between 300 and 600 feet. The deepest record reaches 1,200 feet.

For a drilling bid, the median is a planning reference rather than a guarantee. Fractured granite and gneiss can produce water at different depths on neighboring lots. A bid based on a 140-foot hole may be reasonable for initial budgeting, but buyers should ask how the contractor handles additional footage, casing, grout, and an unsuccessful hole.

What water yield can a Westcliffe well make?

Among the 358 permitted wells reporting pump yield, the median is 10.0 gallons per minute. The middle half reports 7.0 to 14.8 gallons per minute. Production is commonly moderate: 63% of reported wells yield between 5 and 15 gallons per minute, and 25% report more than 15 gallons per minute.

Low-producing wells are present but not dominant. 1% report under 1 gallon per minute, while 11% fall between 1 and 5 gallons per minute. Ask for the well test and recovery information, not just the driller’s verbal estimate. Storage tanks can help a modest well serve a home, but the design must match household demand and any livestock use.

Is the water table getting deeper near Westcliffe?

Only 140 records report a static water level, so this part of the dataset is smaller than the depth and permit records. The median depth to water is 60 feet, with the middle half between 30 and 90 feet below the surface.

By measurement decade, the median reported water level was 50 feet below surface in the 2010s and 80 feet in the 2020s. That change suggests deeper reported water levels in the newer measurements, but it does not prove a uniform regional decline. Different locations, well depths, seasons, and measurement conditions can affect the comparison. Have the seller provide the well construction report, static level, pumping test, and recent water-quality results.

Who has drilled wells around Westcliffe?

The permit history shows long-term rural development around Westcliffe, with the largest decade totals in the 1990s at 227 permits and the 2000s at 201. There were 141 permits in the 2010s and 99 in the 2020s. The newest permit year in the records is 2026.

In the available records, Nequette Drilling, listed as Nequette, David J., appears on 190 wells. Arkansas Valley Drilling, listed as Moore, Todd A., appears on 178, and Finney Drilling, listed as Finney, Larry D., appears on 88. Those names can help you compare local experience, but permit counts are not a substitute for checking current licensing, insurance, references, and a written proposal.

What does a new well cost near Westcliffe?

Fractured mountain bedrock is the main cost driver. A typical drilling rate here is $65 to $100 per foot. At the local median depth of 140 feet, the drilled hole works out to about $9,100 to $14,000.

A complete well is more than the hole. Including a pump, pressure tank, trenching, and electrical work, the modeled finished-well range is about $15,100 to $26,000 at that depth. Actual bids can move higher if the hole must go deeper, access is difficult, casing or grouting requirements change, or the site needs unusual trenching. Get separate line items for drilling, casing, well development, pump equipment, storage, electrical, and connection to the house.

What risks should Westcliffe buyers check?

Most permitted wells in this area are tied to an unnamed or fractured-bedrock aquifer: 1,049 records identify that setting. Fractured rock can be unpredictable, so a nearby high-yield well does not guarantee the same result on your parcel. Review dry-hole terms, testing procedures, and the contractor’s plan before work starts.

Environmental records also deserve attention. Within about 10 miles are 8 PFAS sampling or contamination sites, 2,028 historic mine features, and 4 EPA Superfund or cleanup sites. These flags do not automatically mean a property’s water is unsafe. Test the well for appropriate contaminants, keep septic separation and drainage in the site plan, and confirm the lot can support the house, driveway, septic system, and well access.

Buying or building near Silver Cliff and Westcliffe

Start with the exact parcel, not the townwide median. Compare wells on nearby properties and in the same valley or bedrock setting, including total depth, static water level, yield, pump depth, and water-quality results. Records from Silver Cliff, about 4 miles away, may provide useful context, while Crestone is about 16 miles away and is less directly comparable.

For a new build, confirm the Colorado DWR permit path before closing or excavating. Domestic and household use accounts for 75% of the use mix, while stock use accounts for 27%. Exempt household-use wells still have limits, including the 35 gallon-per-minute pumping limit, and an augmentation plan may be needed in an over-appropriated basin. Make the contract contingent on a satisfactory well review and site feasibility.

Well permits by decade near Westcliffe

What a new well costs in Westcliffe, 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 (228 ft) would run roughly $20,820–$34,800. 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 Westcliffe? 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 Westcliffe 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 Westcliffe

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