Wolcott, Colorado Well Depth, Yield and Cost Guide

How deep are wells around Wolcott?

How much water do wells make near Wolcott?

Wolcott’s well depths reflect fractured mountain ground

Wolcott wells vary considerably. The median reported depth is 235 feet, while the middle half runs from 86 to 382 feet. That spread matters when requesting a drilling bid: a contractor may need to price a substantially deeper hole than the median if the local fracture system does not produce water early.

The depth mix gives more context. 26% of reported wells are under 100 feet, 35% fall from 100 to 300 feet, and 31% are from 300 to 600 feet. The 90th percentile is 580 feet, and the deepest record is 3,800 feet. Those extremes are not a prediction for your lot, but they show why a fixed shallow-well assumption is risky in Wolcott.

What Wolcott wells produce for a home

Reported yield is stronger than the depth variation might suggest. The median is 15.0 gallons per minute, with the middle half between 10.0 and 15.0 gallons per minute. In the records, 56% of wells report more than 15 gallons per minute, while 37% fall between 5 and 15 gallons per minute.

Low-producing wells are present but not dominant: 6% report from 1 to 5 gallons per minute, and 1% report less than 1 gallon per minute. Yield is not the same as storage or water quality. A buyer should ask for the well construction report, pump test information and any required storage or treatment design. A household-use exempt well is generally limited to 35 gallons per minute under Colorado rules.

Static water levels and the local water picture

Only 22 wells in the records report a static water level, so the water-level sample is limited. Among those reports, the median depth to water is 225 feet, with the middle half from 80 to 275 feet. That range affects pump setting, electrical requirements and the cost of lifting water to the house.

The permit history does not by itself show a reliable long-term water-table decline. It shows permits issued across several decades, but the available static-level records are too few to treat the series as a trend for all of Wolcott. Ask for a recent measurement from the subject well and nearby wells. In fractured granite or gneiss, nearby properties can encounter different fractures and different water levels even across a short distance.

Who has drilled around Wolcott, and when

Wolcott’s permit history is concentrated in the 1990s, when 209 permits were issued. The record also includes 5 from the 1960s, 23 from the 1970s, 54 from the 1980s, 108 from the 2000s, 41 from the 2010s and 22 from the 2020s. The newest permit year is 2025.

The most frequent driller in the records is Golden Eagle Drilling Corporation (Shelton, Joe Wayne), associated with 192 wells. Shelton Drilling Corporation (Shelton, Wayne) appears on 38, and Steve Shelton Drilling, Inc. (Shelton, Steve) on 31. This is useful history, not an endorsement. Confirm current licensing, insurance, availability and the scope of any proposal.

A Wolcott well budget starts with the rock

The local cost model assumes fractured mountain bedrock, including granite and gneiss. The typical drilling rate is $65 to $100 per foot. At the 235-foot median depth, the drilled hole works out to about $15,300 to $23,500.

A finished system costs more than the hole. Including the pump, tank, trenching and electrical, the modeled total at the median depth is about $21,300 to $35,500. Treat that as planning guidance, not a fixed quote. Depth, casing, grout, access, drilling conditions, water testing, storage and site distance can change the final price. Ask exactly what the bid includes and what happens if the driller has to continue past the planned depth or abandons a dry hole.

Risks to investigate before building or buying

Environmental due diligence deserves attention around Wolcott. Within about 10 miles of the area, the mapped records include 16 PFAS sampling or contamination sites, 16 historic mine features and 7 EPA Superfund or cleanup sites. These mapped sites do not prove contamination at a specific well. They do justify a site-specific water test and a review of land and groundwater history.

Also check for low yield, a dry hole, poor casing or grout, and a pump that cannot handle the static water level. Septic setbacks, reserve areas, driveway access and building placement must work together before drilling. In an over-appropriated basin, an augmentation plan may be needed for some uses. Confirm the DWR permit’s allowed use rather than assuming a domestic permit supports every planned use.

A practical lot checklist for Wolcott

Before closing, pull the nearby DWR permits and separate constructed wells from applications or incomplete records. Compare depths, reported yields, static levels, aquifer descriptions and use types near the parcel. The local records are mostly tied to unnamed or fractured-bedrock aquifers, with 520 wells in that category, plus 16 Morrison wells and 11 Mancos wells. There are 0% Denver Basin aquifer wells in this dataset.

For a new build, have a driller review rig access and likely casing depth, then have a septic designer confirm the available area before finalizing the house site. For an existing home, inspect the pump, pressure tank, electrical system and treatment equipment, and obtain a current laboratory water test. Edwards, Eagle, Avon, Fulford, McCoy and Gypsum provide useful comparison areas when reviewing nearby permit history, but the subject parcel still needs its own evaluation.

Well permits by decade near Wolcott

What a new well costs in Wolcott, 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 (382 ft) would run roughly $30,830–$50,200. 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 Wolcott? 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 Wolcott 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 Wolcott

Keep researching

More in Eagle County

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

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