What Woody Creek Wells Are Like

How deep are wells around Woody Creek?

How much water do wells make near Woody Creek?

Woody Creek well depth depends on fractured mountain rock

The median reported well depth near Woody Creek is 123 feet. The middle half runs from 70 to 260 feet, so a bid based on the median should not be treated as a fixed drilling depth. The deeper end of the local record reaches 400 feet at the 90th percentile, with the deepest recorded well at 1,075 feet.

Depths are spread across the area: 42% are under 100 feet, 37% fall between 100 and 300 feet, 18% between 300 and 600 feet, and 3% exceed 600 feet. Most permits identify unnamed fractured bedrock, typically granite or gneiss, rather than a predictable basin aquifer. That geology is the main reason nearby wells can vary substantially.

Most Woody Creek wells report useful production

Among the records that include a pump yield, the median is 15.0 gallons per minute, and the middle half is 10.0 to 15.0 gallons per minute. Reported production is generally favorable: 63% of wells make more than 15 gallons per minute, while 30% fall between 5 and 15 gallons per minute.

Low-yield wells are present but uncommon in the available reports. Five percent produce 1 to 5 gallons per minute and 1% report under 1 gallon per minute. These figures describe tested wells, not a promise for an untested parcel. A buyer should request the well construction record, yield test, pump information, and any recent production history before relying on the water supply.

Water levels vary, with no simple local decline pattern

The median static water level is 51 feet below the ground surface. The middle half of reported measurements ranges from 20 to 117 feet. That spread matters for pump placement, trenching, and interpreting what a driller tells you about the local water table.

The decade series does not show a steady drop. The median was 130 feet below surface in the 1990s, 48 feet in the 2000s, 50 feet in the 2010s, and 72 feet in the 2020s. Because only 85 wells report a static water level, these measurements are a limited local indicator rather than a complete groundwater trend. Conditions at a specific lot may differ from the mapped average.

Permit history points to long local drilling experience

Colorado DWR records include 1,623 permitted wells within the Woody Creek study area. Of those, 819 are recorded as constructed, 984 report a total depth, and 325 report a pump yield. The records include domestic and household wells at 68%, monitoring wells at 20%, irrigation wells at 5%, and stock wells at 4%.

Permitting has continued through 2025. The busiest decades were the 1990s, with 376 permits, and the 2000s, with 294. Shelton Drilling Corporation is the most common driller in the records, followed by Collins Drilling Co and Steve Shelton Drilling, Inc. Those names can help when comparing older construction records, though past work does not guarantee current availability or pricing.

A Woody Creek well may cost $14,000 to $24,300 finished

The local cost model assumes fractured granite or gneiss and a drilling rate of $65 to $100 per foot. At the 123-foot median depth, the drilled hole is estimated at about $8,000 to $12,300.

A usable well costs more than the hole. Including the pump, pressure tank, trenching, and electrical work, the estimated finished-well range is $14,000 to $24,300 at the median depth. A shallow result can still require substantial site work, while a deeper hole can push the total higher. Ask every bidder what is included, how over-depth drilling is charged, and whether casing, grout, water testing, permits, and difficult access are separate items.

Check water quality, dry-hole risk, and the building layout

Mapped environmental information within about 10 miles includes 13 PFAS sampling or contamination sites, 83 historic mine features, and 2 EPA Superfund or cleanup sites. Those entries do not establish contamination at a particular property, but they are reasons to review site history and test the well water before closing.

Fractured bedrock also creates uncertainty about both yield and dry-hole risk. Confirm the well location, casing and grout details, pump capacity, and septic setbacks before designing a house. A well that produces adequately may still affect where the septic system, driveway, electrical service, and building can fit. Colorado DWR permit conditions and water rights should be reviewed separately from the physical drilling results.

Use neighboring records before buying or building in Woody Creek

Start with the DWR records for the subject parcel and nearby wells. Compare depths, reported yields, static water levels, aquifer descriptions, and construction dates rather than relying on one nearby success. Records from Snowmass Village, Snowmass, and Aspen can provide useful regional context, but the fractured-rock setting makes lot-specific evidence more important.

For a purchase, make the well inspection and water-quality testing part of due diligence. For a new build, get a driller's estimate that separates drilling from pump, tank, trenching, electrical, casing, grout, and access work. Confirm the permitted use, especially if the plan includes more than ordinary household needs. In an over-appropriated basin, an augmentation plan may be required for some uses.

Well permits by decade near Woody Creek

What a new well costs in Woody Creek, 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 (260 ft) would run roughly $22,900–$38,000. 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 Woody Creek? 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 Woody Creek 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 Woody Creek

Keep researching

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

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