Well Water.
Most homes around Evergreen draw their water from a private well drilled into fractured granite — and nobody regulates what comes out of it but you. Here’s how Colorado well permits work, what a yield test actually measures, which lab tests matter in Front Range bedrock, how the pump and pressure tank work, and where a home inspection ends and a well contractor begins.
Colorado well permits and records
Every well in Colorado needs a permit from the Division of Water Resources, and the permit — not the pump — decides what the water can be used for.
✓ Household-use-only wells
Most foothills wells on lots under 35 acres are permitted for ordinary household use inside one home — no lawn, garden or livestock watering at all. Many buyers don’t learn this until the inspection.
✓ Domestic wells on 35+ acres
Larger parcels (and some older or designated-basin permits) allow up to three homes, an acre of lawn and garden, and domestic animals. Read the permit’s allowed-uses line, not the listing.
✓ Look it up before you offer
DWR’s online Well Permit Search shows the permit, allowed uses, the well construction report (depth, casing, yield at drilling) and the pump installation report. It’s free and takes ten minutes.
✓ Ownership must be transferred
The purchase contract requires the buyer to file a change-of-owner form with DWR at or shortly after closing. Title companies usually handle it; check that it happened.
✓ Unregistered wells
Old wells with no permit on file must be registered — at the buyer’s cost under the standard contract. An unregistered well is a finding, not a deal-breaker, but it needs a plan.
✓ The contract asks about water
Colorado’s purchase contract has a source-of-water section and a well-rights section. The seller must identify the water source and hand over the current well permit.
What a well yield (flow) test measures
Granite doesn’t hold water like sand does. Foothills wells draw from fractures, so yields vary from house to house — and the number matters.
✓ Gallons per minute, sustained
A yield test pumps the well for hours — Jefferson County’s mountain building-permit standard is a minimum of four — and records how many gallons per minute it delivers once the water level stabilizes, plus how fast it recovers.
✓ Foothills yields run low
Fractured-bedrock wells around Evergreen commonly produce a few gallons per minute; some produce well under one. Low yield isn’t a failure if there is storage.
✓ Storage makes low wells livable
A cistern or large in-well storage lets a slow well fill a tank overnight while the house draws from the tank. Jefferson County’s mountain-area rules require storage for wells under 1 gpm.
✓ Lender expectations
FHA and VA require a “sufficient” supply but set no gallons-per-minute figure for a single well; the 3–5 gpm number you hear is borrowed from the shared-well standard. Ask your lender what they will actually require.
✓ Recovery matters as much as rate
A well that pumps 5 gpm for twenty minutes and then runs dry is worse than a steady 1 gpm well with a cistern. Good tests report drawdown and recovery, not just a peak number.
✓ Test during the inspection period
A real-estate well test typically takes a half day on site plus lab turnaround. Order it with the home inspection so the results land before your objection deadline.
Lab tests that matter in Front Range granite
Colorado doesn’t regulate private-well water quality; the state and county health departments publish what to test and when. Here is the short version.
✓ Every year: bacteria and nitrate
Total coliform and E. coli (a positive means surface water or a bad seal is reaching the well) plus nitrate/nitrite, pH and total dissolved solids.
✓ Uranium and radioactivity
Front Range granite carries uranium. CDPHE lists uranium among the contaminants to test every few years, and foothills county guidance adds radium. USGS sampling of granitic wells in nearby Park County found uranium over the drinking-water standard.
✓ Radon in water
Granitic wells in the region have tested with radon in water in the thousands of picocuries per liter. Roughly 10,000 pCi/L in water adds about 1 pCi/L to indoor air, and showering releases it — so test the air in the house too.
✓ Arsenic, fluoride and metals
Arsenic, fluoride, iron, manganese, copper, lead and hardness round out the every-3-to-5-years list. Naturally high fluoride turns up in some mountain wells.
✓ A new-to-you well gets the full panel
On purchase, or with no test history, run the broad panel the state recommends — including a PFAS and VOC screen — so you have a baseline.
✓ Where to test
The state public health lab mails bacteria kits at no cost, and CDPHE keeps a list of certified private labs. Some counties periodically offer free or discounted test kits.
Pumps, pressure tanks and the rest of the system
✓ Submersible pump
Down the well, pushing water up. Often lasts 10–15 years; replacing it means pulling hundreds of feet of pipe, so age and service history matter.
✓ Pressure tank and switch
The tank stores water under air pressure so the pump doesn’t run every time you open a tap. Switches are commonly set at 30/50 or 40/60 psi.
✓ Short cycling
A pump that clicks on and off every few seconds means a waterlogged or failed tank bladder. It burns out the pump — an easy catch and an important one.
✓ Wellhead and cap
Colorado rules call for steel casing at least a foot above grade, a sealed vermin-proof cap, and a screened, down-turned vent. Buried or cracked caps let surface water and bugs in.
✓ Pitless adapter and line
The watertight fitting below frost depth where the line leaves the casing. A leak here shows up as a pump that never rests.
✓ Treatment gear
Sediment filters, softeners, UV, reverse osmosis, and radon or uranium treatment. Each needs service, and each tells you something about what the water tested for.
What a home inspector looks at vs. a well contractor
Inspection standards of practice exclude water quality, yield and the well itself. Here’s the honest split.
✓ We identify and describe
Whether the supply is public or private, the visible wellhead, pressure tank, switch, gauge, treatment equipment, and where the line enters the house.
✓ We run the fixtures
Functional flow at every tap, pressure at a hose bib, whether the pump cycles normally, and any signs of leaks, sediment, staining or odor.
✓ We flag what needs a specialist
Short cycling, a buried or damaged cap, a well too close to the septic field, no records, or treatment gear that looks abandoned.
✓ A well contractor tests
Yield, drawdown and recovery, pump amperage, casing and cap condition, and pulls samples for the lab. That’s the real-estate well test — order it separately.
✓ Setbacks from septic
Colorado’s septic rules keep the tank 50 feet and the drainfield 100 feet from a well. FHA wants a water test whenever a well and septic are within 100 feet.
✓ Shared wells
If the well serves more than one home, lenders want a recorded shared-well agreement with easements and a shut-off for each house. Ask for it early.
Living on a well
✓ Test every spring
Bacteria and nitrate annually; the broader panel every few years or whenever taste, color or odor changes.
✓ Shock-chlorinate when needed
After a coliform hit, pump service or flooding, CSU Extension’s procedure — roughly 200 ppm chlorine held overnight, then flushed — clears most bacteria. Retest a week later; a repeat positive means a source problem.
✓ Keep the cap sealed
Check the cap, vent screen and casing each year; keep the ground sloping away and never bury the wellhead in a landscape bed.
✓ Watch the pump
Note how long it runs and how often. A change in cycling, a drop in pressure or sand in the aerators are early warnings.
✓ Plan for outages
No power means no water. A generator with a transfer switch, or stored water, keeps a well-served house livable through a foothills wind or snow event.
✓ Keep the well file
Permit, construction and pump reports, every lab result and service invoice. Buyers, lenders and the next well contractor will ask.
Common questions
How do I find the permit for a well in Colorado?
Search the Division of Water Resources’ online Well Permit Search by address, owner name or permit number. The file shows the permit and its allowed uses, the well construction report (depth, casing, yield when drilled) and the pump installation report. Do this before you write an offer: a household-use-only permit means no outdoor watering, and that changes what the property is.
What is a good well yield in the Colorado foothills?
There’s no single number. Fractured-granite wells around Evergreen commonly produce a few gallons per minute and some produce under one; what matters is sustained yield and recovery over a multi-hour test, and whether the system has storage. Jefferson County treats under 1 gpm as needing a cistern for a mountain building permit, and lenders usually want a “sufficient” supply rather than a specific rate. A low-yield well with a cistern can serve a household for decades.
What should I test well water for in Jefferson County?
Annually: total coliform and E. coli, nitrate/nitrite, pH and total dissolved solids. Every few years, and at purchase: arsenic, uranium, radium, fluoride, iron, manganese, lead, copper and hardness — the Front Range granite mix — plus radon in water if it has never been tested. On a home purchase run the broad panel so you have a baseline. CDPHE lists certified labs, and the state lab mails bacteria kits at no charge.
Does FHA or VA require a water test on a well?
They require the water to meet the local health authority’s standards (or EPA’s where there is none) and call for testing in specific situations — a new well, an appraiser’s concern, a known problem, or a well within 100 feet of a septic system — with samples pulled by a disinterested third party. Many lenders order a standard panel regardless. VA results are good for 90 days, so time the test with the inspection.
Does a home inspection include the well?
Partly. We identify the water source, describe the visible wellhead, pressure tank and treatment equipment, run every fixture for flow and pressure, and flag problems like short cycling or a damaged cap. Standards of practice exclude water quality, yield and the pump itself — that is a well contractor’s test, and on a foothills purchase we recommend ordering it alongside the inspection.
This guide is for general education. It reflects what we look for during a home inspection, not a substitute for a licensed professional. If you have a specific concern, please contact a licensed well contractor or pump installer — and of course, we’re always happy to take a look during an inspection.
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