Water wells in the Chicot Aquifer, Grimes County, Texas
Only 13 home water wells that draw from the Chicot Aquifer in Grimes County, Texas have been reported since 2001, so treat this as a rough guide: the middle half are 105 to 186 feet deep (median 159 ft). It is a minor layer here: just under 1% of the 880 wells the state's model covers; the main one is the Jasper and Catahoula aquifers, with the Burkeville (57%). They run about 136 feet shallower than the county's median well (295 ft). Estimated cost of a complete well at the median depth: $6,500 to $16,000.
This page is based on fewer than 30 wells, so it is kept out of search engines until more reports come in. Treat every figure as a rough guide.
Updated every day from Texas Water Development Board driller reports. Last update: November 11, 2026, using the state file of November 10, 2026.
Which layer Grimes County wells draw from
- Jasper and Catahoula, with the Burkeville 57% · 503 wells
- Evangeline Aquifer 31% · 270 wells
- Near or below the base of the Gulf Coast Aquifer 12% · 106 wells
- Chicot Aquifer <1% · 1 wells
Home wells in Grimes County
Each dot is a home well from a state driller report, colored by depth. Tap one for its details and official report. Tap an empty spot to see what is under that point.
Well depth (ft)
- <100
- 100
- 200
- 300
- 400
- 600
- 800+
Dark line: Grimes County
Green: aquifer mapped by the state
Key figures
- Typical depth (middle half)
- 105 to 186 feet
- Median depth
- 159 feet
- Deepest 10% are past
- 255 feet
- Water level (median)
- 40 feet
- 13 wells
- Wells used
- 13
- Since 2001
- Share of the county's wells
- <1%
- All years on file
- 13
- median 159 ft, since 2002
- Confidence
- Few wells (10 to 29)
When the wells were finished, the water stood a median 40 feet below the surface (13 wells), well above the bottom: the typical well holds about 119 feet of water.
What this layer is
The Chicot is the youngest and shallowest part of the Gulf Coast Aquifer: beds of sand, silt and clay laid down by rivers and the sea over the last two million years or so (Beaumont, Lissie and Willis). It is at the surface across most of the coastal plain, so most home wells in Harris, Brazoria, Fort Bend, Galveston, Liberty and Jefferson counties draw from it.
Checked against the state's own aquifer codes: where our method names this group, the state agrees in 84% of 9,234 wells.
Depth over time
Too few wells per period in this layer in Grimes County to compare depth over time. Since 2002, 13 home wells have been reported, with a median of 159 feet.
| Period | Median depth (ft) | Wells |
|---|---|---|
| 2001–2005 | under 10 wells | 7 |
| 2006–2010 | under 10 wells | 5 |
| 2016–2020 | under 10 wells | 1 |
Common questions
How deep is a well in the Chicot Aquifer in Grimes County?
Only 13 home water wells that draw from the Chicot Aquifer in Grimes County, Texas have been reported since 2001, so treat this as a rough guide: the middle half are 105 to 186 feet deep (median 159 ft).
How many Grimes County wells draw from this layer?
It is a minor layer here: just under 1% of the 880 wells the state's model covers; the main one is the Jasper and Catahoula aquifers, with the Burkeville (57%). Only 8% of these wells have the water-bearing interval on their report (reports before about 2012 rarely do). For the others we use the bottom of the hole, which tends to read one layer deeper than where the water actually comes from.
How deep does the water stand?
When the wells were finished, the water stood a median 40 feet below the surface (13 wells), well above the bottom: the typical well holds about 119 feet of water.
What a well costs here
At the median depth for this layer in Grimes County (159 feet), a complete home well would cost roughly $6,500 to $16,000: $25 to $60 per foot for drilling, casing and seal, plus $2,500 to $6,500 for the pump, pressure tank, controls and hookup at the well. Across the whole middle half of depths (105 to 186 feet) the range runs from $5,000 to $17,500. This is TerraFunded's estimate from published Texas prices, not a quote, and it leaves out trenching and the line to the house. Get prices from at least two licensed drillers.
How these numbers are made
We count new and replacement domestic (home) wells with a valid depth on their report. We use the last 10 years when there are at least 30 wells; otherwise all since 2001. The median is the middle well and the middle half runs from the 25th to the 75th percentile.
To tell which layer a well draws from, we take the ground elevation at its location, subtract the depth of the interval where water enters (or the bottom of the hole when the report does not give one) and see which layer of the state's model that point falls in.
Only 8% of these wells have the water-bearing interval on their report (reports before about 2012 rarely do). For the others we use the bottom of the hole, which tends to read one layer deeper than where the water actually comes from.
How well it works: In 14,333 wells in the area of the state's northern Gulf Coast Aquifer model (Houston and Southeast Texas) where the State of Texas recorded the aquifer, the formation our method says the well draws from (as grouped on these pages) is the one the state recorded in about 83% of them, and that formation or the one next to it in at least 99%; of the 3,578 of those wells that the state records in the Evangeline, it names the Evangeline for about 51% and the Chicot for most of the rest.
- The layers come from the Texas Water Development Board's northern Gulf Coast Aquifer model, with cells of about 0.62 mile (1 km). It is a regional model, not a survey of any lot.
- The state's model has cells of about 3,277 ft (1 km, 0.62 mile); we read it on a grid of about 0.6 by 0.7 miles. It is not a survey of any lot, so we give ranges.
- Figures go by three groups: Chicot, Evangeline, and Jasper and Catahoula with the Burkeville. The state's records cannot tell the Burkeville, the Jasper and the Catahoula apart at a well (alone, the Burkeville matched 33% and the Catahoula 50%), so they are never named one by one as the formation of a well or a place.
- The line between the Chicot and the Evangeline is drawn differently by different studies. The state's records put about half of their Evangeline wells in what the model draws as the Chicot, mostly deeper wells in Harris, Montgomery, Waller, Liberty and Austin counties. Where both appear, the split is approximate.
- "Near or below the base" means the well ends near or below the base of the Gulf Coast Aquifer (under the Catahoula: Jackson Group, Yegua and older). It is 1.3% of home wells; half of them end within about 85 ft of the base. That is not an error: the model simply ends there.
- The model's top layer is a uniform 49 ft slab for the water table zone, not a rock unit; we merge it into the unit beneath. The model also covers Colorado, Lavaca, Fayette, Wharton and Matagorda counties (outside Groundwater Management Area 14), with the same framework. Texas part only.
- We never use the model's water levels. The water level on this page is the one each driller measured when the well was finished.
These are depths of real wells drilled nearby, not a promise about any property. Groundwater can change over short distances and with drought. A licensed water well driller can tell you what to expect on a specific tract.
Read the full methodology · Download the data (CSV, CC BY 4.0)
How to cite
TerraFunded (2026). Texas Well Atlas: Underground. From Texas Water Development Board driller reports and groundwater availability models (data as of November 10, 2026). https://terrafunded.com/wells/grimes-county/chicot. License CC BY 4.0. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.24126380.
Sources
- Submitted Driller's Reports database, Texas Water Development Board (TWDB) (file of November 10, 2026)
- Northern Portion of the Gulf Coast Aquifer System Groundwater Availability Model for Groundwater Management Area 14 Joint Planning (GMA 14 Model). Keester, M.R., Webster, P., Beach, J., Drabek, C., and Chen, Y.H. (KT Groundwater and Advanced Groundwater Solutions), for Groundwater Management Area 14, in cooperation with Lone Star Groundwater Conservation District; layer elevations from GULF-2023 (Ellis and others, 2023, U.S. Geological Survey), 2025, GAM v4.1. TWDB groundwater availability model.
- Ground elevation: Terrain Tiles (Mapzen), Registry of Open Data on AWS
- TWDB well report viewer (each well's official report)
