Coke County Records Need to Be Sorted Before They Are Compared

Coke County has 1,138 submitted driller records with reported total depths. That is enough history to be useful, but not every row answers the same question. Stock wells are the largest group at 428 records. Domestic wells account for 323, followed by 157 test wells and 138 monitor wells. Mixing those uses into one average would blur the evidence a rural homebuyer or landowner actually needs.

A stock well may be built around livestock demand and a different equipment plan. A monitor well or environmental boring can be much shallower because it was created for observation or investigation rather than household supply. Those entries still matter when reviewing activity around a tract, but they are not automatic substitutes for domestic completions.

Start with the Texas water well records lookup while screening acreage around Robert Lee, Bronte, Tennyson, or Silver. Once a tract becomes a serious purchase or construction candidate, a Pre-Drill Intelligence Report can narrow the field to nearby records with relevant coordinates, uses, and source documents. TurnKey Wells reviews public records; it does not drill wells or guarantee field results.

What the 323 Domestic Depth Records Show

The domestic subset has a median total depth of 180 feet. The middle half of the filings runs from 120 to 215 feet, and 90 percent are at or below 260 feet. That band is more useful for an initial conversation than the full range because one exceptional record stretches the high end far beyond the rest of the file.

Recorded domestic depths run from 40 to 1,015 feet, but the 1,015-foot filing stands alone. The next-deepest domestic record is 440 feet. The right reading is not that Coke County household wells commonly approach 1,000 feet. It is that an unusual filing needs its original report, coordinates, construction details, and use checked before it has any influence on a property plan.

The filed average is 179.2 feet, close to the 180-foot median, yet neither number predicts the next well. Ground elevation, location, record age, intended demand, completion decisions, and conditions encountered during drilling can all change what belongs in a tract-level comparison.

• Total Coke County SDR rows: 1,138
• Usable domestic total-depth logs: 323
• Median domestic total depth: 180 ft
• Domestic total-depth middle band: 120 to 215 ft
• Domestic 90th-percentile marker: 260 ft
• Recorded domestic total-depth range: 40 to 1,015 ft
• Next-deepest record below the outlier: 440 ft
• Average domestic total depth: 179.2 ft

Pump-Depth Filings Are Too Sparse for a County Benchmark

Only 31 domestic records in the local file include a positive pump-depth value. The entries also span an unusually wide range, including values that deserve source-document review. That sample is too thin and uneven to publish as a typical pump setting for Coke County.

Total depth and pump setting answer different questions anyway. Total depth describes how far the completed hole extends. Pump placement is an equipment decision informed by the completed well, water level, anticipated drawdown, intended demand, pump characteristics, and the contractor’s field judgment. A county total-depth median cannot supply that answer.

Ask a contractor to separate footage assumptions from pump and system allowances in a proposal. If a nearby report includes a pump setting, confirm that the value belongs to the same record and makes sense alongside its construction details before using it as a comparison.

Stock, Test, and Monitor Wells Tell Different Stories

The 428 stock-well records average 175.2 feet, with filed depths from 10 to 395 feet. Coke County also has 157 test wells averaging 183.3 feet and 138 monitor wells averaging 67.2 feet. Thirty-four environmental soil borings average just 33.9 feet. Each category reflects a different reason for putting a hole in the ground.

The similar averages for domestic, stock, and test records do not make the completions interchangeable. Demand, casing, equipment, reporting purpose, and site conditions can differ. Monitor wells and borings are the clearest warning against a blended figure: their shallow depths would pull a countywide average downward even though they were not intended as household water supplies.

Use other classes as context after the domestic lane has been mapped. A nearby stock record may help establish drilling history around ranchland, while a monitor record may flag environmental or observation work. Neither should quietly become a residential depth quote.

Place Names Help With Orientation, Not Property Proof

Robert Lee, Bronte, Blackwell, Silver, and Tennyson appear frequently in the submitted file, along with capitalization and spelling variants. The data also includes labels such as San Angelo, Water Valley, and Rocksprings. A mailing city can describe a route or service area rather than the well’s actual county location, and a typo can split otherwise related records.

Coordinates, use class, and the original report should control property comparisons. A record labeled Robert Lee is not automatically close enough to explain conditions on a tract outside Bronte. Two wells with the same city label may be miles apart or built for different purposes.

That is especially important when a record is unusually shallow or deep. Do not discard it just because it looks odd, and do not let it steer the budget before the source has been checked. Plot it, confirm the filing, and decide whether it belongs in the same local evidence set.

The Aquifer Field Is Mostly “Other” or Unassigned

The groundwater database contains 697 Coke County rows. Of those, 515 are labeled Other, 126 are labeled Edwards-Trinity Plateau, and 56 are unassigned. That distribution does not support a clean claim that one named aquifer explains every tract in the county.

The Edwards-Trinity aquifer guide for Texas gives regional context for the named records. It should not be read as proof that a particular property will draw from that aquifer, encounter water at a certain depth, or produce a certain amount. “Other” is a database label, not a usable substitute for formation and completion details.

Aquifer review becomes more useful when it begins with nearby coordinates and original well documents. A licensed driller can then compare the historical labels with local geology and present site conditions. County tables frame the research; they do not settle a tract-level aquifer question.

District Rules Must Be Checked for the Exact Tract

A county name alone should not be used to decide groundwater jurisdiction or current project requirements. Enter the property in the Texas groundwater conservation district lookup, then verify registration, spacing, permitting, replacement-well, production, and plugging rules with the authority returned for that location. Coke County Underground Water Conservation District is an important local authority, but the legal description and coordinates still need to match the tract being reviewed.

Do that before relying on an old contractor note, a seller’s recollection, or a neighboring landowner’s experience. Rules and boundaries can change. A valid answer for one parcel is not automatically transferable to another.

The database also contains 295 plugged-well rows assigned to Coke County. That is county history, not proof that an abandoned or plugged well exists on a property. For a sale involving an existing private well, the Texas water-well disclosure guide can help organize records, service history, equipment details, water tests, and open questions.

Depth Does Not Answer Water Quality or Yield

A 180-foot median does not tell a buyer what will come from a faucet. Water chemistry can change with the producing interval, well condition, construction, nearby activity, treatment equipment, and plumbing after the pressure tank. An operating system needs a current sample collected appropriately and analyzed by a qualified laboratory for the property and intended use.

Ask when the well was last serviced, how a sample was collected, and whether treatment equipment was bypassed. An older laboratory report may be valuable history without being a current answer. A planned new well follows a different sequence because its water cannot be tested until the well exists and has been properly completed.

Quantity is a separate question. Neither a filed depth nor a nearby stock-well record guarantees household yield. Public evidence can identify patterns and help a buyer ask sharper questions, but current field measurements and qualified contractor guidance must establish performance.

Build the Budget Around the Whole Water System

Historical depth statistics are planning references, not contractor prices. A complete Coke County budget may include mobilization, drilling, casing, completion materials, pump and controls, pressure equipment, trenching, electrical work, storage, testing, treatment, freeze protection, and cleanup. Access across brushy or uneven ranch ground can affect equipment placement before drilling begins.

The Texas water well drilling cost guide explains the categories behind an estimate. Ask each licensed contractor what is included, what remains an allowance, how additional footage is priced, who coordinates power and testing, and what happens if the completed well needs a different pump or treatment plan.

Existing systems need the same discipline. Low pressure may involve a pump, tank, controls, power supply, water level, well condition, or several issues at once. Records can establish history, but diagnosis and repair pricing belong to qualified professionals working from the current system.

Nearby County Pages for Regional Context

The nearest published county pages are regional comparisons rather than substitutes for Coke County data. They show how the mix of uses, depths, and aquifer labels can change across this part of Texas:

• Water well drilling records in Coleman County to the east
• Water well drilling records in nearby Brown County
• Water well drilling records in Callahan County to the northeast
• Concho County water well drilling records

Turn the Coke County File Into a Property Decision

This page is for buyers, landowners, agents, and rural sellers working around Robert Lee, Bronte, Blackwell, Silver, Tennyson, and the acreage between them. Coke County has a useful domestic record set, but good planning still depends on separating household evidence from the county’s larger stock-well lane and treating the lone 1,015-foot record as an exception.

If you are screening several properties, begin with the Free Well Check. If one tract has reached the inspection, negotiation, financing, or building stage, use the Pre-Drill Intelligence Report to organize nearby completions, aquifer clues, source records, and questions that still need field verification.