Your water system isn't working right in Conejos County — here's what to do
Water Works Plus runs calls across all of Conejos County, from the San Luis Valley floor up into the foothills along the New Mexico line. We've worked in this basin long enough to know what the alkaline groundwater does to equipment here, and how far you can be from the nearest parts supplier when something quits. Call (719) 859-1148 — answered 24 hours, Monday through Saturday.
- National Ground Water Association
- Colorado Water Well Contractors Association
- Bonded & insured
- Free estimates and project quotes
What's going wrong
The symptoms show up at the tap, but the trouble starts outside
Most Conejos County water calls aren't plumbing calls. The problem is in the well, the pump, the pressure tank, or the line between the well and the house.
What we do here
Supply-side service from the well to the building
Everything between the well casing and where the water enters your house is our territory. We don't drill wells — and that matters, explained below — but we handle everything else in that chain.
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Well service and pump repair
Pulling and inspecting submersible pumps, replacing worn components, testing output. Conejos County wells range from shallow domestic wells near the valley floor to deeper installations up toward Conejos Canyon. We work them all.
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Pressure tank replacement
The pressure tank — the one that looks like a propane tank near your pressure switch — takes a beating from the mineral-heavy water common in this basin. When the bladder fails, the pump cycles so often it burns out prematurely. Catching it early saves the pump.
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Water line repair and replacement
Buried lines crack from freeze-thaw cycles, get crushed by shifting soils, or just corrode over decades. We locate the problem, excavate, and repair or replace the line. Conejos County's clay-heavy soils along the valley hold frost longer than you'd expect.
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Cisterns and water delivery
A number of rural parcels in this county — particularly in the higher terrain south of Antonito — rely on cisterns and scheduled delivery rather than a drilled well. We install, repair, and service cistern systems, and we haul water when supply runs short.
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Septic systems
Septic service in Conejos County has to account for tight soils in some areas and the county's own setback requirements relative to the acequia system and waterways. We assess, install, and service septic from the house out.
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Filtration and water quality
The Rio Grande Basin aquifer carries dissolved minerals — iron, manganese, calcium — at levels that shorten equipment life and change the taste and appearance of water. We assess what's in the water and put filtration in place between the well and the house.
We work supply side only — from the well to where water enters your building — and do not touch interior plumbing, fixtures, water heaters, drains, or well drilling.
How we approach a call
We name causes cheapest first, then you decide
We're not going to lead with the most expensive possibility. We start with what's least likely to cost you money and work outward from there.
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Pressure switch and tank check
The pressure switch can drift out of calibration, and the tank can lose charge without the bladder failing. Both are quick checks and the repair, if needed, is the least expensive thing on this list. We start here.
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Tank bladder and pre-charge test
If the switch is fine but the pump cycles fast, we test the tank's pre-charge and bladder integrity. A tank replacement is still a fraction of what pump work costs, and it often stops the problem from becoming one.
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Line inspection and pressure test
A slow leak in the buried line bleeds pressure and makes the pump work harder than it should. We pressure-test the line to see if it holds. Finding and fixing a line problem is typically in the middle of the cost range — less than pump work, more than a tank swap.
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Pump performance test
We measure what the pump is actually delivering against what it should deliver. A worn pump that's losing output can often be serviced rather than replaced — and servicing it is considerably less than a full pull and replacement.
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Pump pull and inspection
If testing points to the pump itself, we pull it, inspect it at surface, and give you a clear picture of what's needed. At that point you know whether repair or replacement makes more sense before any parts are ordered.
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Well yield and aquifer assessment
If the well isn't producing enough water regardless of the pump's condition, that's a different problem — and one we can help you understand even though we don't drill. We'll tell you plainly what we see and refer you to a licensed driller if that's where things point. We have no financial reason to steer you toward drilling, because we don't do it.
Free estimates and project quotes, no obligation — (719) 859-1148.
- Free estimates — we quote after we diagnose
- One year on labor and materials
- Colorado License #1447
Why the cheap answer is safe to give
We can afford to tell you it is the cheap part
Not because we are nicer than the next outfit. Because of how this business is built — and all three of these are checkable.
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No rig to keep busy
A drilling rig is the most expensive thing a water contractor can own, and it has to stay working to pay for itself. We do not own one. A new well is not on our list of answers, because we could not drill it if we wanted to.
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We are a dealer, not a manufacturer
Authorized dealer — that is where the five-year equipment warranty comes from. We do not build pumps and we do not carry a quota on them. A pump we talk you out of costs us nothing.
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A wrong diagnosis comes back to us
One year on labor and materials means we are the ones who drive back out if the fix does not hold. Guessing expensive is not only dishonest here — it is expensive for us.
None of that is a claim about our character. You do not have to take our word for any of it — the license, the association memberships and the warranty terms are all verifiable, and they are the same on paper as they are on this page.
Questions we get asked
Before you call
Yes. Our service area runs 75 miles from Weston, which puts us well into Conejos County including the southern end near the New Mexico line. Antonito, the canyon road, the parcels east toward Capulin — all of it is in range. Call (719) 859-1148 to confirm your address if you're unsure.
Disturbing a buried line or a pump stirs up sediment, and it usually clears within a day or two of running the system. If it's been longer than that, or if the color has changed rather than just appearing after work, something else is likely going on. We can come out and pull a sample, check the pump, and look at what's upstream of the discoloration.
We can tell you what the pump is doing, what the line looks like, and what the well is currently producing — and we'll give you a straight answer about whether what we find points to drilling or to something fixable on the supply side. We don't drill wells and don't own a rig, so we have no stake in steering you toward a new well. If you need one, we'll say so and refer you out.
Time-of-day pressure variation in a rural system often means the well is keeping up when demand is low but struggling when it's higher — which points to either a pump that's lost capacity or a well yield that's dropped. It can also be a pressure tank that's undersized for the actual demand. We diagnose those differently, and the cost difference between the two outcomes is significant, so getting it right first matters.
Cisterns are part of what we do. That includes the tank itself, the fill connections, the pump and pressure system off the cistern, and the delivery when supply runs short. A lot of the higher-elevation parcels and some of the older homesteads in Conejos County run this way, and we know the setup.
One year on labor and materials, and five years on equipment where we're an authorized dealer. Those numbers don't change by county or by job size.
Yes, shared wells and shared water systems are something we work on. The main practical difference is that scheduling and decisions usually involve more than one household, and sometimes the ownership arrangement affects what paperwork looks like. Let us know the situation when you call and we'll sort through it.
The Rio Grande Basin has its own designated groundwater rules, setback requirements, and permit conditions that apply to well work and some water line work. Those rules are worth understanding before any project starts. We work within them on every job — and there's a full explanation at the well rules page linked below.
If your question isn't here, call (719) 859-1148 — someone answers Monday through Saturday, around the clock. Call (719) 859-1148
Before we arrive
A few things that help us move faster on site
You don't need to have answers to all of these — but whatever you know ahead of time saves time at the well.
- Know where your well casing is. Even an approximate location helps, especially if it's been covered by snow or vegetation. A well cap sticking a few inches out of the ground, usually within 50 feet of the house.
- Note when the symptoms started and what changed around that time. A repair, a hard freeze, a dry stretch, a power outage — those details often narrow the diagnosis before we've touched anything.
- Locate your pressure tank and pressure switch if you can. Usually in a utility room, crawl space, or pump house. The pressure switch is the small box mounted on a pipe near the tank, often with two wires running into it.
- Write down your well driller's log number if you have it. Colorado keeps records of drilled wells, and knowing the log number lets us look up depth, casing diameter, and original yield before we arrive — useful context when diagnosing a production problem.
If you can't find any of it, that's fine — we've worked in enough Conejos County properties to find our way.
Tell us what the water is doing.
We’ll tell you what it usually turns out to be, what it will take to confirm it, and what it costs — before we touch anything.
Call (719) 859-1148Answering 24 hours a day, Monday through Saturday
- Colorado License #1447 · bonded and insured
- One year on labor and materials, five on equipment
- Free estimates and project quotes — we quote after we diagnose
- NGWA and Colorado Water Well Contractors Association
Or have us call you back
If you are on bad signal or would rather not talk right now.