The 396 domestic wells on file within 5 miles of Erie, from the state’s drilling logs: your neighbors’ wells, and the best guide to this ground.
Source: PaGWIS (PA DCNR), domestic wells within 5 miles, retrieved 2026-09-30; older paper-record locations are approximate.
How Far Down Rock Sits Around Erie
Around Erie, the part of a well that varies most is how much of it sits above rock. Total depth is middling: by median, Erie ties for 7th of 16 towns in Erie County.
Only 186 of the 396 local logs record bedrock, and those put it at a median 35 feet, with a quarter at 19 or less and a quarter at 50 or more. A well that meets rock late needs a longer run of casing, and casing is its own line in the cost. Well drilling explains how that ground is handled, from the first few feet of cover to the rock below.
Sizing a Pump Near Erie
Yield is the least predictable figure here. Of 339 logs that record one, the median is 8 gallons per minute, but the bottom quarter logged 3 or less and the top quarter 20 or more. A pump picked from the median could be too big for one well and too small for the next, so it’s chosen after the well is drilled and flow-tested, from what that well actually gives.
The pump’s size then sets the pressure tank it needs, big enough that the pump isn’t starting and stopping at every tap. Inside the city, the water authority does this work for 63,820 connections, with water drawn from the lake and Presque Isle Bay, and the city’s treatment page covers what the authority adds before it reaches the mains.
