Transparency

Where the data comes from.

We use official government sources only. We do not scrape commercial property sites, and we do not buy repackaged data when the authoritative source is public. Every dataset below was tested directly against its live service before we built on it.

Montana Bureau of Mines and Geology, Ground Water Information Center (GWIC)

Verified 2026-08-13

Montana Bureau of Mines and Geology (MBMG), Montana Tech

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22 layers, capabilities Query,Extract, no authentication. 330,777 well sites verified by exact count query.

Access method: https://mbmgmap.mtech.edu/server/rest/services/Water_Resources/GWIC_Database/FeatureServer
Upstream update cadence: Static water level layer updates daily (latest observed measurement 2026-08-12). Core well records updated on an ongoing basis; no published schedule.
Our refresh schedule: weekly
Last retrieved: August 13, 2026

Montana Department of Natural Resources and Conservation (DNRC), Water Rights Bureau

Verified 2026-08-13

Montana DNRC

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Layer 0 = Points of Diversion (point). Layer 1 = LLD Places of Use (polygon).

Access method: https://gis.dnrc.mt.gov/arcgis/rest/services/WRD/WMB_WaterRightsData/FeatureServer
Upstream update cadence: Continuous administrative updates as rights are filed, amended, and adjudicated.
Our refresh schedule: weekly
Last retrieved: August 13, 2026

Montana State Library, Montana Cadastral Framework

Verified 2026-08-13

Montana State Library

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Layer 1 = Montana Parcels. Native spatial reference is wkid 6514 (Montana State Plane); must request outSR=4326.

Access method: https://services.arcgis.com/qnjIrwR8z5Izc0ij/ArcGIS/rest/services/Montana_Cadastral_Framework/FeatureServer
Upstream update cadence: Parcel attributes are annual tax-year snapshots (TaxYear field); geometry maintained continuously by counties.
Our refresh schedule: monthly
Last retrieved: August 13, 2026

Montana DNRC, Water Resources Division

Verified 2026-08-13

Montana DNRC

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Layer 11 = Controlled Groundwater Areas (21 features). Layer 12 = Closures (182 features). Layer 13 = Dewatered Streams.

Access method: https://gis.dnrc.mt.gov/arcgis/rest/services/WRD/WRD/MapServer
Upstream update cadence: Changes only by DNRC order or legislative action; infrequent.
Our refresh schedule: monthly
Last retrieved: August 13, 2026

Montana DNRC, Water Management Bureau — Source Aquifer Codes

Verified 2026-08-13

Montana DNRC

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Layer 11 = statewide aquifer polygons with hydrogeologic descriptions.

Access method: https://gis.dnrc.mt.gov/arcgis/rest/services/WRD/WMB_AquiferSourceCodes/MapServer
Upstream update cadence: Static reference layer; revised rarely.
Our refresh schedule: monthly
Last retrieved: August 13, 2026

Montana DNRC — Statewide Aquifer Properties

Verified 2026-08-13

Montana DNRC

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Layer 1 = point-level aquifer tests with transmissivity, storativity, and PDF reports.

Access method: https://gis.dnrc.mt.gov/arcgis/rest/services/WRD/WMB_MontanaAquiferTests/MapServer
Upstream update cadence: Appended as new aquifer tests are submitted and reviewed.
Our refresh schedule: monthly
Last retrieved: Not yet loaded

U.S. Geological Survey, Water Data for the Nation

Verified 2026-08-13

USGS

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Phase 3. Use collections/field-measurements with parameter_code=72019 (depth to water below land surface).

Access method: https://api.waterdata.usgs.gov/ogcapi/v0
Upstream update cadence: Continuous. Legacy NWIS gwlevels API decommissioned 2025-11-01.
Our refresh schedule: weekly
Last retrieved: Not yet loaded

EPA / USGS Water Quality Portal

Verified 2026-08-13

U.S. EPA and USGS

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Phase 3. Montana well results verified: 54,487 specific conductance; 47,920 pH; 38,952 TDS; 10,912 nitrate; 7,739 arsenic. Use mimeType=csv (JSON returns 406) and siteType=Well.

Access method: https://www.waterqualitydata.us/data
Upstream update cadence: Continuous contribution by federal, state, and tribal organizations.
Our refresh schedule: monthly
Last retrieved: Not yet loaded

How we treat these sources

We consume official APIs and ArcGIS services rather than scraping pages, and we ingest on a schedule into our own normalized database instead of calling state servers on every user request.
We rate-limit our ingestion deliberately. These are small agency servers, and the whole product depends on not overloading them.
Every record we store keeps its source dataset, source URL, and retrieval timestamp, which is what lets a report cite its own figures.
Reports are frozen snapshots. A report you bought last month still shows the data as it stood when you bought it, with its own vintage stamp.
We attribute all sources and we do not represent government data as our own. Our contribution is the normalization, the comparable-well methodology, and the analysis.

Read how we turn these datasets into a report