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Montana water data · Zip Code in Sweet Grass County

ZIP 59011: well depth, groundwater and water rights

What the public record says about water in ZIP code 59011: how deep wells go, where the water table sits, what wells produce, which water rights are on file, and which documented environmental sites are nearby. Area statistics orient you; a property report analyzes the records around one specific parcel.

Updated September 2026 · Based on 5,568 public records from MBMG GWIC, Montana DNRC, Montana DEQ, EPA UST Finder, US Census (ZIP Code Tabulation Area)

Wells on record

1,568

1.7 per sq mi

Median well depth

87 ft

half of wells 48–160 ft

Median static water level

24 ft

1,442 measurements

Median tested yield

20 gpm

1,437 pump tests

Well depth

How deep are wells in ZIP 59011?

Of 1,498 wells with a recorded total depth, the median is 87 feet. Half were drilled between 48 and 160 feet; one in ten went deeper than 290 feet and one in ten found water shallower than 32 feet. Depth is set by local geology and position on the landscape, both of which change over short distances, so the spread matters as much as the median.

under 50 ft
25%
50–100 ft
29%
100–200 ft
26%
200–300 ft
10%
300–500 ft
8%
500 ft and deeper
1%

Static water level

24 ft

median depth to water at rest · half between 13 and 42 ft

The static level is how far below ground the water stands before pumping, measured by the driller at completion. It affects pump setting and operating cost, and it moves with season and with neighbouring use.

Well yield

20 gpm

median tested yield · half between 10 and 30 gpm

8% of tested wells produced under 5 gallons per minute and 54% produced 20 or more. These are short completion tests, not sustained-capacity tests; a household typically needs 3 to 5 gpm with storage.

Drilling activity

Recent well drilling in ZIP 59011

239 wells have been completed here since 2016, 19 of them in the last twelve months. The newest log on file was completed September 21, 2026. Records run back to 1870.

What the wells are for

  • Domestic1,048
  • Stockwater567
  • Irrigation180
  • Monitoring53
  • Public Water Supply22

How they were drilled

  • Rotary729
  • Cable413
  • Forward Rotary31
  • Hand Dug23

Drillers filing well logs in ZIP 59011

  • Birchell Drilling127 since 2016 · 2023
  • Thompson Drilling & Pump49 since 2016 · 2026
  • Aaqua Drilling Inc17 since 2016 · 2026
  • A-1 Drilling6 since 2016 · 2021
  • Van Dyken Drilling Inc5 since 2016 · 2026
  • Potts Drilling Inc5 since 2016 · 2025
  • Bertram Drilling Inc5 since 2016 · 2024
  • Outlaw Drilling & Pump, Llc5 since 2016 · 2026

Ranked by well logs filed with GWIC, public record only. Not an endorsement, a referral or a paid listing; we have no business relationship with these companies. Verify licensing with the Montana Board of Water Well Contractors before hiring.

Water rights

Water rights on file in ZIP 59011

Montana DNRC lists 3,943 water rights with a point of diversion inside this area: 1,801 groundwater and 2,142 surface water, 3,773 of them active. The median priority date is 1922, and the oldest claim dates to 1870.

Types of right

  • Statement Of Claim2,886
  • Ground Water Certificate885
  • Provisional Permit91
  • Exempt Notice42
  • Stockwater Permit18

Purposes

  • Stock2,010
  • Irrigation970
  • Domestic387
  • Domestic; Lawn And Garden115
  • Domestic; Stock73

DNRC basins

  • 43B2,263
  • 43BV945
  • 43BJ434
  • 40A205
  • 43Q70

Area totals describe the neighbourhood, not any one parcel. Montana publishes no authoritative link between a parcel and a water right; whether a right attaches to a specific property is a property-level question that our reports answer with the DNRC abstract linked.

Aquifers and geology

What wells in ZIP 59011 draw from

Drillers record the aquifer a well is completed in. The units below account for the wells here that carry an aquifer assignment; the median depth beside each is for wells completed in that unit.

  • Fort Union Formation92 wells · 41% · median 150 ft
  • Hell Creek Formation55 wells · 24% · median 82 ft
  • Alluvium (quaternary)19 wells · 8% · median 40 ft
  • Alluvium (holocene)11 wells · 5% · median 29 ft
  • Volcanics (upper Cretaceous)8 wells · 4% · median 130 ft

Aquifer assignments are the driller's, recorded at completion, and many older logs carry none. Absence of an assignment is not evidence about the geology.

Environmental groundwater screening

Documented environmental sites in ZIP 59011

Petroleum releases

25

1 open · 24 resolved

Superfund program sites

0

none on the National Priorities List

Registered tank facilities

32

underground storage tanks, current and historical

A documented release or site in the area is not evidence that any particular well is affected. Whether a release reaches a well depends on groundwater flow direction, geology, well depth and construction, the extent of the plume and the cleanup performed. The most recent release reported here dates to 2017. A property report screens the sites within a quarter, half and one mile of a specific parcel and links the agency records.