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Montana water data · Zip Code in Carter County

ZIP 59311: well depth, groundwater and water rights

What the public record says about water in ZIP code 59311: 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 2,864 public records from MBMG GWIC, Montana DNRC, Montana DEQ, EPA UST Finder, US Census (ZIP Code Tabulation Area)

Wells on record

121

0.1 per sq mi

Median well depth

120 ft

half of wells 30–340 ft

Median static water level

47 ft

103 measurements

Median tested yield

10 gpm

106 pump tests

Well depth

How deep are wells in ZIP 59311?

Of 109 wells with a recorded total depth, the median is 120 feet. Half were drilled between 30 and 340 feet; one in ten went deeper than 1,452 feet and one in ten found water shallower than 20 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
34%
50–100 ft
13%
100–200 ft
11%
200–300 ft
6%
300–500 ft
14%
500 ft and deeper
22%

Static water level

47 ft

median depth to water at rest · half between 18 and 200 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

10 gpm

median tested yield · half between 5 and 15 gpm

22% of tested wells produced under 5 gallons per minute and 23% 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 59311

14 wells have been completed here since 2016, 1 of them in the last twelve months. The newest log on file was completed February 12, 2026. Records run back to 1901.

What the wells are for

  • Stockwater91
  • Domestic32
  • Monitoring4
  • Industrial2

How they were drilled

  • Rotary75
  • Hand4
  • Hand Dug4
  • Auger3

Drillers filing well logs in ZIP 59311

  • Ww Drilling Llc8 since 2016 · 2026
  • Keller Drilling3 since 2016 · 2020
  • Weston Engineering, Inc.2 since 2016 · 2016
  • Drane Drilling Service22 all-time · 2008
  • R And D Drilling5 all-time · 1961
  • Bandy3 all-time · 1983
  • Unknown3 all-time · 1945

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 59311

Montana DNRC lists 2,735 water rights with a point of diversion inside this area: 298 groundwater and 2,437 surface water, 2,621 of them active. The median priority date is 1954, and the oldest claim dates to 1878.

Types of right

  • Statement Of Claim2,157
  • Stockwater Permit282
  • Ground Water Certificate114
  • Powder River Declaration98
  • Provisional Permit81

Purposes

  • Stock2,054
  • Irrigation291
  • Wildlife279
  • Domestic33
  • Domestic; Stock22

DNRC basins

  • 39F2,222
  • 39E275
  • 42I117
  • 38H110
  • 42J9

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 59311 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.

  • Alluvium (quaternary)28 wells · 33% · median 25 ft
  • Fox Hills-hell Creek Aquifer19 wells · 22% · median 279 ft
  • Lakota Sandstone (of Inyan Kara Group)13 wells · 15% · median 1,340 ft
  • Hell Creek Formation8 wells · 9% · median 110 ft
  • Fox Hills Formation Or Sandstone7 wells · 8% · median 225 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 59311

Petroleum releases

4

1 open · 3 resolved

Superfund program sites

0

none on the National Priorities List

Registered tank facilities

4

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 1999. A property report screens the sites within a quarter, half and one mile of a specific parcel and links the agency records.