Montana water data · Zip Code in Garfield County

ZIP 59318: well depth, groundwater and water rights

What the public record says about water in ZIP code 59318: 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 1,086 public records from MBMG GWIC, Montana DNRC, US Census (ZIP Code Tabulation Area)

Wells on record

231

0.4 per sq mi

Median well depth

200 ft

half of wells 65–350 ft

Median static water level

120 ft

176 measurements

Median tested yield

7 gpm

198 pump tests

Well depth

How deep are wells in ZIP 59318?

Of 225 wells with a recorded total depth, the median is 200 feet. Half were drilled between 65 and 350 feet; one in ten went deeper than 520 feet and one in ten found water shallower than 25 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
23%
50–100 ft
5%
100–200 ft
20%
200–300 ft
16%
300–500 ft
23%
500 ft and deeper
12%

Static water level

120 ft

median depth to water at rest · half between 40 and 215 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

7 gpm

median tested yield · half between 4 and 12 gpm

28% of tested wells produced under 5 gallons per minute and 14% 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 59318

20 wells have been completed here since 2016, 6 of them in the last twelve months. The newest log on file was completed April 14, 2026. Records run back to 1912.

What the wells are for

  • Stockwater180
  • Domestic73
  • Monitoring16
  • Test Well7
  • Irrigation2

How they were drilled

  • Rotary95
  • Forward Rotary26
  • Hand Dug17
  • Solid Stem Auger6

Drillers filing well logs in ZIP 59318

  • Askin Drilling10 since 2016 · 2021
  • Montana Salinity Control Association6 since 2016 · 2026
  • Gordon Drilling Inc4 since 2016 · 2017
  • Ronald L Askin Drilling21 all-time · 2003
  • Drane Drilling Service16 all-time · 1971
  • Eastern Montana Drilling9 all-time · 1949
  • Sharp Drilling Inc4 all-time · 2012
  • Singley Drilling4 all-time · 1977

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 59318

Montana DNRC lists 855 water rights with a point of diversion inside this area: 222 groundwater and 633 surface water, 803 of them active. The median priority date is 1957, and the oldest claim dates to 1883.

Types of right

  • Statement Of Claim625
  • Ground Water Certificate99
  • Stockwater Permit71
  • Provisional Permit35
  • Compact24

Purposes

  • Stock656
  • Irrigation43
  • Wildlife41
  • Domestic36
  • Domestic; Stock19

DNRC basins

  • 40E659
  • 40D196

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 59318 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.

  • Fox Hills-hell Creek Aquifer107 wells · 95% · median 335 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.