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Montana water data · Zip Code in Pondera County

ZIP 59486: well depth, groundwater and water rights

What the public record says about water in ZIP code 59486: 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 1,357 public records from MBMG GWIC, Montana DNRC, Montana DEQ, EPA UST Finder, US Census (ZIP Code Tabulation Area)

Wells on record

434

0.9 per sq mi

Median well depth

80 ft

half of wells 35–135 ft

Median static water level

31 ft

255 measurements

Median tested yield

10 gpm

287 pump tests

Well depth

How deep are wells in ZIP 59486?

Of 381 wells with a recorded total depth, the median is 80 feet. Half were drilled between 35 and 135 feet; one in ten went deeper than 175 feet and one in ten found water shallower than 15 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
24%
100–200 ft
35%
200–300 ft
4%
300–500 ft
2%
500 ft and deeper
1%

Static water level

31 ft

median depth to water at rest · half between 16 and 65 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 25 gpm

16% of tested wells produced under 5 gallons per minute and 34% 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 59486

21 wells have been completed here since 2016, 5 of them in the last twelve months. The newest log on file was completed July 30, 2026. Records run back to 1885.

What the wells are for

  • Stockwater202
  • Domestic186
  • Monitoring85
  • Irrigation16
  • Public Water Supply16

How they were drilled

  • Rotary82
  • Forward Rotary35
  • Unknown20
  • Dug6

Drillers filing well logs in ZIP 59486

  • Aquasource Drilling Llc8 since 2016 · 2026
  • Mt Dept Of Transportation3 since 2016 · 2021
  • Western Water Wells3 since 2016 · 2022
  • Aquasource Inc Llc2 since 2016 · 2022
  • Boland Drilling1 since 2016 · 2025
  • Montana Salinity Control Association40 all-time · 2006
  • Anderson Drilling27 all-time · 1982
  • Scott Brown15 all-time · 2006

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 59486

Montana DNRC lists 895 water rights with a point of diversion inside this area: 357 groundwater and 538 surface water, 581 of them active. The median priority date is 1929, and the oldest claim dates to 1864.

Types of right

  • Statement Of Claim665
  • Ground Water Certificate161
  • Provisional Permit31
  • Exempt Notice19
  • Stockwater Permit12

Purposes

  • Stock435
  • Irrigation192
  • Domestic68
  • Municipal56
  • Multiple Domestic34

DNRC basins

  • 41M598
  • 41P296
  • 41L1

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 59486 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.

  • Eagle Sandstone7 wells · 32% · median 122 ft
  • Two Medicine Formation (of Montana Group)7 wells · 32% · median 70 ft
  • Telegraph Creek Formation (of Montana Group)5 wells · 23% · median 76 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 59486

Petroleum releases

11

4 open · 7 resolved

Superfund program sites

0

none on the National Priorities List

Registered tank facilities

17

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 2025. A property report screens the sites within a quarter, half and one mile of a specific parcel and links the agency records.