Montana water data · Zip Code in Phillips County
ZIP 59538: well depth, groundwater and water rights
What the public record says about water in ZIP code 59538: 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 7,856 public records from MBMG GWIC, Montana DNRC, Montana DEQ, EPA SEMS, EPA UST Finder, US Census (ZIP Code Tabulation Area)
Wells on record
1,266
0.5 per sq mi
Median well depth
75 ft
half of wells 35–230 ft
Median static water level
26 ft
1,024 measurements
Median tested yield
12 gpm
981 pump tests
Well depth
How deep are wells in ZIP 59538?
Of 1,220 wells with a recorded total depth, the median is 75 feet. Half were drilled between 35 and 230 feet; one in ten went deeper than 640 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.
Static water level
26 ft
median depth to water at rest · half between 17 and 70 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
12 gpm
median tested yield · half between 8 and 25 gpm
10% of tested wells produced under 5 gallons per minute and 36% 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 59538
118 wells have been completed here since 2016, 5 of them in the last twelve months. The newest log on file was completed July 26, 2026. Records run back to 1890.
What the wells are for
- Stockwater722
- Domestic565
- Monitoring224
- Irrigation30
- Public Water Supply20
How they were drilled
- Rotary288
- Hollowstem Auger111
- Cable44
- Drilled31
Drillers filing well logs in ZIP 59538
- Haz Tech Drilling Inc52 since 2016 · 2019
- Petrie Pump & Drilling28 since 2016 · 2023
- Jacobson Drilling17 since 2016 · 2026
- Hansen Environmental Drilling11 since 2016 · 2022
- Vidic Drilling4 since 2016 · 2025
- Hansen Drilling3 since 2016 · 2016
- Aquasource Drilling Llc3 since 2016 · 2025
- Simpson Drilling Co.116 all-time · 1981
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 59538
Montana DNRC lists 6,524 water rights with a point of diversion inside this area: 1,058 groundwater and 5,466 surface water, 5,898 of them active. The median priority date is 1954, and the oldest claim dates to 1865.
Types of right
- Statement Of Claim4,954
- Stockwater Permit444
- Provisional Permit420
- Ground Water Certificate350
- Compact169
Purposes
- Stock3,982
- Wildlife1,033
- Irrigation553
- Domestic248
- Stock; Wildlife/waterfowl208
DNRC basins
- 40M2,873
- 40J1,572
- 40E1,312
- 40EJ731
- 40I34
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 59538 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.
- Judith River Formation (of Montana Group)224 wells · 43% · median 351 ft
- Alluvium (quaternary)162 wells · 31% · median 58 ft
- Alluvium (pleistocene)63 wells · 12% · median 68 ft
- Glacial Drift53 wells · 10% · median 28 ft
- Quaternary Undifferentiated5 wells · 1% · median 12 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 59538
Petroleum releases
29
12 open · 17 resolved
Superfund program sites
1
none on the National Priorities List
Registered tank facilities
36
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 2024. A property report screens the sites within a quarter, half and one mile of a specific parcel and links the agency records.