ZIP 59820: well depth, groundwater and water rights

Well depth

How deep are wells in ZIP 59820?

Of 510 wells with a recorded total depth, the median is 144 feet. Half were drilled between 95 and 240 feet; one in ten went deeper than 400 feet and one in ten found water shallower than 66 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.

Drilling activity

Recent well drilling in ZIP 59820

129 wells have been completed here since 2016, 10 of them in the last twelve months. The newest log on file was completed July 15, 2026. Records run back to 1931.

Water rights

Water rights on file in ZIP 59820

Montana DNRC lists 770 water rights with a point of diversion inside this area: 508 groundwater and 262 surface water, 713 of them active. The median priority date is 1986, and the oldest claim dates to 1865.

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 59820 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 (pleistocene)149 wells · 44% · median 116 ft
• Belt Supergroup138 wells · 41% · median 220 ft
• Alluvium (holocene)32 wells · 9% · median 59 ft
• Sand And Gravel (pleistocene)17 wells · 5% · median 105 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 59820

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 1998. A property report screens the sites within a quarter, half and one mile of a specific parcel and links the agency records.