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Montana water data · Zip Code in Sanders County

ZIP 59844: well depth, groundwater and water rights

What the public record says about water in ZIP code 59844: 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 599 public records from MBMG GWIC, Montana DNRC, Montana DEQ, EPA UST Finder, US Census (ZIP Code Tabulation Area)

Wells on record

243

3.2 per sq mi

Median well depth

280 ft

half of wells 156–360 ft

Median static water level

160 ft

223 measurements

Median tested yield

20 gpm

226 pump tests

Well depth

How deep are wells in ZIP 59844?

Of 230 wells with a recorded total depth, the median is 280 feet. Half were drilled between 156 and 360 feet; one in ten went deeper than 438 feet and one in ten found water shallower than 100 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
2%
50–100 ft
8%
100–200 ft
24%
200–300 ft
20%
300–500 ft
40%
500 ft and deeper
7%

Static water level

160 ft

median depth to water at rest · half between 75 and 270 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

20 gpm

median tested yield · half between 10 and 30 gpm

9% of tested wells produced under 5 gallons per minute and 59% 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 59844

45 wells have been completed here since 2016, 3 of them in the last twelve months. The newest log on file was completed April 10, 2026. Records run back to 1910.

What the wells are for

  • Domestic234
  • Stockwater4
  • Public Water Supply4
  • Unused2
  • Commercial2

How they were drilled

  • Rotary177
  • Cable22
  • Churn5
  • Air Rotary2

Drillers filing well logs in ZIP 59844

  • Universal Drilling23 since 2016 · 2025
  • North Star Drilling Inc10 since 2016 · 2024
  • Universal Drilling Llc5 since 2016 · 2025
  • North Star Drilling Inc.3 since 2016 · 2025
  • H2o Well Service Inc2 since 2016 · 2026
  • Williams Well Drilling25 all-time · 2012
  • Krass Drilling & Pump Service21 all-time · 1999
  • Minden Water Wells Inc18 all-time · 2011

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 59844

Montana DNRC lists 351 water rights with a point of diversion inside this area: 253 groundwater and 98 surface water, 336 of them active. The median priority date is 1985, and the oldest claim dates to 1899.

Types of right

  • Ground Water Certificate200
  • Statement Of Claim108
  • Provisional Permit33
  • Exempt Notice8
  • Compact1

Purposes

  • Domestic117
  • Domestic; Lawn And Garden49
  • Irrigation35
  • Stock34
  • Domestic; Stock23

DNRC basins

  • 76N351

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 59844 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.

  • Glacial Drift23 wells · 53% · median 291 ft
  • Alluvium (pleistocene)10 wells · 23% · median 119 ft
  • Belt Supergroup9 wells · 21% · median 400 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 59844

Petroleum releases

1

0 open · 1 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 1994. A property report screens the sites within a quarter, half and one mile of a specific parcel and links the agency records.