Montana WaterReport
Check a property

Montana water data · Zip Code in Missoula County

ZIP 59846: well depth, groundwater and water rights

What the public record says about water in ZIP code 59846: 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 1,704 public records from MBMG GWIC, Montana DNRC, Montana DEQ, EPA UST Finder, US Census (ZIP Code Tabulation Area)

Wells on record

648

3.1 per sq mi

Median well depth

135 ft

half of wells 70–200 ft

Median static water level

32 ft

554 measurements

Median tested yield

20 gpm

593 pump tests

Well depth

How deep are wells in ZIP 59846?

Of 626 wells with a recorded total depth, the median is 135 feet. Half were drilled between 70 and 200 feet; one in ten went deeper than 351 feet and one in ten found water shallower than 49 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
10%
50–100 ft
27%
100–200 ft
37%
200–300 ft
12%
300–500 ft
11%
500 ft and deeper
3%

Static water level

32 ft

median depth to water at rest · half between 14 and 66 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 5 and 30 gpm

22% of tested wells produced under 5 gallons per minute and 50% 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 59846

74 wells have been completed here since 2016, 7 of them in the last twelve months. The newest log on file was completed June 30, 2026. Records run back to 1905.

What the wells are for

  • Domestic584
  • Stockwater18
  • Irrigation16
  • Public Water Supply11
  • Unused11

How they were drilled

  • Rotary361
  • Cable64
  • Churn52
  • Foward Rotary45

Drillers filing well logs in ZIP 59846

  • Western Montana Drilling Co.27 since 2016 · 2026
  • Camp Well Drilling And Pump Service14 since 2016 · 2024
  • Jeromes Drilling Co12 since 2016 · 2023
  • Western Montana Drilling Company7 since 2016 · 2023
  • Callison Well Drilling5 since 2016 · 2019
  • Camp Well Drilling & Pump Supply3 since 2016 · 2017
  • Ak Drilling Inc2 since 2016 · 2026
  • J&j Water Well Inc1 since 2016 · 2018

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 59846

Montana DNRC lists 1,051 water rights with a point of diversion inside this area: 674 groundwater and 377 surface water, 984 of them active. The median priority date is 1982, and the oldest claim dates to 1875.

Types of right

  • Ground Water Certificate585
  • Statement Of Claim382
  • Provisional Permit47
  • Exempt Notice26
  • Water Reservation7

Purposes

  • Domestic289
  • Irrigation198
  • Stock136
  • Domestic; Lawn And Garden131
  • Domestic; Stock41

DNRC basins

  • 76M1,047
  • 76H2
  • 76F2

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 59846 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 (holocene)121 wells · 25% · median 60 ft
  • Alluvium (pleistocene)116 wells · 24% · median 160 ft
  • Belt Supergroup106 wells · 22% · median 200 ft
  • Sediments (tertiary)71 wells · 15% · median 140 ft
  • Tertiary Silt And Clay31 wells · 6% · median 200 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 59846

Petroleum releases

2

0 open · 2 resolved

Superfund program sites

0

none on the National Priorities List

Registered tank facilities

3

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 1991. A property report screens the sites within a quarter, half and one mile of a specific parcel and links the agency records.