Montana water data · Zip Code in Sanders County
ZIP 59859: well depth, groundwater and water rights
What the public record says about water in ZIP code 59859: 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 3,669 public records from MBMG GWIC, Montana DNRC, Montana DEQ, EPA UST Finder, US Census (ZIP Code Tabulation Area)
Wells on record
1,644
2.3 per sq mi
Median well depth
125 ft
half of wells 40–265 ft
Median static water level
30 ft
1,512 measurements
Median tested yield
20 gpm
1,523 pump tests
Well depth
How deep are wells in ZIP 59859?
Of 1,575 wells with a recorded total depth, the median is 125 feet. Half were drilled between 40 and 265 feet; one in ten went deeper than 400 feet and one in ten found water shallower than 28 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
30 ft
median depth to water at rest · half between 16 and 87 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 35 gpm
7% of tested wells produced under 5 gallons per minute and 58% 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 59859
291 wells have been completed here since 2016, 31 of them in the last twelve months. The newest log on file was completed September 3, 2026. Records run back to 1891.
What the wells are for
- Domestic1,335
- Irrigation173
- Stockwater102
- Monitoring48
- Public Water Supply25
How they were drilled
- Rotary882
- Forward Rotary224
- Churn82
- Cable54
Drillers filing well logs in ZIP 59859
- Callison Well Drilling76 since 2016 · 2026
- North Star Drilling Inc43 since 2016 · 2025
- Cyclone Drilling Inc31 since 2016 · 2022
- Ace Drilling29 since 2016 · 2025
- Coldwater Drilling And Pumps18 since 2016 · 2026
- North Star Drilling Inc.18 since 2016 · 2026
- Camp Well Drilling And Pump Service13 since 2016 · 2023
- Oh Well Drilling And Pump9 since 2016 · 2026
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 59859
Montana DNRC lists 1,984 water rights with a point of diversion inside this area: 1,530 groundwater and 454 surface water, 1,827 of them active. The median priority date is 1982, and the oldest claim dates to 1855.
Types of right
- Ground Water Certificate1,080
- Statement Of Claim660
- Provisional Permit80
- Registration Certificate52
- Exempt Notice47
Purposes
- Domestic511
- Stock351
- Irrigation291
- Domestic; Lawn And Garden277
- Domestic; Lawn And Garden; Stock93
DNRC basins
- 76N1,514
- 76L439
- 76M30
- 76D1
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 59859 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)50 wells · 27% · median 35 ft
- Prichard Formation Or Slate34 wells · 18% · median 183 ft
- Alluvium (pleistocene)27 wells · 15% · median 92 ft
- Glacial Drift23 wells · 12% · median 120 ft
- Alluvium (quaternary)17 wells · 9% · median 37 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 59859
Petroleum releases
11
0 open · 11 resolved
Superfund program sites
0
none on the National Priorities List
Registered tank facilities
30
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 2019. A property report screens the sites within a quarter, half and one mile of a specific parcel and links the agency records.