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Montana water data · Zip Code in Lake County

ZIP 59860: well depth, groundwater and water rights

What the public record says about water in ZIP code 59860: 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 6,305 public records from MBMG GWIC, Montana DNRC, Montana DEQ, EPA SEMS, EPA UST Finder, US Census (ZIP Code Tabulation Area)

Wells on record

2,444

9.3 per sq mi

Median well depth

220 ft

half of wells 126–384 ft

Median static water level

62 ft

2,054 measurements

Median tested yield

25 gpm

2,156 pump tests

Well depth

How deep are wells in ZIP 59860?

Of 2,351 wells with a recorded total depth, the median is 220 feet. Half were drilled between 126 and 384 feet; one in ten went deeper than 518 feet and one in ten found water shallower than 62 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
8%
50–100 ft
10%
100–200 ft
26%
200–300 ft
21%
300–500 ft
23%
500 ft and deeper
12%

Static water level

62 ft

median depth to water at rest · half between 26 and 135 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

25 gpm

median tested yield · half between 15 and 50 gpm

5% of tested wells produced under 5 gallons per minute and 66% 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 59860

395 wells have been completed here since 2016, 25 of them in the last twelve months. The newest log on file was completed August 13, 2026. Records run back to 1900.

What the wells are for

  • Domestic1,980
  • Irrigation379
  • Stockwater346
  • Monitoring148
  • Public Water Supply70

How they were drilled

  • Rotary1,213
  • Forward Rotary308
  • Cable202
  • Air Rotary112

Drillers filing well logs in ZIP 59860

  • Ace Drilling150 since 2016 · 2026
  • Oh Well Drilling And Pump99 since 2016 · 2026
  • Allwest Drilling Inc57 since 2016 · 2025
  • Oh Well Drilling & Pump29 since 2016 · 2018
  • Okeefe Drilling Co12 since 2016 · 2024
  • Jeromes Drilling Co7 since 2016 · 2025
  • Coldwater Drilling And Pumps6 since 2016 · 2025
  • West Central Environmental Consultants5 since 2016 · 2022

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 59860

Montana DNRC lists 3,722 water rights with a point of diversion inside this area: 2,631 groundwater and 1,090 surface water, 2,621 of them active. The median priority date is 1981, and the oldest claim dates to 1855.

Types of right

  • Statement Of Claim1,318
  • Ground Water Certificate935
  • Registration Certificate901
  • Domestic Allowance263
  • Provisional Permit144

Purposes

  • Domestic1,267
  • Domestic; Lawn And Garden362
  • Stock342
  • Irrigation293
  • Lawn And Garden; Domestic292

DNRC basins

  • 76LJ2,627
  • 76L1,095

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 59860 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.

  • Ravalli Group351 wells · 26% · median 245 ft
  • Alluvium (pleistocene)270 wells · 20% · median 235 ft
  • Glacial Drift251 wells · 19% · median 142 ft
  • Middle Belt Carbonate180 wells · 13% · median 210 ft
  • Belt Supergroup111 wells · 8% · median 250 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 59860

Petroleum releases

55

10 open · 45 resolved

Superfund program sites

1

none on the National Priorities List

Registered tank facilities

83

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 2020. A property report screens the sites within a quarter, half and one mile of a specific parcel and links the agency records.