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Montana water data · Zip Code in Ravalli County

ZIP 59871: well depth, groundwater and water rights

What the public record says about water in ZIP code 59871: 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 1,244 public records from MBMG GWIC, Montana DNRC, Montana DEQ, EPA UST Finder, US Census (ZIP Code Tabulation Area)

Wells on record

443

1.4 per sq mi

Median well depth

58 ft

half of wells 39–78 ft

Median static water level

24 ft

423 measurements

Median tested yield

20 gpm

435 pump tests

Well depth

How deep are wells in ZIP 59871?

Of 440 wells with a recorded total depth, the median is 58 feet. Half were drilled between 39 and 78 feet; one in ten went deeper than 140 feet and one in ten found water shallower than 30 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
43%
50–100 ft
41%
100–200 ft
9%
200–300 ft
4%
300–500 ft
3%
500 ft and deeper
1%

Static water level

24 ft

median depth to water at rest · half between 11 and 40 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 15 and 35 gpm

6% of tested wells produced under 5 gallons per minute and 67% 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 59871

43 wells have been completed here since 2016, 3 of them in the last twelve months. The newest log on file was completed September 10, 2026. Records run back to 1898.

What the wells are for

  • Domestic404
  • Stockwater18
  • Irrigation15
  • Fire Protection4
  • Public Water Supply3

How they were drilled

  • Rotary326
  • Cable55
  • Churn20
  • Forward Rotary4

Drillers filing well logs in ZIP 59871

  • Eslinger Drilling & Pump Service29 since 2016 · 2026
  • Aqwa Drilling Llc8 since 2016 · 2024
  • Eagle Drilling And Pump Service4 since 2016 · 2025
  • Okeefe Drilling Co1 since 2016 · 2018
  • Ravalli Drilling112 all-time · 2011
  • Martin Well Drilling46 all-time · 2001
  • Advanced Well Drilling Inc24 all-time · 2008
  • Valley Drilling Co17 all-time · 1998

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 59871

Montana DNRC lists 794 water rights with a point of diversion inside this area: 397 groundwater and 397 surface water, 691 of them active. The median priority date is 1973, and the oldest claim dates to 1866.

Types of right

  • Statement Of Claim391
  • Ground Water Certificate344
  • Provisional Permit28
  • Exempt Notice17
  • Compact8

Purposes

  • Stock241
  • Domestic205
  • Irrigation132
  • Domestic; Lawn And Garden38
  • Fish And Wildlife22

DNRC basins

  • 76H793
  • 41D1

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 59871 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.

  • Plutonic Rocks (tertiary - Cretaceous)26 wells · 32% · median 100 ft
  • Sand And Gravel (holocene)17 wells · 21% · median 39 ft
  • Idaho Batholith11 wells · 13% · median 142 ft
  • Sand And Gravel (pleistocene)9 wells · 11% · median 57 ft
  • Alluvium (holocene)9 wells · 11% · median 30 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 59871

Petroleum releases

4

0 open · 4 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 2019. A property report screens the sites within a quarter, half and one mile of a specific parcel and links the agency records.