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Montana water data · Zip Code in Sanders County

ZIP 59873: well depth, groundwater and water rights

What the public record says about water in ZIP code 59873: 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 2,485 public records from MBMG GWIC, Montana DNRC, Montana DEQ, EPA UST Finder, US Census (ZIP Code Tabulation Area)

Wells on record

1,100

1.4 per sq mi

Median well depth

153 ft

half of wells 80–280 ft

Median static water level

52 ft

1,020 measurements

Median tested yield

30 gpm

991 pump tests

Well depth

How deep are wells in ZIP 59873?

Of 1,054 wells with a recorded total depth, the median is 153 feet. Half were drilled between 80 and 280 feet; one in ten went deeper than 400 feet and one in ten found water shallower than 41 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
12%
50–100 ft
21%
100–200 ft
29%
200–300 ft
14%
300–500 ft
20%
500 ft and deeper
4%

Static water level

52 ft

median depth to water at rest · half between 23 and 112 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

30 gpm

median tested yield · half between 12 and 45 gpm

9% 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 59873

198 wells have been completed here since 2016, 21 of them in the last twelve months. The newest log on file was completed August 25, 2026. Records run back to 1900.

What the wells are for

  • Domestic949
  • Monitoring42
  • Stockwater38
  • Irrigation30
  • Public Water Supply29

How they were drilled

  • Rotary639
  • Forward Rotary121
  • Cable84
  • Churn33

Drillers filing well logs in ZIP 59873

  • North Star Drilling Inc37 since 2016 · 2024
  • Camp Well Drilling And Pump Service29 since 2016 · 2023
  • Callison Well Drilling28 since 2016 · 2024
  • North Star Drilling Inc.23 since 2016 · 2026
  • Universal Drilling15 since 2016 · 2025
  • Allwest Drilling Inc12 since 2016 · 2017
  • Camp Well Drilling & Pump Supply10 since 2016 · 2019
  • Oh Well Drilling & Pump9 since 2016 · 2017

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 59873

Montana DNRC lists 1,340 water rights with a point of diversion inside this area: 1,014 groundwater and 326 surface water, 1,245 of them active. The median priority date is 1983, and the oldest claim dates to 1850.

Types of right

  • Ground Water Certificate818
  • Statement Of Claim398
  • Provisional Permit79
  • Exempt Notice27
  • 62-73 Ground Water Record7

Purposes

  • Domestic509
  • Domestic; Lawn And Garden189
  • Stock119
  • Irrigation95
  • Domestic; Lawn And Garden; Stock48

DNRC basins

  • 76N1,339
  • 76L1

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 59873 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 · 32% · median 180 ft
  • Wallace Formation (of Piegan Group)12 wells · 16% · median 255 ft
  • Alluvium (pleistocene)11 wells · 15% · median 255 ft
  • Belt Supergroup8 wells · 11% · median 140 ft
  • Alluvium (quaternary)6 wells · 8% · median 54 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 59873

Petroleum releases

22

0 open · 22 resolved

Superfund program sites

0

none on the National Priorities List

Registered tank facilities

23

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 2021. A property report screens the sites within a quarter, half and one mile of a specific parcel and links the agency records.