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Montana water data · Community in Flathead County

Bigfork: well depth, groundwater and water rights

What the public record says about water in Bigfork: 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 3,330 public records from MBMG GWIC, Montana DNRC, Montana DEQ, EPA SEMS, EPA UST Finder, US Census (place boundary)

Wells on record

1,516

48.5 per sq mi

Median well depth

192 ft

half of wells 133–278 ft

Median static water level

47 ft

1,339 measurements

Median tested yield

30 gpm

1,445 pump tests

Well depth

How deep are wells in Bigfork?

Of 1,487 wells with a recorded total depth, the median is 192 feet. Half were drilled between 133 and 278 feet; one in ten went deeper than 360 feet and one in ten found water shallower than 60 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
9%
100–200 ft
34%
200–300 ft
30%
300–500 ft
17%
500 ft and deeper
2%

Static water level

47 ft

median depth to water at rest · half between 22 and 80 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 18 and 50 gpm

1% of tested wells produced under 5 gallons per minute and 74% 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 Bigfork

196 wells have been completed here since 2016, 19 of them in the last twelve months. The newest log on file was completed September 15, 2026. Records run back to 1900.

What the wells are for

  • Domestic1,340
  • Irrigation117
  • Stockwater69
  • Public Water Supply29
  • Monitoring14

How they were drilled

  • Rotary777
  • Forward Rotary246
  • Cable177
  • Air Rotary61

Drillers filing well logs in Bigfork

  • Billmayer Drilling53 since 2016 · 2025
  • Allwest Drilling Inc42 since 2016 · 2024
  • Oh Well Drilling And Pump24 since 2016 · 2025
  • Rm Drilling And Well Services15 since 2016 · 2026
  • Glazier Drilling13 since 2016 · 2026
  • Chambers Drilling Company8 since 2016 · 2026
  • Oh Well Drilling & Pump6 since 2016 · 2018
  • Coldwater Drilling And Pumps6 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 Bigfork

Montana DNRC lists 1,786 water rights with a point of diversion inside this area: 1,464 groundwater and 322 surface water, 1,714 of them active. The median priority date is 1986, and the oldest claim dates to 1872.

Types of right

  • Ground Water Certificate1,305
  • Statement Of Claim289
  • Provisional Permit150
  • Exempt Notice39
  • 62-73 Ground Water Record2

Purposes

  • Domestic822
  • Domestic; Lawn And Garden317
  • Irrigation102
  • Lawn And Garden102
  • Domestic; Stock68

DNRC basins

  • 76K896
  • 76LJ890

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 Bigfork 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 (pleistocene)300 wells · 32% · median 187 ft
  • Ravalli Group267 wells · 29% · median 220 ft
  • Glacial Drift164 wells · 18% · median 147 ft
  • Alluvium (holocene)67 wells · 7% · median 31 ft
  • Glacial Outwash (pleistocene)58 wells · 6% · median 58 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 Bigfork

Petroleum releases

10

2 open · 8 resolved

Superfund program sites

1

none on the National Priorities List

Registered tank facilities

17

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 2000. A property report screens the sites within a quarter, half and one mile of a specific parcel and links the agency records.