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Montana water data · City in Yellowstone County

Billings: well depth, groundwater and water rights

What the public record says about water in Billings: 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 6,560 public records from MBMG GWIC, Montana DNRC, Montana DEQ, EPA SEMS, EPA UST Finder, US Census (place boundary)

Wells on record

3,562

77.3 per sq mi

Median well depth

26 ft

half of wells 22–35 ft

Median static water level

13 ft

2,925 measurements

Median tested yield

30 gpm

2,290 pump tests

Well depth

How deep are wells in Billings?

Of 3,245 wells with a recorded total depth, the median is 26 feet. Half were drilled between 22 and 35 feet; one in ten went deeper than 70 feet and one in ten found water shallower than 19 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
85%
50–100 ft
10%
100–200 ft
4%
200–300 ft
1%
300–500 ft
0%
500 ft and deeper
0%

Static water level

13 ft

median depth to water at rest · half between 10 and 17 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 20 and 40 gpm

3% of tested wells produced under 5 gallons per minute and 79% 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 Billings

484 wells have been completed here since 2016, 28 of them in the last twelve months. The newest log on file was completed September 3, 2026. Records run back to 1900.

What the wells are for

  • Domestic1,489
  • Monitoring1,003
  • Irrigation887
  • Stockwater86
  • Public Water Supply23

How they were drilled

  • Rotary905
  • Forward Rotary549
  • Hollowstem Auger477
  • Driven197

Drillers filing well logs in Billings

  • American Drilling & Supply146 since 2016 · 2026
  • Haz Tech Drilling Inc137 since 2016 · 2026
  • Sk Geotechnical Co35 since 2016 · 2025
  • Bertram Drilling Inc33 since 2016 · 2025
  • Olympus Technical Services30 since 2016 · 2025
  • Aaqua Drilling Inc24 since 2016 · 2026
  • Cascade Drilling Lp17 since 2016 · 2023
  • Pioneer Technical Services Inc17 since 2016 · 2024

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 Billings

Montana DNRC lists 2,333 water rights with a point of diversion inside this area: 2,256 groundwater and 77 surface water, 2,220 of them active. The median priority date is 1982, and the oldest claim dates to 1876.

Types of right

  • Ground Water Certificate2,080
  • Statement Of Claim179
  • Provisional Permit48
  • Exempt Notice26

Purposes

  • Domestic1,132
  • Lawn And Garden885
  • Irrigation82
  • Domestic; Lawn And Garden66
  • Stock29

DNRC basins

  • 43Q2,333

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 Billings 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.

  • Terrace Deposits (holocene)1,125 wells · 48% · median 25 ft
  • Alluvium (holocene)573 wells · 25% · median 26 ft
  • Terrace Deposits (pleistocene)214 wells · 9% · median 33 ft
  • Alluvium (pleistocene)170 wells · 7% · median 26 ft
  • Eagle Sandstone137 wells · 6% · median 110 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 Billings

Petroleum releases

287

75 open · 212 resolved

Superfund program sites

2

1 on or proposed for the NPL

Registered tank facilities

376

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 2026. A property report screens the sites within a quarter, half and one mile of a specific parcel and links the agency records.