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Montana water data · City in Gallatin County

Bozeman: well depth, groundwater and water rights

What the public record says about water in Bozeman: 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 3,353 public records from MBMG GWIC, Montana DNRC, Montana DEQ, EPA SEMS, EPA UST Finder, US Census (place boundary)

Wells on record

1,945

90.8 per sq mi

Median well depth

56 ft

half of wells 38–80 ft

Median static water level

11 ft

1,624 measurements

Median tested yield

35 gpm

1,439 pump tests

Well depth

How deep are wells in Bozeman?

Of 1,755 wells with a recorded total depth, the median is 56 feet. Half were drilled between 38 and 80 feet; one in ten went deeper than 118 feet and one in ten found water shallower than 25 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
13%
200–300 ft
2%
300–500 ft
1%
500 ft and deeper
0%

Static water level

11 ft

median depth to water at rest · half between 7 and 18 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

35 gpm

median tested yield · half between 21 and 50 gpm

1% of tested wells produced under 5 gallons per minute and 86% 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 Bozeman

234 wells have been completed here since 2016, 12 of them in the last twelve months. The newest log on file was completed July 29, 2026. Records run back to 1869.

What the wells are for

  • Irrigation774
  • Domestic564
  • Monitoring411
  • Other66
  • Stockwater65

How they were drilled

  • Rotary1,031
  • Cable201
  • Hollowstem Auger107
  • Churn82

Drillers filing well logs in Bozeman

  • Potts Drilling Inc60 since 2016 · 2025
  • Okeefe Drilling Co46 since 2016 · 2026
  • Bridger Drilling Inc40 since 2016 · 2025
  • Red Tiger Drilling31 since 2016 · 2024
  • Haz Tech Drilling Inc23 since 2016 · 2026
  • Van Dyken Drilling Inc17 since 2016 · 2025
  • Diamond M Drilling Inc13 since 2016 · 2022
  • Olympus Technical Services6 since 2016 · 2020

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 Bozeman

Montana DNRC lists 1,207 water rights with a point of diversion inside this area: 1,030 groundwater and 177 surface water, 1,105 of them active. The median priority date is 1992, and the oldest claim dates to 1865.

Types of right

  • Ground Water Certificate755
  • Statement Of Claim358
  • Provisional Permit63
  • Exempt Notice23
  • Water Reservation5

Purposes

  • Lawn And Garden382
  • Irrigation255
  • Domestic221
  • Stock70
  • Domestic; Lawn And Garden57

DNRC basins

  • 41H1,207

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 Bozeman 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.

  • Sand And Gravel (holocene)17 wells · 30% · median 16 ft
  • Sand And Gravel (tertiary)16 wells · 29% · median 119 ft
  • Alluvium (quaternary)9 wells · 16% · median 75 ft
  • Sediments (tertiary)7 wells · 13% · median 60 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 Bozeman

Petroleum releases

77

5 open · 72 resolved

Superfund program sites

1

1 on or proposed for the NPL

Registered tank facilities

123

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 2025. A property report screens the sites within a quarter, half and one mile of a specific parcel and links the agency records.