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Montana water data · City in Silver Bow County

Butte-Silver Bow (balance): well depth, groundwater and water rights

What the public record says about water in Butte-Silver Bow (balance): 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 8,867 public records from MBMG GWIC, Montana DNRC, Montana DEQ, EPA SEMS, EPA UST Finder, US Census (place boundary)

Wells on record

4,636

6.5 per sq mi

Median well depth

95 ft

half of wells 46–170 ft

Median static water level

34 ft

3,535 measurements

Median tested yield

20 gpm

3,200 pump tests

Well depth

How deep are wells in Butte-Silver Bow (balance)?

Of 4,153 wells with a recorded total depth, the median is 95 feet. Half were drilled between 46 and 170 feet; one in ten went deeper than 278 feet and one in ten found water shallower than 20 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
27%
50–100 ft
24%
100–200 ft
28%
200–300 ft
11%
300–500 ft
7%
500 ft and deeper
2%

Static water level

34 ft

median depth to water at rest · half between 15 and 59 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 12 and 30 gpm

3% of tested wells produced under 5 gallons per minute and 56% 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 Butte-Silver Bow (balance)

595 wells have been completed here since 2016, 36 of them in the last twelve months. The newest log on file was completed August 24, 2026. Records run back to 1869.

What the wells are for

  • Domestic2,795
  • Monitoring1,148
  • Irrigation230
  • Stockwater213
  • Public Water Supply60

How they were drilled

  • Rotary1,104
  • Cable813
  • Dual Rotary256
  • Air Rotary212

Drillers filing well logs in Butte-Silver Bow (balance)

  • Okeefe Drilling Co339 since 2016 · 2026
  • Ak Drilling Inc73 since 2016 · 2026
  • Ak Drilling Inc.34 since 2016 · 2026
  • Ak Drilling, Inc.22 since 2016 · 2022
  • A-10 Drilling21 since 2016 · 2025
  • Pioneer Technical Services Inc20 since 2016 · 2022
  • Western Water Wells19 since 2016 · 2026
  • H & L Drilling Inc18 since 2016 · 2025

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 Butte-Silver Bow (balance)

Montana DNRC lists 3,941 water rights with a point of diversion inside this area: 2,864 groundwater and 1,077 surface water, 3,665 of them active. The median priority date is 1981, and the oldest claim dates to 1858.

Types of right

  • Ground Water Certificate2,198
  • Statement Of Claim1,583
  • Exempt Notice62
  • Provisional Permit56
  • Water Reservation17

Purposes

  • Domestic1,258
  • Stock887
  • Domestic; Lawn And Garden502
  • Irrigation449
  • Lawn And Garden128

DNRC basins

  • 76G3,008
  • 41D803
  • 41G128
  • 41B1
  • 41E1

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 Butte-Silver Bow (balance) 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 (quaternary)699 wells · 36% · median 35 ft
  • Boulder Batholith411 wells · 21% · median 162 ft
  • Sediments (tertiary)281 wells · 15% · median 100 ft
  • Plutonic Rocks (upper Cretaceous)150 wells · 8% · median 160 ft
  • Lowland Creek Volcanics120 wells · 6% · median 180 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 Butte-Silver Bow (balance)

Petroleum releases

109

26 open · 83 resolved

Superfund program sites

5

2 on or proposed for the NPL

Registered tank facilities

176

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.