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Montana water data · Community in Missoula County

Carlton: well depth, groundwater and water rights

What the public record says about water in Carlton: 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 757 public records from MBMG GWIC, Montana DNRC, EPA UST Finder, US Census (place boundary)

Wells on record

330

53.6 per sq mi

Median well depth

76 ft

half of wells 48–138 ft

Median static water level

30 ft

301 measurements

Median tested yield

20 gpm

304 pump tests

Well depth

How deep are wells in Carlton?

Of 321 wells with a recorded total depth, the median is 76 feet. Half were drilled between 48 and 138 feet; one in ten went deeper than 260 feet and one in ten found water shallower than 37 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
26%
50–100 ft
37%
100–200 ft
20%
200–300 ft
10%
300–500 ft
7%
500 ft and deeper
1%

Static water level

30 ft

median depth to water at rest · half between 8 and 55 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 10 and 45 gpm

9% of tested wells produced under 5 gallons per minute and 60% 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 Carlton

25 wells have been completed here since 2016, 2 of them in the last twelve months. The newest log on file was completed August 10, 2026. Records run back to 1900.

What the wells are for

  • Domestic282
  • Irrigation39
  • Stockwater26
  • Public Water Supply5
  • Other3

How they were drilled

  • Rotary213
  • Cable57
  • Churn18
  • Tractor2

Drillers filing well logs in Carlton

  • Camp Well Drilling And Pump Service7 since 2016 · 2025
  • Aqwa Drilling Llc5 since 2016 · 2022
  • Jeromes Drilling Co5 since 2016 · 2020
  • Eslinger Drilling & Pump Service2 since 2016 · 2016
  • Ravalli Drilling Inc2 since 2016 · 2019
  • Jeromes Drilling Co53 all-time · 2007
  • Ravalli Drilling49 all-time · 2010
  • Camp Well Drilling39 all-time · 2010

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 Carlton

Montana DNRC lists 426 water rights with a point of diversion inside this area: 309 groundwater and 117 surface water, 375 of them active. The median priority date is 1982, and the oldest claim dates to 1872.

Types of right

  • Ground Water Certificate268
  • Statement Of Claim141
  • Exempt Notice8
  • Provisional Permit8
  • 62-73 Ground Water Record1

Purposes

  • Irrigation112
  • Domestic102
  • Domestic; Lawn And Garden60
  • Stock37
  • Domestic; Stock20

DNRC basins

  • 76H426

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 Carlton 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 (holocene)136 wells · 58% · median 50 ft
  • Sediments (tertiary)62 wells · 27% · median 148 ft
  • Alluvium (pleistocene)23 wells · 10% · median 94 ft
  • Sand And Gravel (tertiary)8 wells · 3% · median 200 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 Carlton

Petroleum releases

0

0 open · 0 resolved

Superfund program sites

0

none on the National Priorities List

Registered tank facilities

1

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