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Montana water data · County

Cascade County: well depth, groundwater and water rights

What the public record says about water in Cascade County: 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 19,899 public records from MBMG GWIC, Montana DNRC, Montana DEQ, EPA SEMS, EPA UST Finder

Wells on record

7,468

6,893 with recorded depth

Median well depth

115 ft

half of wells 40–250 ft

Median static water level

35 ft

5,905 measurements

Median tested yield

22 gpm

5,615 pump tests

Well depth

How deep are wells in Cascade County?

Of 6,893 wells with a recorded total depth, the median is 115 feet. Half were drilled between 40 and 250 feet; one in ten went deeper than 460 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
29%
50–100 ft
17%
100–200 ft
22%
200–300 ft
11%
300–500 ft
14%
500 ft and deeper
8%

Static water level

35 ft

median depth to water at rest · half between 15 and 102 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

22 gpm

median tested yield · half between 10 and 40 gpm

8% of tested wells produced under 5 gallons per minute and 61% 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 Cascade County

1,305 wells have been completed here since 2016, 143 of them in the last twelve months. The newest log on file was completed September 17, 2026. Records run back to 1864.

What the wells are for

  • Domestic4,904
  • Stockwater1,245
  • Monitoring1,193
  • Irrigation410
  • Public Water Supply183

How they were drilled

  • Rotary3,036
  • Cable907
  • Forward Rotary228
  • Air Rotary172

Drillers filing well logs in Cascade County

  • Aquasource Drilling Llc349 since 2016 · 2026
  • Boland Drilling272 since 2016 · 2026
  • Aaaa Water Well Drilling Inc154 since 2016 · 2026
  • Cascade Drilling Lp107 since 2016 · 2025
  • Montana Salinity Control Association70 since 2016 · 2026
  • Pat Byrne Drilling Inc65 since 2016 · 2026
  • Aquasource Inc Llc61 since 2016 · 2025
  • Vista Geoscience51 since 2016 · 2023

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 Cascade County

Montana DNRC lists 11,723 water rights in the county: 6,438 groundwater and 5,285 surface water, 10,820 of them active. The median priority date is 1958, and the oldest claim dates to 1858.

Types of right

  • Statement Of Claim6,654
  • Ground Water Certificate4,044
  • Provisional Permit472
  • Exempt Notice243
  • Stockwater Permit132

Purposes

  • Stock5,100
  • Domestic2,345
  • Irrigation1,004
  • Domestic; Lawn And Garden732
  • Domestic; Stock404

DNRC basins

  • 41QJ4,602
  • 41Q3,398
  • 41K1,835
  • 41J1,692
  • 41U182

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 Cascade County 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.

  • Kootenai Formation1,133 wells · 20% · median 140 ft
  • Madison Group Or Limestone1,119 wells · 20% · median 400 ft
  • Alluvium (quaternary)615 wells · 11% · median 32 ft
  • Glacial Great Falls Lake Sediments470 wells · 8% · median 128 ft
  • Sand And Gravel (pleistocene)447 wells · 8% · median 101 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 Cascade County

Petroleum releases

339

74 open · 265 resolved

Superfund program sites

8

3 on or proposed for the NPL

Registered tank facilities

361

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 2024. A property report screens the sites within a quarter, half and one mile of a specific parcel and links the agency records.