Montana water data · County
Chouteau County: well depth, groundwater and water rights
What the public record says about water in Chouteau 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 November 2026 · Based on 8,722 public records from MBMG GWIC, Montana DNRC, Montana DEQ, EPA SEMS, EPA UST Finder
Wells on record
2,553
2,250 with recorded depth
Median well depth
39 ft
half of wells 23–111 ft
Median static water level
20 ft
1,615 measurements
Median tested yield
10 gpm
1,330 pump tests
Well depth
How deep are wells in Chouteau County?
Of 2,250 wells with a recorded total depth, the median is 39 feet. Half were drilled between 23 and 111 feet; one in ten went deeper than 270 feet and one in ten found water shallower than 17 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.
Static water level
20 ft
median depth to water at rest · half between 10 and 50 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
10 gpm
median tested yield · half between 5 and 20 gpm
22% of tested wells produced under 5 gallons per minute and 31% 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 Chouteau County
215 wells have been completed here since 2016, 7 of them in the last twelve months. The newest log on file was completed September 28, 2026. Records run back to 1885.
What the wells are for
- Stockwater1,026
- Domestic833
- Monitoring620
- Test Well268
- Irrigation158
How they were drilled
- Unknown377
- Rotary269
- Scs Drill163
- Dug157
Drillers filing well logs in Chouteau County
- Montana Salinity Control Association110 since 2016 · 2024
- Aquasource Drilling Llc25 since 2016 · 2026
- Hi-line Drilling Inc15 since 2016 · 2025
- Thomas, Dean, And Hoskins, Inc.13 since 2016 · 2025
- Central Drilling Inc10 since 2016 · 2021
- Boland Drilling9 since 2016 · 2025
- Haz Tech Drilling Inc8 since 2016 · 2017
- Aquasource Inc Llc4 since 2016 · 2022
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 Chouteau County
Montana DNRC lists 5,991 water rights in the county: 1,978 groundwater and 4,013 surface water, 5,394 of them active. The median priority date is 1945, and the oldest claim dates to 1870.
Types of right
- Statement Of Claim5,037
- Ground Water Certificate524
- Provisional Permit196
- Stockwater Permit173
- Exempt Notice35
Purposes
- Stock4,336
- Irrigation637
- Domestic364
- Multiple Domestic149
- Domestic; Stock75
DNRC basins
- 41T1,964
- 41Q1,287
- 41R1,069
- 40H634
- 41P615
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 Chouteau 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.
- Glacial Drift178 wells · 34% · median 33 ft
- Alluvium (quaternary)83 wells · 16% · median 31 ft
- Eagle Sandstone71 wells · 14% · median 235 ft
- Judith River Formation (of Montana Group)67 wells · 13% · median 145 ft
- Virgelle Sandstone Member (of Eagle Sandstone)27 wells · 5% · median 352 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 Chouteau County
Petroleum releases
59
12 open · 47 resolved
Superfund program sites
1
none on the National Priorities List
Registered tank facilities
118
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 2017. A property report screens the sites within a quarter, half and one mile of a specific parcel and links the agency records.