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Montana water data · City in Rosebud County

Colstrip: well depth, groundwater and water rights

What the public record says about water in Colstrip: 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 432 public records from MBMG GWIC, Montana DNRC, Montana DEQ, EPA UST Finder, US Census (place boundary)

Wells on record

388

95.9 per sq mi

Median well depth

35 ft

half of wells 25–48 ft

Median static water level

18 ft

265 measurements

Median tested yield

10 gpm

50 pump tests

Well depth

How deep are wells in Colstrip?

Of 324 wells with a recorded total depth, the median is 35 feet. Half were drilled between 25 and 48 feet; one in ten went deeper than 90 feet and one in ten found water shallower than 19 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
76%
50–100 ft
14%
100–200 ft
3%
200–300 ft
1%
300–500 ft
2%
500 ft and deeper
4%

Static water level

18 ft

median depth to water at rest · half between 11 and 33 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 3 and 20 gpm

30% of tested wells produced under 5 gallons per minute and 36% 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 Colstrip

88 wells have been completed here since 2016, 1 of them in the last twelve months. The newest log on file was completed November 9, 2025. Records run back to 1926.

What the wells are for

  • Monitoring280
  • Injection53
  • Other12
  • Domestic12
  • Test Well10

How they were drilled

  • Rotary159
  • Air Rotary77
  • Hollow Stem Auger38
  • Auger24

Drillers filing well logs in Colstrip

  • Askin Drilling101 since 2016 · 2025
  • Ronald L Askin Drilling4 since 2016 · 2023
  • Clayton Larson3 since 2016 · 2017
  • Haz Tech Drilling Inc2 since 2016 · 2017
  • Higgins Drilling Company1 since 2016 · 2023
  • Gordon Drilling Inc36 all-time · 1998
  • Hydrometrics Inc29 all-time · 2013
  • Adt14 all-time · 1992

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 Colstrip

Montana DNRC lists 21 water rights with a point of diversion inside this area: 19 groundwater and 2 surface water, 17 of them active. The median priority date is 1973, and the oldest claim dates to 1926.

Types of right

  • Statement Of Claim12
  • Ground Water Certificate7
  • Provisional Permit2

Purposes

  • Commercial8
  • Municipal5
  • Irrigation2
  • Stock1
  • Commercial; Domestic1

DNRC basins

  • 42KJ21

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 Colstrip 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.

  • Tongue River Member (of Ft Union Fm.)19 wells · 61% · median 158 ft
  • Fort Union Formation5 wells · 16% · median 614 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 Colstrip

Petroleum releases

9

3 open · 6 resolved

Superfund program sites

0

none on the National Priorities List

Registered tank facilities

14

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 2014. A property report screens the sites within a quarter, half and one mile of a specific parcel and links the agency records.