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Montana water data · County

Daniels County: well depth, groundwater and water rights

What the public record says about water in Daniels 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 3,733 public records from MBMG GWIC, Montana DNRC, Montana DEQ, EPA UST Finder

Wells on record

1,528

1,425 with recorded depth

Median well depth

55 ft

half of wells 31–105 ft

Median static water level

37 ft

799 measurements

Median tested yield

7 gpm

795 pump tests

Well depth

How deep are wells in Daniels County?

Of 1,425 wells with a recorded total depth, the median is 55 feet. Half were drilled between 31 and 105 feet; one in ten went deeper than 186 feet and one in ten found water shallower than 18 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
45%
50–100 ft
26%
100–200 ft
20%
200–300 ft
5%
300–500 ft
4%
500 ft and deeper
1%

Static water level

37 ft

median depth to water at rest · half between 17 and 75 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

7 gpm

median tested yield · half between 3 and 10 gpm

32% of tested wells produced under 5 gallons per minute and 14% 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 Daniels County

43 wells have been completed here since 2016, 6 of them in the last twelve months. The newest log on file was completed July 13, 2026. Records run back to 1900.

What the wells are for

  • Stockwater581
  • Domestic554
  • Unused236
  • Monitoring188
  • Public Water Supply33

How they were drilled

  • Rotary249
  • Forward Rotary72
  • Cable38
  • Solid Stem Auger23

Drillers filing well logs in Daniels County

  • Haz Tech Drilling Inc9 since 2016 · 2024
  • Agri Industries Inc7 since 2016 · 2022
  • Montana Salinity Control Association4 since 2016 · 2026
  • Clayton Larson4 since 2016 · 2017
  • Aaaa Water Well Drilling Inc4 since 2016 · 2019
  • Mark Adair Drilling3 since 2016 · 2018
  • Petrie Pump & Drilling3 since 2016 · 2022
  • Western Water Wells3 since 2016 · 2018

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 Daniels County

Montana DNRC lists 2,128 water rights in the county: 1,023 groundwater and 1,105 surface water, 1,962 of them active. The median priority date is 1950, and the oldest claim dates to 1888.

Types of right

  • Statement Of Claim1,578
  • Ground Water Certificate347
  • Provisional Permit100
  • Stockwater Permit50
  • Reserved Claim27

Purposes

  • Stock1,423
  • Domestic362
  • Irrigation125
  • Domestic; Stock60
  • Unknown23

DNRC basins

  • 40Q1,796
  • 40R332

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 Daniels 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.

  • Fort Union Formation348 wells · 47% · median 97 ft
  • Fox Hills-hell Creek Aquifer117 wells · 16% · median 220 ft
  • Flaxville Gravels (pliocene-miocene)93 wells · 12% · median 50 ft
  • Alluvium (quaternary)82 wells · 11% · median 25 ft
  • Glacial Till29 wells · 4% · median 24 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 Daniels County

Petroleum releases

39

3 open · 36 resolved

Superfund program sites

0

none on the National Priorities List

Registered tank facilities

38

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.