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Montana water data · County

Deer Lodge County: well depth, groundwater and water rights

What the public record says about water in Deer Lodge 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 6,256 public records from MBMG GWIC, Montana DNRC, Montana DEQ, EPA SEMS, EPA UST Finder

Wells on record

2,820

2,511 with recorded depth

Median well depth

60 ft

half of wells 40–140 ft

Median static water level

23 ft

2,210 measurements

Median tested yield

20 gpm

2,097 pump tests

Well depth

How deep are wells in Deer Lodge County?

Of 2,511 wells with a recorded total depth, the median is 60 feet. Half were drilled between 40 and 140 feet; one in ten went deeper than 260 feet and one in ten found water shallower than 25 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
38%
50–100 ft
27%
100–200 ft
19%
200–300 ft
9%
300–500 ft
6%
500 ft and deeper
3%

Static water level

23 ft

median depth to water at rest · half between 10 and 58 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 12 and 30 gpm

7% of tested wells produced under 5 gallons per minute and 53% 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 Deer Lodge County

319 wells have been completed here since 2016, 21 of them in the last twelve months. The newest log on file was completed September 8, 2026. Records run back to 1880.

What the wells are for

  • Domestic2,151
  • Monitoring307
  • Stockwater181
  • Irrigation133
  • Public Water Supply45

How they were drilled

  • Rotary681
  • Cable311
  • Dual Rotary198
  • Air Rotary165

Drillers filing well logs in Deer Lodge County

  • Okeefe Drilling Co158 since 2016 · 2026
  • Ak Drilling Inc66 since 2016 · 2026
  • Ak Drilling, Inc.22 since 2016 · 2022
  • Beck Drilling & Pump14 since 2016 · 2021
  • Ak Drilling Inc.13 since 2016 · 2026
  • Western Water Wells11 since 2016 · 2026
  • Lindsay Drilling Co Inc8 since 2016 · 2022
  • A-10 Drilling8 since 2016 · 2024

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 Deer Lodge County

Montana DNRC lists 3,340 water rights in the county: 1,836 groundwater and 1,504 surface water, 2,855 of them active. The median priority date is 1954, and the oldest claim dates to 1858.

Types of right

  • Statement Of Claim1,896
  • Ground Water Certificate1,222
  • Exempt Notice126
  • Provisional Permit54
  • Water Reservation23

Purposes

  • Irrigation989
  • Domestic910
  • Stock537
  • Domestic; Lawn And Garden281
  • Industrial80

DNRC basins

  • 76G2,456
  • 41D567
  • 76GJ317

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 Deer Lodge 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.

  • Sand And Gravel (pleistocene)292 wells · 17% · median 51 ft
  • Sediments (tertiary)244 wells · 14% · median 100 ft
  • Sand And Gravel (holocene)233 wells · 13% · median 34 ft
  • Glacial Outwash (pleistocene)175 wells · 10% · median 39 ft
  • Lowland Creek Volcanics144 wells · 8% · median 125 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 Deer Lodge County

Petroleum releases

28

2 open · 26 resolved

Superfund program sites

2

1 on or proposed for the NPL

Registered tank facilities

66

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 2020. A property report screens the sites within a quarter, half and one mile of a specific parcel and links the agency records.