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Montana water data · City in Lewis and Clark County

East Helena: well depth, groundwater and water rights

What the public record says about water in East Helena: 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 459 public records from MBMG GWIC, Montana DNRC, Montana DEQ, EPA SEMS, EPA UST Finder, US Census (place boundary)

Wells on record

263

64.9 per sq mi

Median well depth

65 ft

half of wells 35–95 ft

Median static water level

33 ft

172 measurements

Median tested yield

23 gpm

107 pump tests

Well depth

How deep are wells in East Helena?

Of 205 wells with a recorded total depth, the median is 65 feet. Half were drilled between 35 and 95 feet; one in ten went deeper than 160 feet and one in ten found water shallower than 28 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
41%
50–100 ft
35%
100–200 ft
19%
200–300 ft
2%
300–500 ft
2%
500 ft and deeper
0%

Static water level

33 ft

median depth to water at rest · half between 22 and 53 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

23 gpm

median tested yield · half between 18 and 38 gpm

7% of tested wells produced under 5 gallons per minute and 70% 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 East Helena

12 wells have been completed here since 2016. The newest log on file was completed February 22, 2025. Records run back to 1900.

What the wells are for

  • Monitoring143
  • Domestic74
  • Test Well15
  • Irrigation10
  • Public Water Supply6

How they were drilled

  • Rotary89
  • Odex32
  • Cable21
  • Air Rotary18

Drillers filing well logs in East Helena

  • Okeefe Drilling Co5 since 2016 · 2023
  • A-10 Drilling4 since 2016 · 2024
  • H & L Drilling Inc3 since 2016 · 2020
  • Hydrometrics Inc59 all-time · 2001
  • Lindsay Drilling Co Inc35 all-time · 2013
  • Environmental West Exploration26 all-time · 2010
  • Price & Lindsay5 all-time · 1955
  • Treasure State Drilling5 all-time · 2010

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 East Helena

Montana DNRC lists 176 water rights with a point of diversion inside this area: 46 groundwater and 130 surface water, 148 of them active. The median priority date is 1869, and the oldest claim dates to 1862.

Types of right

  • Statement Of Claim144
  • Ground Water Certificate25
  • Exempt Notice3
  • Provisional Permit2
  • Water Reservation2

Purposes

  • Irrigation89
  • Stock33
  • Domestic15
  • Industrial9
  • Lawn And Garden5

DNRC basins

  • 41I176

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 East Helena 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.

  • Sediments (tertiary)24 wells · 49% · median 117 ft
  • Alluvium (quaternary)19 wells · 39% · median 60 ft
  • Alluvium (holocene)6 wells · 12% · median 48 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 East Helena

Petroleum releases

6

2 open · 4 resolved

Superfund program sites

2

1 on or proposed for the NPL

Registered tank facilities

12

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 2025. A property report screens the sites within a quarter, half and one mile of a specific parcel and links the agency records.