Montana water data · County
Garfield County: well depth, groundwater and water rights
What the public record says about water in Garfield 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 8,998 public records from MBMG GWIC, Montana DNRC, Montana DEQ, EPA SEMS, EPA UST Finder
Wells on record
2,267
2,188 with recorded depth
Median well depth
180 ft
half of wells 105–280 ft
Median static water level
80 ft
1,730 measurements
Median tested yield
10 gpm
2,045 pump tests
Well depth
How deep are wells in Garfield County?
Of 2,188 wells with a recorded total depth, the median is 180 feet. Half were drilled between 105 and 280 feet; one in ten went deeper than 400 feet and one in ten found water shallower than 44 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
80 ft
median depth to water at rest · half between 35 and 150 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 15 gpm
16% of tested wells produced under 5 gallons per minute and 19% 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 Garfield County
206 wells have been completed here since 2016, 13 of them in the last twelve months. The newest log on file was completed August 7, 2026. Records run back to 1904.
What the wells are for
- Stockwater1,807
- Domestic594
- Monitoring74
- Test Well19
- Irrigation17
How they were drilled
- Rotary826
- Forward Rotary213
- Hand Dug38
- Unknown29
Drillers filing well logs in Garfield County
- Askin Drilling107 since 2016 · 2026
- Higgins Drilling Company35 since 2016 · 2025
- Haz Tech Drilling Inc12 since 2016 · 2025
- West Central Environmental Consultants12 since 2016 · 2022
- Sharp Drilling Inc11 since 2016 · 2020
- Gordon Drilling Inc8 since 2016 · 2018
- Montana Salinity Control Association6 since 2016 · 2026
- H & H Drilling3 since 2016 · 2019
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 Garfield County
Montana DNRC lists 6,701 water rights in the county: 2,260 groundwater and 4,441 surface water, 6,335 of them active. The median priority date is 1958, and the oldest claim dates to 1864.
Types of right
- Statement Of Claim4,963
- Ground Water Certificate934
- Stockwater Permit420
- Provisional Permit280
- Compact77
Purposes
- Stock5,082
- Irrigation579
- Wildlife308
- Domestic275
- Domestic; Stock102
DNRC basins
- 40D3,981
- 40E1,567
- 40C971
- 42KJ182
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 Garfield 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.
- Fox Hills-hell Creek Aquifer893 wells · 88% · median 260 ft
- Hell Creek Formation61 wells · 6% · median 240 ft
- Fort Union Formation34 wells · 3% · median 246 ft
- Judith River Formation (of Montana Group)9 wells · 1% · median 1,010 ft
- Fox Hills Formation Or Sandstone7 wells · 1% · median 300 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 Garfield County
Petroleum releases
12
4 open · 8 resolved
Superfund program sites
1
none on the National Priorities List
Registered tank facilities
17
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 1999. A property report screens the sites within a quarter, half and one mile of a specific parcel and links the agency records.