Montana water data · City in Dawson County

Glendive: well depth, groundwater and water rights

What the public record says about water in Glendive: 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 491 public records from MBMG GWIC, Montana DNRC, Montana DEQ, EPA SEMS, EPA UST Finder, US Census (place boundary)

Wells on record

373

107.4 per sq mi

Median well depth

33 ft

half of wells 21–42 ft

Median static water level

23 ft

246 measurements

Median tested yield

18 gpm

54 pump tests

Well depth

How deep are wells in Glendive?

Of 327 wells with a recorded total depth, the median is 33 feet. Half were drilled between 21 and 42 feet; one in ten went deeper than 85 feet and one in ten found water shallower than 13 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
88%
50–100 ft
3%
100–200 ft
7%
200–300 ft
2%
300–500 ft
0%
500 ft and deeper
0%

Static water level

23 ft

median depth to water at rest · half between 14 and 30 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

18 gpm

median tested yield · half between 8 and 25 gpm

19% of tested wells produced under 5 gallons per minute and 48% 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 Glendive

179 wells have been completed here since 2016. The newest log on file was completed September 9, 2025. Records run back to 1930.

What the wells are for

  • Monitoring242
  • Other63
  • Domestic24
  • Public Water Supply15
  • Geothermal-extraction8

How they were drilled

  • Sonic117
  • Hollowstem Auger106
  • Hollow Stem Auger23
  • Rotary15

Drillers filing well logs in Glendive

  • Environmental West Exploration68 since 2016 · 2018
  • Haz Tech Drilling Inc34 since 2016 · 2022
  • Cascade Drilling Lp26 since 2016 · 2016
  • West Central Environmental Consultants19 since 2016 · 2025
  • Environmental West10 since 2016 · 2018
  • Dakota Tech6 since 2016 · 2019
  • Hansen Environmental Drilling5 since 2016 · 2023
  • Sk Geotechnical Co5 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 Glendive

Montana DNRC lists 36 water rights with a point of diversion inside this area: 27 groundwater and 9 surface water, 30 of them active. The median priority date is 1969, and the oldest claim dates to 1906.

Types of right

  • Statement Of Claim19
  • Ground Water Certificate11
  • Provisional Permit6

Purposes

  • Domestic12
  • Municipal4
  • Commercial3
  • Industrial3
  • Irrigation3

DNRC basins

  • 42M36

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 Glendive 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.

  • Hell Creek Formation51 wells · 75% · median 97 ft
  • Fox Hills-hell Creek Aquifer7 wells · 10% · median 100 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 Glendive

Petroleum releases

35

14 open · 21 resolved

Superfund program sites

1

none on the National Priorities List

Registered tank facilities

46

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.