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Montana water data · Community in Lewis and Clark County

Helena West Side: well depth, groundwater and water rights

What the public record says about water in Helena West Side: 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 1,068 public records from MBMG GWIC, Montana DNRC, Montana DEQ, EPA SEMS, EPA UST Finder, US Census (place boundary)

Wells on record

567

37.7 per sq mi

Median well depth

100 ft

half of wells 54–182 ft

Median static water level

35 ft

512 measurements

Median tested yield

20 gpm

480 pump tests

Well depth

How deep are wells in Helena West Side?

Of 557 wells with a recorded total depth, the median is 100 feet. Half were drilled between 54 and 182 feet; one in ten went deeper than 287 feet and one in ten found water shallower than 35 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
20%
50–100 ft
27%
100–200 ft
30%
200–300 ft
13%
300–500 ft
7%
500 ft and deeper
2%

Static water level

35 ft

median depth to water at rest · half between 19 and 60 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 14 and 31 gpm

4% of tested wells produced under 5 gallons per minute and 59% 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 Helena West Side

87 wells have been completed here since 2016, 2 of them in the last twelve months. The newest log on file was completed January 28, 2026. Records run back to 1870.

What the wells are for

  • Domestic399
  • Irrigation63
  • Monitoring59
  • Stockwater36
  • Public Water Supply16

How they were drilled

  • Rotary193
  • Air Rotary105
  • Cable51
  • Forward Rotary35

Drillers filing well logs in Helena West Side

  • Yellow Jacket Drilling Services Llc23 since 2016 · 2024
  • H & L Drilling Inc19 since 2016 · 2024
  • Okeefe Drilling Co14 since 2016 · 2022
  • A-10 Drilling13 since 2016 · 2025
  • Western Water Wells5 since 2016 · 2026
  • Lindsay Drilling Co Inc4 since 2016 · 2022
  • Cascade Drilling Lp4 since 2016 · 2019
  • Sk Geotechnical Co2 since 2016 · 2022

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 Helena West Side

Montana DNRC lists 486 water rights with a point of diversion inside this area: 435 groundwater and 51 surface water, 418 of them active. The median priority date is 1979, and the oldest claim dates to 1865.

Types of right

  • Ground Water Certificate287
  • Statement Of Claim146
  • Exempt Notice39
  • Provisional Permit11
  • Water Reservation2

Purposes

  • Domestic179
  • Domestic; Lawn And Garden67
  • Irrigation57
  • Stock42
  • Commercial21

DNRC basins

  • 41I486

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 Helena West Side 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.

  • Alluvium (quaternary)79 wells · 50% · median 41 ft
  • Helena Dolomite49 wells · 31% · median 105 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 Helena West Side

Petroleum releases

8

0 open · 8 resolved

Superfund program sites

2

none on the National Priorities List

Registered tank facilities

5

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 1997. A property report screens the sites within a quarter, half and one mile of a specific parcel and links the agency records.