Kalispell: well depth, groundwater and water rights

Well depth

How deep are wells in Kalispell?

Of 437 wells with a recorded total depth, the median is 177 feet. Half were drilled between 31 and 244 feet; one in ten went deeper than 372 feet and one in ten found water shallower than 19 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.

Drilling activity

Recent well drilling in Kalispell

51 wells have been completed here since 2016, 5 of them in the last twelve months. The newest log on file was completed November 13, 2025. Records run back to 1900.

Water rights

Water rights on file in Kalispell

Montana DNRC lists 273 water rights with a point of diversion inside this area: 222 groundwater and 51 surface water, 243 of them active. The median priority date is 1977, and the oldest claim dates to 1882.

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 Kalispell 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 (pleistocene)172 wells · 56% · median 216 ft
• Alluvium (holocene)91 wells · 30% · median 27 ft
• Glacial Drift18 wells · 6% · median 101 ft
• Middle Belt Carbonate7 wells · 2% · median 180 ft
• Pleistocene Valley-fill Alluvium Clean Sand&grav5 wells · 2% · median 365 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 Kalispell

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 2021. A property report screens the sites within a quarter, half and one mile of a specific parcel and links the agency records.