Montana water data · County

Liberty County: well depth, groundwater and water rights

What the public record says about water in Liberty 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 3,347 public records from MBMG GWIC, Montana DNRC, Montana DEQ, EPA UST Finder

Wells on record

1,097

1,024 with recorded depth

Median well depth

38 ft

half of wells 21–142 ft

Median static water level

40 ft

468 measurements

Median tested yield

10 gpm

444 pump tests

Well depth

How deep are wells in Liberty County?

Of 1,024 wells with a recorded total depth, the median is 38 feet. Half were drilled between 21 and 142 feet; one in ten went deeper than 264 feet and one in ten found water shallower than 16 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
58%
50–100 ft
10%
100–200 ft
17%
200–300 ft
8%
300–500 ft
5%
500 ft and deeper
3%

Static water level

40 ft

median depth to water at rest · half between 13 and 121 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 20 gpm

20% of tested wells produced under 5 gallons per minute and 25% 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 Liberty County

19 wells have been completed here since 2016, 2 of them in the last twelve months. The newest log on file was completed April 13, 2026. Records run back to 1909.

What the wells are for

  • Monitoring493
  • Stockwater349
  • Domestic299
  • Irrigation27
  • Unused25

How they were drilled

  • Unknown131
  • Rotary73
  • Cable43
  • Hollowstem Auger22

Drillers filing well logs in Liberty County

  • Montana Salinity Control Association7 since 2016 · 2024
  • Aquasource Drilling Llc4 since 2016 · 2026
  • Universal Drilling4 since 2016 · 2024
  • Boland Drilling2 since 2016 · 2025
  • Hi-line Drilling Inc1 since 2016 · 2018
  • Unknown95 all-time · 1988
  • Sb And Rg49 all-time · 2003
  • Scott Brown40 all-time · 2005

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 Liberty County

Montana DNRC lists 2,190 water rights in the county: 517 groundwater and 1,673 surface water, 1,982 of them active. The median priority date is 1939, and the oldest claim dates to 1880.

Types of right

  • Statement Of Claim1,912
  • Ground Water Certificate121
  • Provisional Permit86
  • Stockwater Permit60
  • Exempt Notice6

Purposes

  • Stock1,497
  • Irrigation375
  • Domestic126
  • Multiple Domestic47
  • Fish And Wildlife21

DNRC basins

  • 41P967
  • 40G549
  • 41N347
  • 40F327

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 Liberty 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.

  • Eagle Sandstone40 wells · 23% · median 322 ft
  • Glacial Drift34 wells · 20% · median 61 ft
  • Judith River Formation (of Montana Group)26 wells · 15% · median 133 ft
  • Alluvium (quaternary)25 wells · 14% · median 24 ft
  • Virgelle Sandstone Member (of Eagle Sandstone)20 wells · 11% · median 399 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 Liberty County

Petroleum releases

24

6 open · 18 resolved

Superfund program sites

0

none on the National Priorities List

Registered tank facilities

36

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