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Montana water data · County

Lincoln County: well depth, groundwater and water rights

What the public record says about water in Lincoln 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 16,862 public records from MBMG GWIC, Montana DNRC, Montana DEQ, EPA SEMS, EPA UST Finder

Wells on record

8,269

8,093 with recorded depth

Median well depth

145 ft

half of wells 61–265 ft

Median static water level

50 ft

7,608 measurements

Median tested yield

20 gpm

7,565 pump tests

Well depth

How deep are wells in Lincoln County?

Of 8,093 wells with a recorded total depth, the median is 145 feet. Half were drilled between 61 and 265 feet; one in ten went deeper than 400 feet and one in ten found water shallower than 38 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
18%
50–100 ft
19%
100–200 ft
23%
200–300 ft
19%
300–500 ft
16%
500 ft and deeper
5%

Static water level

50 ft

median depth to water at rest · half between 20 and 116 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 10 and 30 gpm

5% of tested wells produced under 5 gallons per minute and 51% 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 Lincoln County

1,633 wells have been completed here since 2016, 100 of them in the last twelve months. The newest log on file was completed September 23, 2026. Records run back to 1902.

What the wells are for

  • Domestic7,256
  • Monitoring318
  • Public Water Supply183
  • Stockwater142
  • Irrigation137

How they were drilled

  • Rotary4,527
  • Cable1,228
  • Forward Rotary460
  • Air Rotary400

Drillers filing well logs in Lincoln County

  • Davis Brothers Drilling439 since 2016 · 2026
  • Universal Drilling405 since 2016 · 2025
  • North West Drilling191 since 2016 · 2026
  • Post Pump And Drilling Llc136 since 2016 · 2023
  • Universal Drilling Llc71 since 2016 · 2026
  • Joe Liss Water Wells, Inc.70 since 2016 · 2018
  • Cascade Drilling Lp70 since 2016 · 2023
  • Post Pump & Drilling Llc70 since 2016 · 2024

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 Lincoln County

Montana DNRC lists 8,317 water rights in the county: 6,485 groundwater and 1,832 surface water, 7,729 of them active. The median priority date is 1988, and the oldest claim dates to 1864.

Types of right

  • Ground Water Certificate5,553
  • Statement Of Claim2,020
  • Provisional Permit439
  • Exempt Notice175
  • Converted Terminates51

Purposes

  • Domestic3,506
  • Domestic; Lawn And Garden1,279
  • Irrigation633
  • Stock626
  • Domestic; Stock285

DNRC basins

  • 76D7,233
  • 76B458
  • 76C440
  • 76N155
  • 76LJ31

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 Lincoln 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.

  • Glacial Drift2,170 wells · 52% · median 117 ft
  • Belt Supergroup1,045 wells · 25% · median 308 ft
  • Alluvium (holocene)490 wells · 12% · median 40 ft
  • Wallace Formation (of Piegan Group)101 wells · 2% · median 222 ft
  • Alluvium (quaternary)82 wells · 2% · median 28 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 Lincoln County

Petroleum releases

137

11 open · 126 resolved

Superfund program sites

5

2 on or proposed for the NPL

Registered tank facilities

134

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.