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Montana water data · City in Missoula County

Missoula: well depth, groundwater and water rights

What the public record says about water in Missoula: 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 4,105 public records from MBMG GWIC, Montana DNRC, Montana DEQ, EPA SEMS, EPA UST Finder, US Census (place boundary)

Wells on record

2,002

57.2 per sq mi

Median well depth

85 ft

half of wells 60–120 ft

Median static water level

38 ft

1,572 measurements

Median tested yield

50 gpm

1,546 pump tests

Well depth

How deep are wells in Missoula?

Of 1,826 wells with a recorded total depth, the median is 85 feet. Half were drilled between 60 and 120 feet; one in ten went deeper than 172 feet and one in ten found water shallower than 48 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
11%
50–100 ft
49%
100–200 ft
33%
200–300 ft
4%
300–500 ft
2%
500 ft and deeper
0%

Static water level

38 ft

median depth to water at rest · half between 27 and 57 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

50 gpm

median tested yield · half between 30 and 100 gpm

2% of tested wells produced under 5 gallons per minute and 87% 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 Missoula

160 wells have been completed here since 2016, 5 of them in the last twelve months. The newest log on file was completed April 20, 2026. Records run back to 1865.

What the wells are for

  • Domestic1,054
  • Monitoring239
  • Irrigation205
  • Public Water Supply186
  • Other110

How they were drilled

  • Rotary1,007
  • Cable173
  • Churn127
  • Hollowstem Auger53

Drillers filing well logs in Missoula

  • Okeefe Drilling Co46 since 2016 · 2026
  • Jeromes Drilling Co25 since 2016 · 2022
  • Camp Well Drilling And Pump Service24 since 2016 · 2026
  • Western Montana Drilling Co.21 since 2016 · 2025
  • Camp Well Drilling & Pump Supply13 since 2016 · 2024
  • Cascade Drilling Lp13 since 2016 · 2024
  • Coldwater Drilling And Pumps8 since 2016 · 2025
  • Holt Services Inc5 since 2016 · 2025

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 Missoula

Montana DNRC lists 1,676 water rights with a point of diversion inside this area: 1,341 groundwater and 335 surface water, 1,532 of them active. The median priority date is 1980, and the oldest claim dates to 1865.

Types of right

  • Ground Water Certificate865
  • Statement Of Claim567
  • Provisional Permit147
  • Exempt Notice81
  • 62-73 Ground Water Record11

Purposes

  • Domestic440
  • Irrigation325
  • Domestic; Lawn And Garden175
  • Commercial133
  • Lawn And Garden122

DNRC basins

  • 76M1,398
  • 76H277
  • 76G1

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 Missoula 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)875 wells · 59% · median 96 ft
  • Alluvium (holocene)375 wells · 25% · median 53 ft
  • Sediments (tertiary)167 wells · 11% · median 170 ft
  • Alluvium (quaternary)41 wells · 3% · median 42 ft
  • Belt Supergroup16 wells · 1% · median 202 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 Missoula

Petroleum releases

156

4 open · 152 resolved

Superfund program sites

4

none on the National Priorities List

Registered tank facilities

267

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 2022. A property report screens the sites within a quarter, half and one mile of a specific parcel and links the agency records.