Montana water data · Community in Missoula County
Orchard Homes: well depth, groundwater and water rights
What the public record says about water in Orchard Homes: 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 2,595 public records from MBMG GWIC, Montana DNRC, Montana DEQ, EPA UST Finder, US Census (place boundary)
Wells on record
1,233
219.4 per sq mi
Median well depth
66 ft
half of wells 58–80 ft
Median static water level
19 ft
1,104 measurements
Median tested yield
45 gpm
1,127 pump tests
Well depth
How deep are wells in Orchard Homes?
Of 1,183 wells with a recorded total depth, the median is 66 feet. Half were drilled between 58 and 80 feet; one in ten went deeper than 100 feet and one in ten found water shallower than 45 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.
Static water level
19 ft
median depth to water at rest · half between 11 and 25 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
45 gpm
median tested yield · half between 30 and 75 gpm
1% of tested wells produced under 5 gallons per minute and 93% 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 Orchard Homes
69 wells have been completed here since 2016, 7 of them in the last twelve months. The newest log on file was completed June 4, 2026. Records run back to 1900.
What the wells are for
- Domestic1,068
- Irrigation78
- Stockwater49
- Public Water Supply38
- Monitoring14
How they were drilled
- Rotary492
- Cable112
- Forward Rotary103
- Foward Rotary51
Drillers filing well logs in Orchard Homes
- Western Montana Drilling Co.28 since 2016 · 2026
- Jeromes Drilling Co12 since 2016 · 2023
- Camp Well Drilling And Pump Service9 since 2016 · 2025
- Camp Well Drilling & Pump Supply8 since 2016 · 2026
- Western Montana Drilling Company7 since 2016 · 2024
- Okeefe Drilling Co2 since 2016 · 2016
- Ak Drilling Inc1 since 2016 · 2025
- Eslinger Drilling & Pump Service1 since 2016 · 2016
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 Orchard Homes
Montana DNRC lists 1,352 water rights with a point of diversion inside this area: 1,327 groundwater and 25 surface water, 1,264 of them active. The median priority date is 1984, and the oldest claim dates to 1877.
Types of right
- Ground Water Certificate1,022
- Statement Of Claim215
- Exempt Notice99
- Provisional Permit11
- 62-73 Ground Water Record4
Purposes
- Domestic620
- Domestic; Lawn And Garden392
- Irrigation49
- Lawn And Garden; Domestic39
- Lawn And Garden26
DNRC basins
- 76M886
- 76H465
- 76L1
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 Orchard Homes 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)705 wells · 68% · median 72 ft
- Alluvium (holocene)296 wells · 29% · median 50 ft
- Alluvium (quaternary)31 wells · 3% · median 69 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 Orchard Homes
Petroleum releases
4
0 open · 4 resolved
Superfund program sites
0
none on the National Priorities List
Registered tank facilities
6
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 2010. A property report screens the sites within a quarter, half and one mile of a specific parcel and links the agency records.