Montana water data · County
Pondera County: well depth, groundwater and water rights
What the public record says about water in Pondera 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 3,939 public records from MBMG GWIC, Montana DNRC, Montana DEQ, EPA UST Finder
Wells on record
1,450
1,128 with recorded depth
Median well depth
38 ft
half of wells 18–90 ft
Median static water level
22 ft
575 measurements
Median tested yield
10 gpm
529 pump tests
Well depth
How deep are wells in Pondera County?
Of 1,128 wells with a recorded total depth, the median is 38 feet. Half were drilled between 18 and 90 feet; one in ten went deeper than 150 feet and one in ten found water shallower than 13 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
22 ft
median depth to water at rest · half between 10 and 50 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 25 gpm
18% of tested wells produced under 5 gallons per minute and 31% 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 Pondera County
66 wells have been completed here since 2016, 8 of them in the last twelve months. The newest log on file was completed August 17, 2026. Records run back to 1885.
What the wells are for
- Monitoring727
- Stockwater356
- Domestic332
- Irrigation42
- Test Well29
How they were drilled
- Rotary177
- Unknown163
- Forward Rotary53
- Solid Stem Auger52
Drillers filing well logs in Pondera County
- Aquasource Drilling Llc18 since 2016 · 2026
- Boland Drilling11 since 2016 · 2025
- Montana Salinity Control Association10 since 2016 · 2021
- Aquasource Inc Llc5 since 2016 · 2022
- Wiley Drilling5 since 2016 · 2025
- West Central Environmental Consultants5 since 2016 · 2024
- Western Water Wells4 since 2016 · 2022
- Mt Dept Of Transportation3 since 2016 · 2021
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 Pondera County
Montana DNRC lists 2,309 water rights in the county: 757 groundwater and 1,552 surface water, 1,819 of them active. The median priority date is 1930, and the oldest claim dates to 1855.
Types of right
- Statement Of Claim1,817
- Ground Water Certificate317
- Provisional Permit61
- Reserved Claim35
- Stockwater Permit34
Purposes
- Stock1,256
- Irrigation473
- Domestic161
- Multiple Domestic95
- Municipal60
DNRC basins
- 41P1,322
- 41M969
- 41O17
- 41L1
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 Pondera 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.
- Two Medicine Formation (of Montana Group)18 wells · 28% · median 75 ft
- Eagle Sandstone8 wells · 13% · median 121 ft
- Colorado Shale Or Fm. (of Colorado Group)7 wells · 11% · median 46 ft
- Glacial Drift7 wells · 11% · median 27 ft
- Telegraph Creek Formation (of Montana Group)7 wells · 11% · median 90 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 Pondera County
Petroleum releases
68
15 open · 53 resolved
Superfund program sites
0
none on the National Priorities List
Registered tank facilities
112
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 2026. A property report screens the sites within a quarter, half and one mile of a specific parcel and links the agency records.