Montana water data · Community in Gallatin County

Ponderosa Pines: well depth, groundwater and water rights

What the public record says about water in Ponderosa Pines: 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 571 public records from MBMG GWIC, Montana DNRC, US Census (place boundary)

Wells on record

311

7.8 per sq mi

Median well depth

160 ft

half of wells 80–280 ft

Median static water level

54 ft

302 measurements

Median tested yield

20 gpm

303 pump tests

Well depth

How deep are wells in Ponderosa Pines?

Of 308 wells with a recorded total depth, the median is 160 feet. Half were drilled between 80 and 280 feet; one in ten went deeper than 400 feet and one in ten found water shallower than 44 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
14%
50–100 ft
16%
100–200 ft
33%
200–300 ft
15%
300–500 ft
17%
500 ft and deeper
6%

Static water level

54 ft

median depth to water at rest · half between 15 and 110 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 12 and 35 gpm

8% of tested wells produced under 5 gallons per minute and 54% 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 Ponderosa Pines

119 wells have been completed here since 2016, 6 of them in the last twelve months. The newest log on file was completed July 31, 2026. Records run back to 1950.

What the wells are for

  • Domestic289
  • Irrigation15
  • Stockwater13
  • Fire Protection1
  • Other1

How they were drilled

  • Rotary263
  • Cable26
  • Dual Rotary4
  • Air Rotary2

Drillers filing well logs in Ponderosa Pines

  • Red Tiger Drilling34 since 2016 · 2025
  • Western Water Wells19 since 2016 · 2026
  • Van Dyken Drilling Inc15 since 2016 · 2025
  • Bridger Drilling Inc12 since 2016 · 2022
  • Old Town Drilling11 since 2016 · 2026
  • Diamond M Drilling Inc9 since 2016 · 2022
  • Potts Drilling Inc6 since 2016 · 2025
  • A-10 Drilling6 since 2016 · 2022

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 Ponderosa Pines

Montana DNRC lists 260 water rights with a point of diversion inside this area: 224 groundwater and 36 surface water, 233 of them active. The median priority date is 2000, and the oldest claim dates to 1858.

Types of right

  • Ground Water Certificate192
  • Statement Of Claim62
  • Reserved Claim3
  • Exempt Notice2
  • Water Reservation1

Purposes

  • Domestic83
  • Stock47
  • Domestic; Lawn And Garden24
  • Domestic; Lawn And Garden; Stock20
  • Domestic; Stock19

DNRC basins

  • 41I258
  • 41H2

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 Ponderosa Pines 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.

  • Cenozoic Undifferentiated33 wells · 46% · median 144 ft
  • Belt Supergroup19 wells · 27% · median 180 ft
  • Paleozoic Undifferentiated9 wells · 13% · median 168 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.