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Montana water data · County

Powder River County: well depth, groundwater and water rights

What the public record says about water in Powder River 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 15,314 public records from MBMG GWIC, Montana DNRC, Montana DEQ, EPA UST Finder

Wells on record

4,145

3,753 with recorded depth

Median well depth

168 ft

half of wells 80–300 ft

Median static water level

61 ft

3,022 measurements

Median tested yield

10 gpm

3,389 pump tests

Well depth

How deep are wells in Powder River County?

Of 3,753 wells with a recorded total depth, the median is 168 feet. Half were drilled between 80 and 300 feet; one in ten went deeper than 500 feet and one in ten found water shallower than 36 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
15%
50–100 ft
13%
100–200 ft
28%
200–300 ft
18%
300–500 ft
16%
500 ft and deeper
10%

Static water level

61 ft

median depth to water at rest · half between 25 and 123 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 15 gpm

16% of tested wells produced under 5 gallons per minute and 20% 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 Powder River County

178 wells have been completed here since 2016, 20 of them in the last twelve months. The newest log on file was completed September 7, 2026. Records run back to 1879.

What the wells are for

  • Stockwater2,947
  • Domestic896
  • Monitoring259
  • Irrigation85
  • Research56

How they were drilled

  • Rotary1,083
  • Forward Rotary360
  • Drilled269
  • Air Rotary60

Drillers filing well logs in Powder River County

  • Askin Drilling87 since 2016 · 2026
  • Ww Drilling Llc50 since 2016 · 2026
  • Higgins Drilling Company22 since 2016 · 2025
  • Wwc Engineering9 since 2016 · 2017
  • Haz Tech Drilling Inc3 since 2016 · 2020
  • Sharp Drilling Inc2 since 2016 · 2017
  • Water System Drilling Inc2 since 2016 · 2018
  • Drane Drilling Service436 all-time · 2012

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 Powder River County

Montana DNRC lists 11,119 water rights in the county: 4,723 groundwater and 6,396 surface water, 10,602 of them active. The median priority date is 1946, and the oldest claim dates to 1878.

Types of right

  • Powder River Declaration6,665
  • Statement Of Claim2,836
  • Ground Water Certificate1,264
  • Provisional Permit168
  • Exempt Notice80

Purposes

  • Stock7,388
  • Irrigation2,371
  • Domestic; Stock371
  • Domestic317
  • Irrigation; Stock187

DNRC basins

  • 42J5,682
  • 42C3,225
  • 42I2,143
  • 42B36
  • 39F31

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 Powder River 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.

  • Tongue River Member (of Ft Union Fm.)1,412 wells · 43% · median 130 ft
  • Tullock Member (of Ft Union Fm.)883 wells · 27% · median 180 ft
  • Fox Hills-hell Creek Aquifer332 wells · 10% · median 290 ft
  • Lance-hell Creek Undifferentiated271 wells · 8% · median 561 ft
  • Hell Creek Formation202 wells · 6% · median 200 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 Powder River County

Petroleum releases

27

9 open · 18 resolved

Superfund program sites

0

none on the National Priorities List

Registered tank facilities

23

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.