Montana WaterReport
Check a property

Montana water data · County

Powell County: well depth, groundwater and water rights

What the public record says about water in Powell 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 9,003 public records from MBMG GWIC, Montana DNRC, Montana DEQ, EPA SEMS, EPA UST Finder

Wells on record

2,523

2,391 with recorded depth

Median well depth

85 ft

half of wells 50–159 ft

Median static water level

25 ft

2,180 measurements

Median tested yield

20 gpm

2,167 pump tests

Well depth

How deep are wells in Powell County?

Of 2,391 wells with a recorded total depth, the median is 85 feet. Half were drilled between 50 and 159 feet; one in ten went deeper than 265 feet and one in ten found water shallower than 30 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
24%
50–100 ft
31%
100–200 ft
27%
200–300 ft
10%
300–500 ft
7%
500 ft and deeper
2%

Static water level

25 ft

median depth to water at rest · half between 12 and 52 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 30 gpm

6% of tested wells produced under 5 gallons per minute and 53% 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 Powell County

395 wells have been completed here since 2016, 52 of them in the last twelve months. The newest log on file was completed September 3, 2026. Records run back to 1860.

What the wells are for

  • Domestic1,831
  • Stockwater453
  • Irrigation149
  • Monitoring121
  • Public Water Supply61

How they were drilled

  • Rotary761
  • Cable514
  • Cable Tool228
  • Air Rotary91

Drillers filing well logs in Powell County

  • Western Water Wells115 since 2016 · 2026
  • Okeefe Drilling Co100 since 2016 · 2025
  • A-10 Drilling32 since 2016 · 2026
  • Beck Drilling & Pump26 since 2016 · 2021
  • Mt Poverty Water Well Drilling19 since 2016 · 2021
  • Jeromes Drilling Co18 since 2016 · 2024
  • H & L Drilling Inc16 since 2016 · 2025
  • Aaaa Water Well Drilling Inc11 since 2016 · 2026

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 Powell County

Montana DNRC lists 6,386 water rights in the county: 2,429 groundwater and 3,957 surface water, 5,759 of them active. The median priority date is 1932, and the oldest claim dates to 1855.

Types of right

  • Statement Of Claim4,611
  • Ground Water Certificate1,430
  • Provisional Permit138
  • Exempt Notice87
  • Converted Terminates44

Purposes

  • Stock2,551
  • Irrigation1,746
  • Domestic815
  • Domestic; Lawn And Garden233
  • Mining119

DNRC basins

  • 76G3,708
  • 76F2,645
  • 76J29
  • 41E3
  • 41I1

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 Powell 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.

  • Sediments (tertiary)418 wells · 26% · median 105 ft
  • Sand And Gravel (holocene)196 wells · 12% · median 35 ft
  • Sand And Gravel (pleistocene)190 wells · 12% · median 59 ft
  • Sand And Gravel (tertiary)132 wells · 8% · median 88 ft
  • Alluvium (holocene)108 wells · 7% · median 40 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 Powell County

Petroleum releases

33

3 open · 30 resolved

Superfund program sites

1

none on the National Priorities List

Registered tank facilities

60

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 2016. A property report screens the sites within a quarter, half and one mile of a specific parcel and links the agency records.