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Montana water data · County

Ravalli County: well depth, groundwater and water rights

What the public record says about water in Ravalli 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 49,152 public records from MBMG GWIC, Montana DNRC, Montana DEQ, EPA SEMS, EPA UST Finder

Wells on record

22,164

21,595 with recorded depth

Median well depth

74 ft

half of wells 40–150 ft

Median static water level

28 ft

20,463 measurements

Median tested yield

20 gpm

20,834 pump tests

Well depth

How deep are wells in Ravalli County?

Of 21,595 wells with a recorded total depth, the median is 74 feet. Half were drilled between 40 and 150 feet; one in ten went deeper than 265 feet and one in ten found water shallower than 34 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
33%
50–100 ft
28%
100–200 ft
22%
200–300 ft
9%
300–500 ft
6%
500 ft and deeper
2%

Static water level

28 ft

median depth to water at rest · half between 13 and 65 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 56% 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 Ravalli County

3,117 wells have been completed here since 2016, 219 of them in the last twelve months. The newest log on file was completed September 11, 2026. Records run back to 1864.

What the wells are for

  • Domestic19,265
  • Irrigation1,663
  • Stockwater983
  • Public Water Supply265
  • Monitoring189

How they were drilled

  • Rotary11,831
  • Cable4,249
  • Forward Rotary1,586
  • Churn489

Drillers filing well logs in Ravalli County

  • Eslinger Drilling & Pump Service1,100 since 2016 · 2026
  • Aqwa Drilling Llc765 since 2016 · 2025
  • Eagle Drilling And Pump Service343 since 2016 · 2026
  • Jeromes Drilling Co175 since 2016 · 2025
  • Ravalli Drilling Inc167 since 2016 · 2024
  • Western Montana Drilling Co.160 since 2016 · 2026
  • S & S Well Drilling, Llc103 since 2016 · 2026
  • Camp Well Drilling And Pump Service92 since 2016 · 2025

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 Ravalli County

Montana DNRC lists 26,811 water rights in the county: 18,169 groundwater and 8,641 surface water, 23,792 of them active. The median priority date is 1983, and the oldest claim dates to 1852.

Types of right

  • Ground Water Certificate15,728
  • Statement Of Claim9,234
  • Exempt Notice666
  • Provisional Permit633
  • Converted Terminates399

Purposes

  • Domestic7,184
  • Irrigation5,504
  • Domestic; Lawn And Garden3,748
  • Stock3,502
  • Domestic; Stock920

DNRC basins

  • 76H26,811

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 Ravalli 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)1,886 wells · 37% · median 130 ft
  • Alluvium (holocene)908 wells · 18% · median 40 ft
  • Alluvial Fan Deposits - Pleistocene634 wells · 12% · median 46 ft
  • Plutonic Rocks (tertiary - Cretaceous)350 wells · 7% · median 188 ft
  • Sand And Gravel (tertiary)247 wells · 5% · median 115 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 Ravalli County

Petroleum releases

76

1 open · 75 resolved

Superfund program sites

1

none on the National Priorities List

Registered tank facilities

100

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 2024. A property report screens the sites within a quarter, half and one mile of a specific parcel and links the agency records.