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Montana water data · City in Carbon County

Red Lodge: well depth, groundwater and water rights

What the public record says about water in Red Lodge: 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 918 public records from MBMG GWIC, Montana DNRC, Montana DEQ, EPA UST Finder, US Census (place boundary)

Wells on record

504

185.8 per sq mi

Median well depth

40 ft

half of wells 39–51 ft

Median static water level

15 ft

470 measurements

Median tested yield

40 gpm

472 pump tests

Well depth

How deep are wells in Red Lodge?

Of 487 wells with a recorded total depth, the median is 40 feet. Half were drilled between 39 and 51 feet; one in ten went deeper than 60 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
72%
50–100 ft
24%
100–200 ft
3%
200–300 ft
1%
300–500 ft
0%
500 ft and deeper
0%

Static water level

15 ft

median depth to water at rest · half between 10 and 23 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

40 gpm

median tested yield · half between 30 and 60 gpm

0% of tested wells produced under 5 gallons per minute and 92% 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 Red Lodge

115 wells have been completed here since 2016, 11 of them in the last twelve months. The newest log on file was completed August 4, 2026. Records run back to 1900.

What the wells are for

  • Domestic258
  • Irrigation204
  • Monitoring20
  • Stockwater9
  • Other7

How they were drilled

  • Rotary399
  • Rotary Driven22
  • Forward Rotary20
  • Cable8

Drillers filing well logs in Red Lodge

  • Aaqua Drilling Inc100 since 2016 · 2026
  • Douglas Drilling13 since 2016 · 2025
  • Okeefe Drilling Co3 since 2016 · 2017
  • B & H69 all-time · 2001
  • Rock Creek Drilling Inc20 all-time · 1997
  • H & H Drilling9 all-time · 2004
  • B And H9 all-time · 2004
  • American Drilling & Supply8 all-time · 2008

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 Red Lodge

Montana DNRC lists 368 water rights with a point of diversion inside this area: 319 groundwater and 49 surface water, 352 of them active. The median priority date is 2003, and the oldest claim dates to 1889.

Types of right

  • Ground Water Certificate304
  • Statement Of Claim48
  • Provisional Permit13
  • Exempt Notice2
  • Water Reservation1

Purposes

  • Lawn And Garden184
  • Domestic85
  • Domestic; Lawn And Garden40
  • Irrigation19
  • Commercial6

DNRC basins

  • 43D365
  • 43C1
  • 43N1
  • 43QJ1

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 Red Lodge 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.

  • Alluvium (quaternary)307 wells · 86% · median 40 ft
  • Fort Union Formation21 wells · 6% · median 100 ft
  • Sand And Gravel (pleistocene)11 wells · 3% · median 55 ft
  • Terrace Deposits (quaternary)9 wells · 3% · median 28 ft
  • Sand And Gravel (quaternary)7 wells · 2% · median 42 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 Red Lodge

Petroleum releases

19

0 open · 19 resolved

Superfund program sites

0

none on the National Priorities List

Registered tank facilities

27

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 2017. A property report screens the sites within a quarter, half and one mile of a specific parcel and links the agency records.