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Montana water data · County

Richland County: well depth, groundwater and water rights

What the public record says about water in Richland 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 9,753 public records from MBMG GWIC, Montana DNRC, Montana DEQ, EPA UST Finder

Wells on record

5,153

4,733 with recorded depth

Median well depth

80 ft

half of wells 40–170 ft

Median static water level

32 ft

3,452 measurements

Median tested yield

11 gpm

3,817 pump tests

Well depth

How deep are wells in Richland County?

Of 4,733 wells with a recorded total depth, the median is 80 feet. Half were drilled between 40 and 170 feet; one in ten went deeper than 300 feet and one in ten found water shallower than 22 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
32%
50–100 ft
24%
100–200 ft
23%
200–300 ft
10%
300–500 ft
6%
500 ft and deeper
5%

Static water level

32 ft

median depth to water at rest · half between 15 and 80 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

11 gpm

median tested yield · half between 6 and 20 gpm

12% of tested wells produced under 5 gallons per minute and 27% 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 Richland County

436 wells have been completed here since 2016, 27 of them in the last twelve months. The newest log on file was completed August 18, 2026. Records run back to 1890.

What the wells are for

  • Stockwater2,598
  • Domestic2,058
  • Monitoring432
  • Unused193
  • Irrigation155

How they were drilled

  • Rotary1,698
  • Forward Rotary470
  • Cable405
  • Bored158

Drillers filing well logs in Richland County

  • Thermal Drill Inc96 since 2016 · 2023
  • Sharp Drilling Inc80 since 2016 · 2025
  • Agri Industries Inc63 since 2016 · 2026
  • Solid Waterwell Drilling63 since 2016 · 2025
  • H & H Drilling25 since 2016 · 2024
  • Dls Contracting20 since 2016 · 2018
  • Badlands Water Works Llc13 since 2016 · 2026
  • Mbmg10 since 2016 · 2017

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 Richland County

Montana DNRC lists 4,427 water rights in the county: 2,883 groundwater and 1,544 surface water, 4,121 of them active. The median priority date is 1976, and the oldest claim dates to 1864.

Types of right

  • Statement Of Claim2,032
  • Ground Water Certificate1,996
  • Provisional Permit242
  • Conservation District Record49
  • Stockwater Permit48

Purposes

  • Stock2,374
  • Domestic752
  • Irrigation349
  • Domestic; Stock242
  • Domestic; Lawn And Garden125

DNRC basins

  • 42M2,817
  • 40S1,145
  • 40P465

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 Richland 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.)1,236 wells · 43% · median 90 ft
  • Fort Union Formation437 wells · 15% · median 160 ft
  • Alluvium (quaternary)416 wells · 15% · median 37 ft
  • Terrace Deposits (pleistocene)172 wells · 6% · median 35 ft
  • Fox Hills-hell Creek Aquifer155 wells · 5% · median 1,080 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 Richland County

Petroleum releases

64

12 open · 52 resolved

Superfund program sites

0

none on the National Priorities List

Registered tank facilities

109

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 2022. A property report screens the sites within a quarter, half and one mile of a specific parcel and links the agency records.