Montana water data · County
Rosebud County: well depth, groundwater and water rights
What the public record says about water in Rosebud 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 12,207 public records from MBMG GWIC, Montana DNRC, Montana DEQ, EPA SEMS, EPA UST Finder
Wells on record
4,557
3,995 with recorded depth
Median well depth
100 ft
half of wells 42–200 ft
Median static water level
44 ft
3,390 measurements
Median tested yield
10 gpm
2,647 pump tests
Well depth
How deep are wells in Rosebud County?
Of 3,995 wells with a recorded total depth, the median is 100 feet. Half were drilled between 42 and 200 feet; one in ten went deeper than 380 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.
Static water level
44 ft
median depth to water at rest · half between 19 and 100 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 6 and 20 gpm
18% of tested wells produced under 5 gallons per minute and 29% 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 Rosebud County
708 wells have been completed here since 2016, 34 of them in the last twelve months. The newest log on file was completed September 1, 2026. Records run back to 1885.
What the wells are for
- Stockwater1,902
- Monitoring1,322
- Domestic956
- Research130
- Injection121
How they were drilled
- Rotary1,804
- Forward Rotary389
- Air Rotary265
- Unknown146
Drillers filing well logs in Rosebud County
- Askin Drilling448 since 2016 · 2026
- Higgins Drilling Company97 since 2016 · 2026
- Ronald L Askin Drilling70 since 2016 · 2023
- Gary's Drilling Inc.43 since 2016 · 2026
- Okeefe Drilling Co24 since 2016 · 2017
- Haz Tech Drilling Inc20 since 2016 · 2024
- Excel Drilling8 since 2016 · 2020
- Pioneer Technical Services Inc7 since 2016 · 2023
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 Rosebud County
Montana DNRC lists 7,490 water rights in the county: 2,835 groundwater and 4,649 surface water, 7,093 of them active. The median priority date is 1955, and the oldest claim dates to 1864.
Types of right
- Statement Of Claim5,792
- Ground Water Certificate1,221
- Stockwater Permit211
- Provisional Permit182
- Exempt Notice41
Purposes
- Stock5,662
- Irrigation707
- Domestic408
- Wildlife192
- Domestic; Stock117
DNRC basins
- 42KJ4,132
- 42A1,221
- 42C786
- 42B508
- 42K466
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 Rosebud 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.)933 wells · 38% · median 127 ft
- Alluvium (quaternary)256 wells · 10% · median 26 ft
- Tullock Member (of Ft Union Fm.)222 wells · 9% · median 160 ft
- Fox Hills-hell Creek Aquifer180 wells · 7% · median 337 ft
- Lance-hell Creek Undifferentiated146 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 Rosebud County
Petroleum releases
79
29 open · 50 resolved
Superfund program sites
2
none on the National Priorities List
Registered tank facilities
79
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.