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Montana water data · County

Valley County: well depth, groundwater and water rights

What the public record says about water in Valley 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 13,787 public records from MBMG GWIC, Montana DNRC, Montana DEQ, EPA SEMS, EPA UST Finder

Wells on record

3,188

2,968 with recorded depth

Median well depth

67 ft

half of wells 39–120 ft

Median static water level

26 ft

2,216 measurements

Median tested yield

10 gpm

2,378 pump tests

Well depth

How deep are wells in Valley County?

Of 2,968 wells with a recorded total depth, the median is 67 feet. Half were drilled between 39 and 120 feet; one in ten went deeper than 210 feet and one in ten found water shallower than 23 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
34%
50–100 ft
33%
100–200 ft
23%
200–300 ft
4%
300–500 ft
4%
500 ft and deeper
3%

Static water level

26 ft

median depth to water at rest · half between 17 and 55 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 7 and 20 gpm

9% 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 Valley County

193 wells have been completed here since 2016, 10 of them in the last twelve months. The newest log on file was completed July 30, 2026. Records run back to 1898.

What the wells are for

  • Stockwater1,647
  • Domestic1,315
  • Monitoring422
  • Irrigation100
  • Public Water Supply75

How they were drilled

  • Rotary676
  • Cable257
  • Churn138
  • Forward Rotary133

Drillers filing well logs in Valley County

  • Montana Salinity Control Association40 since 2016 · 2025
  • Hansen Environmental Drilling34 since 2016 · 2026
  • Agri Industries Inc23 since 2016 · 2022
  • Haz Tech Drilling Inc21 since 2016 · 2021
  • Petrie Pump & Drilling10 since 2016 · 2022
  • Eaton Drilling Co10 since 2016 · 2017
  • Pirtz Waterworx Llc10 since 2016 · 2021
  • Jacobson Drilling8 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 Valley County

Montana DNRC lists 10,347 water rights in the county: 2,881 groundwater and 7,466 surface water, 9,337 of them active. The median priority date is 1954, and the oldest claim dates to 1862.

Types of right

  • Statement Of Claim7,731
  • Ground Water Certificate913
  • Stockwater Permit853
  • Provisional Permit518
  • Exempt Notice139

Purposes

  • Stock6,597
  • Wildlife1,133
  • Domestic879
  • Irrigation867
  • Domestic; Stock155

DNRC basins

  • 40O5,156
  • 40N2,138
  • 40S858
  • 40M747
  • 40E692

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 Valley 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.

  • Alluvium (quaternary)438 wells · 31% · median 65 ft
  • Glacial Drift255 wells · 18% · median 40 ft
  • Judith River Formation (of Montana Group)213 wells · 15% · median 300 ft
  • Flaxville Gravels (pliocene-miocene)124 wells · 9% · median 50 ft
  • Fox Hills-hell Creek Aquifer115 wells · 8% · median 120 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 Valley County

Petroleum releases

106

35 open · 71 resolved

Superfund program sites

3

none on the National Priorities List

Registered tank facilities

143

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.