Montana water data · City in Flathead County
Whitefish: well depth, groundwater and water rights
What the public record says about water in Whitefish: 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 551 public records from MBMG GWIC, Montana DNRC, Montana DEQ, EPA UST Finder, US Census (place boundary)
Wells on record
220
30 per sq mi
Median well depth
195 ft
half of wells 79–298 ft
Median static water level
44 ft
165 measurements
Median tested yield
30 gpm
155 pump tests
Well depth
How deep are wells in Whitefish?
Of 202 wells with a recorded total depth, the median is 195 feet. Half were drilled between 79 and 298 feet; one in ten went deeper than 438 feet and one in ten found water shallower than 20 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 22 and 87 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
30 gpm
median tested yield · half between 17 and 50 gpm
2% of tested wells produced under 5 gallons per minute and 74% 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 Whitefish
44 wells have been completed here since 2016, 1 of them in the last twelve months. The newest log on file was completed July 21, 2026. Records run back to 1933.
What the wells are for
- Domestic134
- Monitoring55
- Stockwater13
- Public Water Supply12
- Irrigation12
How they were drilled
- Rotary81
- Hollowstem Auger25
- Forward Rotary22
- Air Rotary15
Drillers filing well logs in Whitefish
- Haz Tech Drilling Inc6 since 2016 · 2023
- Billmayer Drilling4 since 2016 · 2021
- Glazier Drilling4 since 2016 · 2026
- Sk Geotechnical Co4 since 2016 · 2018
- Davis Brothers Drilling4 since 2016 · 2025
- Okeefe Drilling Co4 since 2016 · 2020
- Chambers Drilling Company3 since 2016 · 2018
- Boland Drilling3 since 2016 · 2024
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 Whitefish
Montana DNRC lists 269 water rights with a point of diversion inside this area: 124 groundwater and 145 surface water, 242 of them active. The median priority date is 1980, and the oldest claim dates to 1900.
Types of right
- Statement Of Claim109
- Ground Water Certificate94
- Provisional Permit65
- Exempt Notice1
Purposes
- Domestic130
- Domestic; Lawn And Garden26
- Multiple Domestic22
- Lawn And Garden19
- Irrigation11
DNRC basins
- 76LJ269
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 Whitefish 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 (pleistocene)41 wells · 37% · median 223 ft
- Glacial Drift33 wells · 30% · median 106 ft
- Alluvium (holocene)13 wells · 12% · median 31 ft
- Middle Belt Carbonate11 wells · 10% · median 363 ft
- Ravalli Group6 wells · 5% · median 169 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 Whitefish
Petroleum releases
34
9 open · 25 resolved
Superfund program sites
0
none on the National Priorities List
Registered tank facilities
28
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 2021. A property report screens the sites within a quarter, half and one mile of a specific parcel and links the agency records.