Since January 1, 2026, most new Montana wells require a $400 Notice of Intent filed with the state Department of Natural Resources and Conservation before drilling starts, not after — a real reversal of the old process, where a landowner could drill first and sort out the paperwork once water was already flowing. DNRC has up to 10 business days to approve or deny the filing. It's arriving in the middle of the state's sixth consecutive year of drought, when more Montana households than usual are calling a well driller to begin with.
Montana is in its sixth straight year of drought
DNRC's own Spring 2026 drought and water supply report doesn't hedge: as the season began, Montana entered "the sixth consecutive year with abnormally dry, and in some areas, severe drought conditions" (DNRC Drought Report, 2026). The report singles out the state's northwest corner — the Flathead Valley's own region — as one of the hardest-hit areas, describing a "broad expansion of severe (D2) and extreme (D3) drought conditions" that worsened through November 2025 and eased only after late-arriving rain in December.
That's not an abstraction for homeowners on private wells. In Fairfield, north of Great Falls, the town has drilled four test wells that all came up dry, according to Mayor Loren Tacke, who told a local news crew the town isn't sure whether the fix is a deeper well or sourcing water from another community (KRTV, 2026). Patrick Bronson of 406 Water Wells, who drilled roughly 400 feet into the Madison aquifer on one recent job after shallower water ran out, put the shortage in plain terms: "That's a problem right now — there's only what's there is there" (KRTV, 2026). A dry well isn't a maintenance call. It's a household with no water, calling around for whoever can drill deeper, fastest.
What actually changed January 1
The new filing requirement comes from House Bill 681, passed by the 2025 Legislature. Before HB 681, Montana had no statutory process for confirming, in advance, whether a planned well qualified for the state's "exempt well" exception — the simplified path available to wells that use 35 gallons per minute or less and no more than 10 acre-feet of water a year, the range that covers nearly every private home well in the state (DNRC, 2026). Landowners found out whether they qualified after the well was already drilled and water was already in use.
That sequence is now reversed. A landowner — or, in practice, the well driller handling the job — files Form 602I, the Notice of Intent, describing the proposed point of diversion, place of use, and how the water will be used, along with the $400 fee. DNRC reviews it within 10 business days. If it's authorized, the applicant has five years to complete the well and file a Notice of Completion (Form 602, a separate $250 filing) before a water right is issued. If it's denied, the applicant is routed into the full water-right permitting process instead — a longer, more expensive track (DNRC, 2026).
| Before HB 681 | Since Jan. 1, 2026 | |
|---|---|---|
| When you file | After the well is drilled and in use | Before drilling begins |
| State review | None — no formal pre-check existed | DNRC decides within 10 business days |
| Cost to file | N/A | $400 (Notice of Intent) + $250 (Notice of Completion) |
| If it doesn't qualify | Discovered after drilling | Routed to full permitting before drilling |
The subdivision cap that can turn into a denial
One detail matters most for multi-lot development: DNRC will deny a Notice of Intent if the well is part of a "combined appropriation" — multiple wells or groundwater uses tied to the same project — and that group's diversions already total 10 acre-feet a year (DNRC, 2026). A Montana water-rights law firm's own analysis of the bill notes that separate phases of a single subdivision are now treated as one combined project sharing that same 10-acre-foot ceiling, rather than each phase getting a fresh allocation (Parsons Behle, 2026). For a builder or a homeowner in a multi-lot development, that makes the filing something closer to a reservation in a shared, capped pool than a formality.
Why the call itself carries more weight this year
None of this changes what a driller does with a rig. It changes what has to happen before the rig can legally show up. The Notice of Intent needs specific, accurate information — the parcel and point of diversion, the intended use, the estimated flow — and that information usually starts as whatever gets written down during the first phone call. A callback that sits for two days doesn't just delay a bid. During a drought year, it delays the start of a 10-business-day state review for a household that may already be hauling water.
Flathead Valley well drilling is still mostly small, family-run operations, not dispatch centers with a receptionist on staff. Billmayer Drilling, based in Kalispell, has been drilling wells in the Flathead Valley and Northwest Montana since 1952 and is currently run by a father-son team, Doug and JD Billmayer (Billmayer Drilling, 2026) — exactly the kind of shop where the person capable of answering detailed questions about a well site is usually the same person running the rig that day, not sitting by a phone.
- Capture the parcel address or point of diversion, the intended use, and an estimated flow rate on the first call — that's the core of what goes on Form 602I, and getting it right the first time avoids a DNRC follow-up request that eats into the 10-day review window.
- Don't let a callback sit in voicemail during a drought summer. The caller's existing well may already be dry, and every day before the Notice of Intent is filed is a day added before drilling can legally start.
- For subdivision or multi-lot jobs, flag early that the well may be part of a combined appropriation reviewed against a shared cap, not judged alone — it changes what the customer should expect from the timeline.