Butte County, ID Water Table Trend
Is the water table dropping in Butte County, ID?
Butte County's long-term well puts the trend at 2.4 ft per decade, declining at a typical pace for a declining county, based on 2844 measurements since 1949.
This is one representative well, not a county-wide survey, the same grain limit every page here discloses.
Butte County's source well, in detail
Depth to water at the last reading was 473.6 ft below land surface. Readings span 1949-11-16 to 2026-08-05, 2844 measurements from USGS well USGS-433520112572601 (03n 29e 14add1 Mtr Test), part of the National Water Information System. The qualifying bar and the OLS fit behind this trend are documented in the methodology guide.
How Butte County compares nationally
Butte County sits at rank 1221st of 1,449 ranked counties, ordered rising-to-declining, so a low number means a rising water table and a high one means fast decline. Butte County, Idaho is home to about 2,735 people. See the fastest-moving counties guide for how Butte County stacks up against the most extreme cases nationally.
If you own a well in Butte County
A dropping water table means a residential pump has to reach deeper and work harder, which shortens its life. In Butte County, that trend is real, not assumed: 2.4 ft per decade over 77 years.
Depth and quality are separate questions
This page answers a depth question, not a quality one. A well in Butte County can be stable in depth and still worth testing for quality, or declining and still test clean, the two are measured separately, and only a direct test settles the second one.