Chaves County, NM Water Table Trend
Chaves County, NM: what the water table is actually doing
Over 110 years of USGS readings, the well tracking Chaves County's aquifer is declining at a typical pace for a declining county: 3.4 ft per decade.
This is one representative well, not a county-wide survey, the same grain limit every page here discloses.
Chaves County's source well, in detail
Depth to water at the last reading was 12.3 ft below land surface. Readings span 1912-06-03 to 2022-01-26, 32 measurements from USGS well USGS-332838104262601 (10s.25e.06.142232), part of the National Water Information System. The qualifying bar and the OLS fit behind this trend are documented in the methodology guide.
How Chaves County compares nationally
Chaves County sits at rank 1263rd 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. Chaves County, New Mexico is home to about 63,697 people. See the fastest-moving counties guide for how Chaves County stacks up against the most extreme cases nationally.
If you own a well in Chaves County
A dropping water table means a residential pump has to reach deeper and work harder, which shortens its life. In Chaves County, that trend is real, not assumed: 3.4 ft per decade over 110 years.
Depth and quality are separate questions
This page answers a depth question, not a quality one. A well in Chaves 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.