Fairbanks North Star Borough, AK Water Table Trend
Is the water table dropping in Fairbanks North Star Borough, AK?
Over 40 years of USGS readings, the well tracking Fairbanks North Star Borough's aquifer is rising, getting shallower over time: 4.4 ft per decade.
One well stands in for Fairbanks North Star Borough's whole aquifer here, the honest simplification every page on this site carries.
What the well actually measured
The most recent reading put water 9.7 ft below land surface. Readings span 1983-06-07 to 2023-06-22, 228 measurements from USGS well USGS-645434147385101 (Fb00100113ddbc2 001 Mcgrath Well), part of the National Water Information System. The qualifying bar and the OLS fit behind this trend are documented in the methodology guide.
Where Fairbanks North Star Borough ranks
Of the 1,449 US counties with a usable trend, Fairbanks North Star Borough ranks 62nd from fastest-rising to fastest-declining, 1 is the fastest-rising water table measured, 1449 the fastest-declining. About 94,951 people live in Fairbanks North Star Borough, Alaska. See the fastest-moving counties guide for how Fairbanks North Star Borough stacks up against the most extreme cases nationally.
A dropping table says nothing about water quality
Whether Fairbanks North Star Borough's water table is rising or falling is independent of what's actually in the water. Depletion can concentrate naturally-occurring minerals, so it's worth checking directly with a water test rather than assuming a depth trend says anything about quality.