Highlands County, FL Water Table Trend
Highlands County's groundwater trend, from USGS's own readings
Over 77 years of USGS readings, the well tracking Highlands County's aquifer is holding roughly steady: 0.1 ft per decade.
One well stands in for Highlands County's whole aquifer here, the honest simplification every page on this site carries.
What the well actually measured
The most recent reading put water 3.4 ft below land surface. Readings span 1948-09-10 to 2025-11-18, 294 measurements from USGS well USGS-272504081120101 (H-11a Well Near Lake Placid, Fl), part of the National Water Information System. The qualifying bar and the OLS fit behind this trend are documented in the methodology guide.
Where Highlands County ranks
Of the 1,449 US counties with a usable trend, Highlands County ranks 742nd from fastest-rising to fastest-declining, 1 is the fastest-rising water table measured, 1449 the fastest-declining. About 109,778 people live in Highlands County, Florida. See the fastest-moving counties guide for how Highlands County stacks up against the most extreme cases nationally.
A dropping table says nothing about water quality
Whether Highlands County'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.