Jefferson County, MO Water Table Trend
Jefferson County, MO: what the water table is actually doing
Over 25 years of USGS readings, the well tracking Jefferson County's aquifer is rising, getting shallower over time: 28 ft per decade.
One well stands in for Jefferson 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 69.8 ft below land surface. Readings span 2001-08-23 to 2026-06-16, 57 measurements from USGS well MO005-381405090260301 (Festus), part of the National Water Information System. The qualifying bar and the OLS fit behind this trend are documented in the methodology guide.
Where Jefferson County ranks
Of the 1,449 US counties with a usable trend, Jefferson County ranks 4th from fastest-rising to fastest-declining, 1 is the fastest-rising water table measured, 1449 the fastest-declining. About 231,888 people live in Jefferson County, Missouri. See the fastest-moving counties guide for how Jefferson County stacks up against the most extreme cases nationally.
A dropping table says nothing about water quality
Whether Jefferson 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.