Lake County, IL Water Table Trend
Is the water table dropping in Lake County, IL?
Over 41 years of USGS readings, the well tracking Lake County's aquifer is rising, getting shallower over time: 12.9 ft per decade.
One well stands in for Lake 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 628 ft below land surface. Readings span 1979-01-01 to 2020-04-14, 11 measurements from USGS well USGS-421216088041201 (43n10e-16.4d1), part of the National Water Information System. The qualifying bar and the OLS fit behind this trend are documented in the methodology guide.
Where Lake County ranks
Of the 1,449 US counties with a usable trend, Lake County ranks 20th from fastest-rising to fastest-declining, 1 is the fastest-rising water table measured, 1449 the fastest-declining. About 718,604 people live in Lake County, Illinois. See the fastest-moving counties guide for how Lake County stacks up against the most extreme cases nationally.
A dropping table says nothing about water quality
Whether Lake 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.