Lancaster County, PA Water Table Trend
Lancaster County, PA: what the water table is actually doing
Over 70 years of USGS readings, the well tracking Lancaster County's aquifer is holding roughly steady: 0.1 ft per decade.
One well stands in for Lancaster 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 12.7 ft below land surface. Readings span 1956-11-29 to 2026-08-03, 212 measurements from USGS well USGS-401637076071501 (Ln 1351 Lancaster County Observation 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 Lancaster County ranks
Of the 1,449 US counties with a usable trend, Lancaster County ranks 753rd from fastest-rising to fastest-declining, 1 is the fastest-rising water table measured, 1449 the fastest-declining. About 563,293 people live in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. See the fastest-moving counties guide for how Lancaster County stacks up against the most extreme cases nationally.
A dropping table says nothing about water quality
Whether Lancaster 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.