Marathon County, WI Water Table Trend
Marathon County, WI: what the water table is actually doing
Over 82 years of USGS readings, the well tracking Marathon County's aquifer is rising, getting shallower over time: 0.8 ft per decade.
One well stands in for Marathon 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 13.8 ft below land surface. Readings span 1944-11-17 to 2026-10-21, 2912 measurements from USGS well USGS-444709089265301 (Mr-27/09e/31-0028), part of the National Water Information System. The qualifying bar and the OLS fit behind this trend are documented in the methodology guide.
Where Marathon County ranks
Of the 1,449 US counties with a usable trend, Marathon County ranks 283rd from fastest-rising to fastest-declining, 1 is the fastest-rising water table measured, 1449 the fastest-declining. About 139,091 people live in Marathon County, Wisconsin. See the fastest-moving counties guide for how Marathon County stacks up against the most extreme cases nationally.
A dropping table says nothing about water quality
Whether Marathon 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.