Montgomery County, MD Water Table Trend
Montgomery County, MD: what the water table is actually doing
Montgomery County's long-term well puts the trend at 0.7 ft per decade, rising, getting shallower over time, based on 821 measurements since 1952.
One well stands in for Montgomery 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 31.3 ft below land surface. Readings span 1952-11-12 to 2026-09-25, 821 measurements from USGS well USGS-391314077224201 (Mo Cc 14), part of the National Water Information System. The qualifying bar and the OLS fit behind this trend are documented in the methodology guide.
Where Montgomery County ranks
Of the 1,449 US counties with a usable trend, Montgomery County ranks 309th from fastest-rising to fastest-declining, 1 is the fastest-rising water table measured, 1449 the fastest-declining. About 1,082,273 people live in Montgomery County, Maryland. See the fastest-moving counties guide for how Montgomery County stacks up against the most extreme cases nationally.
A dropping table says nothing about water quality
Whether Montgomery 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.