Phelps County, NE Water Table Trend
Phelps County, NE: what the water table is actually doing
Over 87 years of USGS readings, the well tracking Phelps County's aquifer is holding roughly steady: 0.2 ft per decade.
This is one representative well, not a county-wide survey, the same grain limit every page here discloses.
Phelps County's source well, in detail
Depth to water at the last reading was 7.7 ft below land surface. Readings span 1938-04-01 to 2025-06-18, 334 measurements from USGS well USGS-403941099331901 (8n 20w14db 1), part of the National Water Information System. The qualifying bar and the OLS fit behind this trend are documented in the methodology guide.
How Phelps County compares nationally
Phelps County sits at rank 496th of 1,449 ranked counties, ordered rising-to-declining, so a low number means a rising water table and a high one means fast decline. Phelps County, Nebraska is home to about 9,042 people. See the fastest-moving counties guide for how Phelps County stacks up against the most extreme cases nationally.
Depth and quality are separate questions
This page answers a depth question, not a quality one. A well in Phelps County can be stable in depth and still worth testing for quality, or declining and still test clean, the two are measured separately, and only a direct test settles the second one.