Polk County, NE Water Table Trend
Polk County, NE: what the water table is actually doing
Polk County's long-term well puts the trend at 2.3 ft per decade, rising, getting shallower over time, based on 88 measurements since 1948.
This is one representative well, not a county-wide survey, the same grain limit every page here discloses.
Polk County's source well, in detail
Depth to water at the last reading was 58.4 ft below land surface. Readings span 1948-05-01 to 2023-04-10, 88 measurements from USGS well USGS-410928097371101 (14n 3w26ad1 Ne-Lnc-Swr-A), part of the National Water Information System. The qualifying bar and the OLS fit behind this trend are documented in the methodology guide.
How Polk County compares nationally
Polk County sits at rank 115th 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. Polk County, Nebraska is home to about 5,269 people. See the fastest-moving counties guide for how Polk 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 Polk 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.