Richmond County, VA Water Table Trend
Is the water table dropping in Richmond County, VA?
Over 111 years of USGS readings, the well tracking Richmond County's aquifer is declining at a typical pace for a declining county: 2 ft per decade.
This is one representative well, not a county-wide survey, the same grain limit every page here discloses.
Richmond County's source well, in detail
Depth to water at the last reading was 3.8 ft below land surface. Readings span 1906-01-01 to 2016-10-20, 66 measurements from USGS well USGS-375523076431801 (57m 4), part of the National Water Information System. The qualifying bar and the OLS fit behind this trend are documented in the methodology guide.
How Richmond County compares nationally
Richmond County sits at rank 1181st 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. Richmond County, Virginia is home to about 9,215 people. See the fastest-moving counties guide for how Richmond County stacks up against the most extreme cases nationally.
If you own a well in Richmond County
A dropping water table means a residential pump has to reach deeper and work harder, which shortens its life. In Richmond County, that trend is real, not assumed: 2 ft per decade over 111 years.
Depth and quality are separate questions
This page answers a depth question, not a quality one. A well in Richmond 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.