Taos County, NM Water Table Trend
Taos County, NM: what the water table is actually doing
Over 66 years of USGS readings, the well tracking Taos County's aquifer is rising, getting shallower over time: 1.5 ft per decade.
One well stands in for Taos 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 30.2 ft below land surface. Readings span 1955-08-01 to 2021-01-27, 69 measurements from USGS well USGS-364757105372801 (30n.12e.35.221), part of the National Water Information System. The qualifying bar and the OLS fit behind this trend are documented in the methodology guide.
Where Taos County ranks
Of the 1,449 US counties with a usable trend, Taos County ranks 167th from fastest-rising to fastest-declining, 1 is the fastest-rising water table measured, 1449 the fastest-declining. About 34,482 people live in Taos County, New Mexico. See the fastest-moving counties guide for how Taos County stacks up against the most extreme cases nationally.
A dropping table says nothing about water quality
Whether Taos 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.