Whitman County, WA Water Table Trend
Is the water table dropping in Whitman County, WA?
Whitman County's long-term well puts the trend at 0.2 ft per decade, holding roughly steady, based on 319 measurements since 1940.
One well stands in for Whitman 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 11 ft below land surface. Readings span 1940-10-04 to 2016-12-08, 319 measurements from USGS well USGS-470045117211701 (18n/43e-35l01), part of the National Water Information System. The qualifying bar and the OLS fit behind this trend are documented in the methodology guide.
Where Whitman County ranks
Of the 1,449 US counties with a usable trend, Whitman County ranks 504th from fastest-rising to fastest-declining, 1 is the fastest-rising water table measured, 1449 the fastest-declining. About 48,399 people live in Whitman County, Washington. See the fastest-moving counties guide for how Whitman County stacks up against the most extreme cases nationally.
A dropping table says nothing about water quality
Whether Whitman 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.