# How to read a depth-to-water figure — ks-water-table

> What the two figures are, why a shallower reading is real, and why a change computed from 0.0 ft is a floor and not an exact amount.

## How to read a depth-to-water figure

Four things about these numbers that decide whether you are reading them right.

### 1. Both figures are depth to water, measured downward

A bigger number means the water is **deeper**. A section that
has fallen 40 ft is one where you now have to go forty feet further down
to reach water than before irrigation began. The change column is the second
figure minus the first: **+** is deeper,
**−** is shallower.

### 2. It is a surface, not a reading

These are interpolated surfaces, not readings at a point. The Survey builds them from measured wells; a figure for one section is an estimate for that square mile, not a measurement of any particular well on it.

The Survey measures wells and fits a surface between them. The figure over
one section is what that surface says there. It is the right number for
« how much has this area changed » and the wrong number
for « how deep is my well ».

### 3. A shallower reading is real

**5,151** sections — 19.9% of those with
both figures — sit higher than before development.

On 5,151 sections the water table sits *higher* than before development. That is real, not a fault in the file — recharge, return flow from surface irrigation and reduced pumping all raise a water table. The site shows it as measured.

### 4. And zero is a floor, not a measurement

659 sections read exactly 0.0 ft before development and 1,309 read exactly 0.0 ft today — against five occurrences for the next most common value, and not one negative figure anywhere in the file. A continuous surface does not land on the same number 659 times by chance: it is floored at ground level and cannot express a water table standing above the ground. Where either figure is 0.0, the change shown is a floor, not an exact amount, and this site marks it « at least ».

Measured on the file we hold: **659** sections read
exactly 0.0 ft before development, **1,309** read
exactly 0.0 ft in 2022–2024, and there are
**0** negative depths anywhere in the file. Missing values
are stored separately — 5,708 sections carry no predevelopment
figure at all — so 0.0 is not a disguised blank. It is a clamp, and
where it appears the change we show is marked ≥.

### What the numbers look like across the file

Start from [the counties](/county.md), [the townships](/township.md), or [see what is covered](/coverage.md).

### Need this for one particular parcel?

A surface figure is not a well depth. Someone on the ground can tell you what it means where you are. Tell us where; we pass the request on.

We are nobody's agent and have no arrangement with any firm today. [What we do with this](/privacy.md).

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Página: https://ks-water-table.pages.dev/how-far/
Fonte: Kansas depth to water, predevelopment against 2022-2024 — Kansas Geological Survey, joined to WWC-5 well completion records
Recolha: 2026-08-23