Water Level Measurement Program

Our Water Level Measurement Program has fired up again for winter level readings.Each year Panhandle Groundwater Conservation District takes measurements on a network of wells throughout the district to determine yearly aquifer changes in water levels. The measurements are not only taken to determine the water level in the aquifer, but also to collect data, provide information for future planning and to determine IRS depletion allowances. The measurements are taken during the winter months when demands for irrigation are lower so that a representative static water level can be obtained.
Our field technicians started water level measurements to-wards the end of November and will wrap up during the first part of this year before wells are fired up during the spring months to irrigate winter wheat and to prewater for this years crops. The winter water level measurement program plays a big role in helping us to obtain our 50/50 goal, which is to have 50 percent of the water left in the aquifer 50 years from now, by being able to monitor the decline of saturated thickness in the aquifer over the past year. In knowing the amount of decline it helps us to enforce study areas in places where water levels have dropped below the allowed annual 1.25 percent of saturated thickness. The measurements taken can be viewed in our July 2015 newsletter.