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ESPA sentinel well levels

Manual depth-to-water measurements at 20 wells IDWR named and instruments to track the Eastern Snake Plain Aquifer, drawn from IDWR's statewide groundwater level archive.

Figures

Feet

  1. 01S 30E 15BCA1, Bingham County722.84
  2. Crystal Cave Well (05S 28E 26BBD1), Power County691.71
  3. Brockie Lake (05S 25E 22DAD1), Minidoka County525.22
  4. Funk Well (06S 29E 15BBC1), Power County420.73
  5. Arco Rd BLM (07S 26E 14CCC1), Blaine County340.25
  6. BOR Milner Dam monitoring well (10S 21E 28BCB1), Jerome County339.22
  7. BOR Hawley (08S 26E 03DCC1), Blaine County285.61
  8. Hinckley Well (08S 28E 01AAA2), Power County235.67
  9. WOODLAND (06S 22E 28CDD1), Lincoln County225.53
  10. IF Freeway (02N 37E 02ABA1), Bonneville County178.35
  11. BOR 850 E (09S 25E 23DBA1), Cassia County161.09
  12. IF River (03N 37E 12BDB1), Bonneville County138.04
  13. BOR MW Stock Tank (08S 25E 36DAA1), Minidoka County135.83
  14. BOR Gravel Pit (09S 25E 03CAC1), Minidoka County71.04
  15. Crumley Rd Well (Outer) (03S 33E 25CCC1), Bingham County42.73

Source: Idaho Department of Water Resources, Groundwater Level Data, Sentinel Wells network. Data period 2026.

Pages built on this dataset

Publisher

Organization
Idaho Department of Water Resources
Publisher’s dataset
Groundwater Level Data, Sentinel Wells network
File or API used
https://research.idwr.idaho.gov/gis/Spatial/GroundWater/GroundWaterLevels/GroundWaterLevels.zip
Methodology
https://idwr-groundwater-data.idaho.gov/

Coverage

Geography
20 wells across the Eastern Snake Plain Aquifer (Bingham, Blaine, Bonneville, Cassia, Jerome, Lincoln, Minidoka and Power counties)
Time coverage
2001-2026 (varies by well)
Update frequency
IDWR and USGS measure the network's spring round each year, usually in March or April
Retrieved
September 13, 2026
License of the records
Public domain. Idaho Department of Water Resources public service data; IDWR notes the data may be provisional and subject to revision.
Rows
361 observations, 2001-2026

Measures

MeasureWhat it measuresUnit
Depth to waterDepth from the ground surface to the water table, measured by hand at an IDWR ESPA sentinel well.feet

Caveats

  • The wells are IDWR's own 'sentinel well' network, set up to watch how the Eastern Snake Plain Aquifer responds to the 2015 settlement between the Surface Water Coalition and groundwater users, which set an annual pumping-reduction target for junior groundwater rights instead of curtailing them outright.
  • A larger figure is a lower water table: it is the distance from the ground surface down to water, not an elevation. A rising figure over time means the aquifer fell at that well; a falling figure means it rose.
  • Each year's figure is the well's own reading closest to April 1, IDWR's spring measurement round, kept only when a reading exists within 45 days of that date; a well not visited that spring has no figure for the year rather than a carried-forward one.
  • IDWR describes this data as provisional and subject to revision.

How to cite

Understand Idaho, “Groundwater Level Data, Sentinel Wells network”, compiled from Idaho Department of Water Resources, Groundwater Level Data, Sentinel Wells network. Retrieved September 13, 2026. https://understandidaho.com/data/idwr-espa-groundwater-levels/.

Cite Idaho Department of Water Resources directly for the figures themselves.

This page was last updated .