DWR Monitoring Well Network

The North Carolina Division of Water Resources operates and maintains a network of 698 groundwater monitoring wells at 239 separate locations across the state (map of current well locations). DWR monitors these wells to assess natural and human impacts to the groundwater resources of North Carolina. Currently we work with the North Carolina district of the United States Geological Survey through the USGS-NCDEQ Cooperative Agreement to monitor 14 wells at 14 locations. DWR has active monitoring wells in 68 of the one hundred NC counties. The USGS cooperative agreement adds wells in 3 additional counties. Monitoring Well Network News is available to keep up with DWR network changes. The Division maintains a set of well network site maps where one can see more detailed station layouts and locales. The view network statistics page counts the number of wells actively monitored and daily water levels measured. Access all the collected groundwater levels and quality data. North Carolina is a member of the National Ground-Water Monitoring Network whose portal gives the end user access to wells located throughout the United States to visualize multi-state aquifer conditions.

In the Coastal Plain, DWR typically installs monitoring wells in areas with actual or potential groundwater management issues, most relating to groundwater overuse. In the Piedmont and Mountains, DWR's goal is to install several monitoring well nests in each major river basin. This arrangement provides DWR data necessary to assess how climatic conditions impact groundwater supplies. Also, we hope that collecting data by river basin will help us understand how these climatic conditions affect baseflow to streams and rivers, which in turn can dramatically affect the surface water supplies of dozens of North Carolina communities. View the Drought Indicator Wells, a page designed to show the changing availability of groundwater as it is influenced by rainfall in a 68 well subset of the network (83 including local network wells - see below).