Original records
Drillers and geologists normally record water levels at the completion of drilling; further opportunistic measurements may be recorded during hydrogeological site visits. These measurements are normally recorded on the paper well records.
Some boreholes may be selected for intensive monitoring, to build a detailed picture of groundwater behaviour. BGS hold data from national monitoring carried out prior to the 1970s. Since then, the UK’s monitoring networks have been run by the Environment Agency and the Scottish Environment Protection Agency, who hold their own data.
BGS operates several small-scale monitoring networks both as part of individual research projects and at our long-term environmental monitoring sites.
Contours of water table elevations in major aquifers have been drawn up for various aquifers as part of the production of hydrogeological maps and for research.
Digital information
BGS hold four distinct collections of digital water level data:
- digitised groundwater contours and model interpolations at regional and national scale
- measurements from borehole completion reports in the WellMaster database
- National Groundwater Level Archive, which holds a subset of actively updated national groundwater level monitoring data
- groundwater level data from research sites and observatories
| Access type | Dataset | Information |
|---|---|---|
| Online access | Groundwater level information | Monthly updates of surface water flows and groundwater levels, with a hydrological report |
| Geoindex onshore | Map-based browser allowing access to indices of sites where water level data is held by BGS (water wells with water level measurements in the boreholes theme) | |
| Licenced datasets | WellMaster | Some groundwater level data is held within the WellMaster database |
| Special request | Groundwater level data is not normally sold separately as a licensed product, but BGS does have digital versions of groundwater contours from archive sources and model data that may serve particular client needs; contact BGS Enquiries for further information | |
| Metadata | BGS Data Catalogue entry | Groundwater level archive BGS Data Catalogue entry is available |