The BGS National Well Record Archive (NWRA) is a collection of over 105 000 records of springs, water wells and water boreholes in England, Wales and Scotland. The majority of the original records are available as borehole scans.
Original records
Under the Water Resources Act 1991, anyone who intends to drill a well for extracting groundwater must inform BGS using the notification of intention to drill form and deposit a record of the well. BGS has built up a comprehensive archive from these data sources, as well as from data collected by systematic survey and inventory of water resources, which underpins hydrogeological assessments and research.
Digital information
A map index of the NWRA is available by searching the BGS GeoIndex. It is complemented by the WellMaster database, which contains digitised data from the original records categorised by geological data, water resource data, well construction and water quality.
Data access
- Borehole record viewer: offers direct, online access to the National Geoscience Data Centre collection of onshore scanned boreholes, shafts and well records
- GeoRecordsPlus+: purchase borehole records of your choice, which are checked and delivered in a pack containing a geological map extract and listing of other records in the vicinity
- Geoindex onshore: map-based browser providing access to index level data — water wells are in the boreholes theme (zoom on when the map opens)
- WellMaster: the digital version of the water well archive; index data is free whilst more detailed hydrogeological data (including information on geology, well construction, water levels and yields and water quality) is available under licence
Contact
Please contact BGS Enquiries (enquiries@bgs.ac.uk) for more information.