{"id":3590,"date":"2025-07-17T15:30:06","date_gmt":"2025-07-17T14:30:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bgs.ac.uk\/groundwater\/data\/national-well-record-archive\/"},"modified":"2025-11-07T14:22:32","modified_gmt":"2025-11-07T14:22:32","slug":"national-well-record-archive","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.bgs.ac.uk\/groundwater\/data\/groundwater-levels\/national-well-record-archive\/","title":{"rendered":"BGS National Well Record Archive"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t\t<section class=\"hero-section hero-section-with-social\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"hero-info-wrap\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"row\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"col-12\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"hero-info\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<h1>BGS National Well Record Archive<\/h1>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t<div class=\"social-wrap social-wrap-inline-them\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"sea-background-f\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<span>Share this article<\/span><a target=\"_blank\"  href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer\/sharer.php?u=https:\/\/www.bgs.ac.uk\/groundwater\/data\/groundwater-levels\/national-well-record-archive\/\"><span class=\"icon-facebook\"><span class=\"hidden\">Facebook<\/span><\/span><\/a><a target=\"_blank\"  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=BGS%20National%20Well%20Record%20Archive&#038;url=https:\/\/www.bgs.ac.uk\/groundwater\/data\/groundwater-levels\/national-well-record-archive\/\"><span class=\"icon-twitter\"><span class=\"hidden\">Twitter<\/span><\/span><\/a><a   onclick=\"javascript:void( (function() {var e=document.createElement('script' );e.setAttribute('type','text\/javascript' );e.setAttribute('charset','UTF-8' );e.setAttribute('src','\/\/assets.pinterest.com\/js\/pinmarklet.js?r='+Math.random()*99999999);document.body.appendChild(e)})());\"  href=\"javascript:void(0);\"><span class=\"icon-pinterest\"><span class=\"hidden\">Pinterest<\/span><\/span><\/a><a target=\"_blank\"  href=\"https:\/\/wa.me?text=https:\/\/www.bgs.ac.uk\/groundwater\/data\/groundwater-levels\/national-well-record-archive\/\"><span class=\"icon-whatsapp\"><span class=\"hidden\">WhatsApp<\/span><\/span><\/a><a   href=\"mailto:?subject=BGS%20National%20Well%20Record%20Archive&#038;body=%20(https:\/\/www.bgs.ac.uk\/groundwater\/data\/groundwater-levels\/national-well-record-archive\/)\"><span class=\"icon-mail\"><span class=\"hidden\">Email<\/span><\/span><\/a><a href=\"#\" data-copy=\"https:\/\/www.bgs.ac.uk\/groundwater\/data\/groundwater-levels\/national-well-record-archive\/\" class=\"copy-url-on-click\"><span class=\"icon-link\"><span class=\"hidden\">Copy Link<\/span><\/span><\/a><\/div><\/div>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\n\n\n<section class=\"wp-block-bgs-blocks-content-container content-section\"><div class=\"container\"><div class=\"row\"><div class=\"col-12\">\n<p>The BGS National Well Record Archive (NWRA) is a collection of over 105&nbsp;000 records of springs, water wells and water boreholes in England, Wales and Scotland. The majority of the original records are available as&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.bgs.ac.uk\/information-hub\/borehole-records\/\">borehole scans<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Original records<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Under the Water Resources Act 1991, anyone who intends to drill a well for extracting groundwater must inform BGS using the <a href=\"https:\/\/webapps.bgs.ac.uk\/services\/NGDC\/records\/notification\/form.html\">notification of intention to drill form<\/a> 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Digital information<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>A map index of the NWRA is available by searching the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bgs.ac.uk\/map-viewers\/geoindex-onshore\/\">BGS GeoIndex<\/a>. It is complemented by the&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.bgs.ac.uk\/datasets\/wellmaster-hydrogeological-database\/\">WellMaster<\/a>&nbsp;database, which contains digitised data from the original records categorised by geological data, water resource data, well construction and water quality.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Data access<\/h2>\n\n\n<div  class=\"accordions\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"acc-wrap\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<button class=\"acc-top secondary-background icon-arrow button no-btn\"><span class=\"button-content\" tabindex=\"-1\">Online access<\/span><\/button>\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"acc-body sea-background-e\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.bgs.ac.uk\/information-hub\/borehole-records\/\">Borehole record viewer<\/a>: offers direct, online access to the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bgs.ac.uk\/ngdc\/\">National Geoscience Data Centre<\/a> collection of onshore scanned boreholes, shafts and well records<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/shop.bgs.ac.uk\/GeoRecords\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">GeoRecordsPlus+<\/a>: 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<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/mapapps2.bgs.ac.uk\/geoindex\/home.html?layer=BGSBoreholes\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Geoindex onshore<\/a>: map-based browser providing access to index level data \u2014 water wells are in the boreholes theme (zoom on when the map opens)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t<\/div><div  class=\"accordions\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"acc-wrap\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<button class=\"acc-top secondary-background icon-arrow button no-btn\"><span class=\"button-content\" tabindex=\"-1\">Licenced datasets<\/span><\/button>\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"acc-body sea-background-e\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.bgs.ac.uk\/datasets\/wellmaster-hydrogeological-database\/\">WellMaster<\/a>: 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<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t<\/div><div  class=\"accordions\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"acc-wrap\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<button class=\"acc-top secondary-background icon-arrow button no-btn\"><span class=\"button-content\" tabindex=\"-1\">Metadata (BGS data catalogue entry)<\/span><\/button>\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"acc-body sea-background-e\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/metadata.bgs.ac.uk\/geonetwork\/srv\/eng\/catalog.search#\/metadata\/9df8df51-63da-37a8-e044-0003ba9b0d98\">Water well archive<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/metadata.bgs.ac.uk\/geonetwork\/srv\/eng\/catalog.search#\/metadata\/9df8df52-d7a1-37a8-e044-0003ba9b0d98\">WellMaster database<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/section>\n\n\n<section class=\"cta-section  sea-background-e \">\n\t<div class=\"container\">\n\t\t<div class=\"row md-row\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"col-12\">\n\t\t\t\t<h2>Need more information?<\/h2>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"btn-wrap\"><a href=\"mailto:enquiries@bgs.ac.uk\"  class=\"button primary-background   \">Contact BGS Enquiries<\/a><\/div>\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n<\/section>\n\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"parent":30,"menu_order":29,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_hide_content":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"1","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":"","footnotes":""},"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3590","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>BGS National Well Record Archive - BGS Groundwater<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.bgs.ac.uk\/groundwater\/data\/groundwater-levels\/national-well-record-archive\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"BGS National Well Record Archive - BGS Groundwater\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.bgs.ac.uk\/groundwater\/data\/groundwater-levels\/national-well-record-archive\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"BGS Groundwater\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-11-07T14:22:32+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Estimated reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.bgs.ac.uk\/groundwater\/data\/groundwater-levels\/national-well-record-archive\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.bgs.ac.uk\/groundwater\/data\/groundwater-levels\/national-well-record-archive\/\",\"name\":\"BGS National Well Record Archive - BGS Groundwater\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.bgs.ac.uk\/groundwater\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2025-07-17T14:30:06+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-11-07T14:22:32+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.bgs.ac.uk\/groundwater\/data\/groundwater-levels\/national-well-record-archive\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.bgs.ac.uk\/groundwater\/data\/groundwater-levels\/national-well-record-archive\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.bgs.ac.uk\/groundwater\/data\/groundwater-levels\/national-well-record-archive\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.bgs.ac.uk\/groundwater\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Data\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.bgs.ac.uk\/groundwater\/data\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"Groundwater level data\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.bgs.ac.uk\/groundwater\/data\/groundwater-levels\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":4,\"name\":\"BGS National Well Record Archive\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.bgs.ac.uk\/groundwater\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.bgs.ac.uk\/groundwater\/\",\"name\":\"BGS Groundwater\",\"description\":\"\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.bgs.ac.uk\/groundwater\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.bgs.ac.uk\/groundwater\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.bgs.ac.uk\/groundwater\/#organization\",\"name\":\"BGS Groundwater\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.bgs.ac.uk\/groundwater\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.bgs.ac.uk\/groundwater\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.bgs.ac.uk\/groundwater\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2023\/11\/BGS_Groundwater_pos.svg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.bgs.ac.uk\/groundwater\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2023\/11\/BGS_Groundwater_pos.svg\",\"width\":547,\"height\":136,\"caption\":\"BGS Groundwater\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.bgs.ac.uk\/groundwater\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"}}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"BGS National Well Record Archive - BGS Groundwater","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.bgs.ac.uk\/groundwater\/data\/groundwater-levels\/national-well-record-archive\/","og_locale":"en_GB","og_type":"article","og_title":"BGS National Well Record Archive - BGS Groundwater","og_url":"https:\/\/www.bgs.ac.uk\/groundwater\/data\/groundwater-levels\/national-well-record-archive\/","og_site_name":"BGS Groundwater","article_modified_time":"2025-11-07T14:22:32+00:00","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Estimated reading time":"1 minute"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.bgs.ac.uk\/groundwater\/data\/groundwater-levels\/national-well-record-archive\/","url":"https:\/\/www.bgs.ac.uk\/groundwater\/data\/groundwater-levels\/national-well-record-archive\/","name":"BGS National Well Record Archive - BGS Groundwater","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.bgs.ac.uk\/groundwater\/#website"},"datePublished":"2025-07-17T14:30:06+00:00","dateModified":"2025-11-07T14:22:32+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.bgs.ac.uk\/groundwater\/data\/groundwater-levels\/national-well-record-archive\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-GB","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.bgs.ac.uk\/groundwater\/data\/groundwater-levels\/national-well-record-archive\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.bgs.ac.uk\/groundwater\/data\/groundwater-levels\/national-well-record-archive\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.bgs.ac.uk\/groundwater\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Data","item":"https:\/\/www.bgs.ac.uk\/groundwater\/data\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Groundwater level data","item":"https:\/\/www.bgs.ac.uk\/groundwater\/data\/groundwater-levels\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":4,"name":"BGS National Well Record Archive"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.bgs.ac.uk\/groundwater\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.bgs.ac.uk\/groundwater\/","name":"BGS Groundwater","description":"","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.bgs.ac.uk\/groundwater\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.bgs.ac.uk\/groundwater\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-GB"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.bgs.ac.uk\/groundwater\/#organization","name":"BGS Groundwater","url":"https:\/\/www.bgs.ac.uk\/groundwater\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/www.bgs.ac.uk\/groundwater\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.bgs.ac.uk\/groundwater\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2023\/11\/BGS_Groundwater_pos.svg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.bgs.ac.uk\/groundwater\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2023\/11\/BGS_Groundwater_pos.svg","width":547,"height":136,"caption":"BGS Groundwater"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.bgs.ac.uk\/groundwater\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bgs.ac.uk\/groundwater\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/3590","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bgs.ac.uk\/groundwater\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bgs.ac.uk\/groundwater\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bgs.ac.uk\/groundwater\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bgs.ac.uk\/groundwater\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3590"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.bgs.ac.uk\/groundwater\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/3590\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7085,"href":"https:\/\/www.bgs.ac.uk\/groundwater\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/3590\/revisions\/7085"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bgs.ac.uk\/groundwater\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/30"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bgs.ac.uk\/groundwater\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3590"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bgs.ac.uk\/groundwater\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3590"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}