water table

noun

: a stringcourse or similar member when projecting so as to throw off water

: the upper limit of the portion of the ground wholly saturated with water

Example Sentences

Heavy rainfall has caused the water table to rise.

Recent Examples on the Web Hansen said the water table has dropped 40-50 feet in the last few decades. —

Jake Frederico, The Arizona Republic, 13 Mar. 2023 Underground mining operations also intersect with the water table, which means the existing tunnels have to be dewatered, and the water that’s pumped out of the tunnels has to be treated before it’s released aboveground. —

Becki Robins, The Atlantic, 30 Jan. 2022 That’s because, remarkably, many of the region’s cave systems were dry and accessible to humans and animals roughly 10,000 years ago, when the water table was much lower. —

Tree Meinch, Discover Magazine, 15 Feb. 2023 Residents and farms pull water from the same underground pools, and as the water table declines, the thing determining how long a well lasts is how deeply it was drilled. —

Ella Nilsen, CNN, 5 Nov. 2022 Florida poses particular challenges because of its shallow water table and potential for makeshift landfills to leach contaminants into groundwater. —

Anna Phillips, BostonGlobe.com, 26 Nov. 2022 Florida poses particular challenges because of its shallow water table and potential for makeshift landfills to leach contaminants into groundwater. —

Arkansas Online, 26 Nov. 2022 Water from the lake was diverted to local rivers to help farmers across the parched north of the country, leaving Lake Garda 12.6 inches above the water table, which approached the lowest levels recorded in 2003 and 2007. —

Denise Chow, NBC News, 31 Dec. 2022 And that is after all the winter snows, which by now would be running as cold, icy water down the Santa Fe River and the Rio en Medio and the Capulin and the Nambe -- all up and down the Sangre de Cristos -- and recharging the water table. —

George Johnson, Discover Magazine, 7 May 2013 See More

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'water table.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.