The Nebraska Department of Water, Energy, and Environment’s (DWEE) Groundwater Well Registration Program administers the state’s groundwater laws requiring all water well owners to register their water wells with the agency. The water well registry contains information about all registered wells regardless of their purpose of use. 

Registered well information is available as a public resource on DWEE’s Groundwater Well Registration webpage.

Since 2002, licensed contractors who drill new water wells in the state have been required to file water well registrations with the agency on behalf of the well owners. The information helps to assure that water well construction standards that protect groundwater have been met.

Data obtained in the registration process identifies and verifies water well locations throughout the state and illustrates a comprehensive picture of how and where the state’s groundwater is being used, and provides information on current well ownership.

The hard data gathered aids the water management decisions of farmers, researchers, policymakers, and water management agencies involved in groundwater modeling and groundwater planning. 

It is used in the analysis of the state’s groundwater levels, the interactions between groundwater and streams, and the geological formations. 

DWEE’s Groundwater Clearinghouse ties its data to registered wells in the groundwater well registration database. Information from the registration database is also used as a resource in the agency’s Groundwater Quality Monitoring annual report.

As of October 1, 2025, state well registration records show that there are:

99,965 registered irrigation wells

3,170 registered public water supply wells (municipal and private)

2,020 registered commercial/industrial wells

41,023 registered domestic wells

31,152 registered livestock wells

16,067 registered monitoring wells

4,356 registered ground heat exchange systems

435 registered heat pump wells

Irrigation wells, public water supply wells, (municipal and private), and commercial/industrial wells have been required to be registered since the program’s inception in 1957.

Domestic water wells (house wells) and range livestock water wells constructed after Sept. 9, 1993, are legally required to be registered with the agency. While not required, owners of domestic water wells and range livestock wells built prior to this date are encouraged to register their wells to build a complete picture of state groundwater use.

Wells that do not have pumps are also required to be registered. These wells include monitoring wells, and ground heat exchange systems (closed loop systems) and heat pump wells (open loop systems) - both of which are used to heat and cool buildings.

Additionally, water well owners are required to contact the agency with updated ownership information when a water well’s ownership has been transferred to a new owner or when a water well’s physical construction has been modified.

All new water wells constructed in Nebraska are required to be drilled by water well contractors licensed through the agency’s Water Well Standards and Contractors’ Licensing Program. Water wells are constructed in a manner that protects groundwater, in compliance with the state’s Water Well Standards Statutes and Regulations.