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[Raphite1]

    Started a DF2010 game, and the site select screen showed a single aquifer. No problem, I thought. I embarked, caved the soil layer into the aquifer layer to form a plug as usual. I dug through the plug and encountered . . . another aquifer layer.

    Not wanting to do the pump/smoothing madness, I just abandoned and chose another embark site. This time I made sure to confirm that the biome screen showed only one aquifer layer. I embarked, and as a precaution I started digging downward from some high ground. I got through a few layers before I hit the aquifer, and did a huge cave-in plug, like 30x30. When everything dried out, I dug down through it . . . and again found a second aquifer! No problem, I was prepared this time. My first plug was thick enough to collapse part of it down to plug the second aquifer. Finally got it done, a year into the game, and began digging down through to find . . .

     A THIRD AQUIFER.

Am I just having awful luck here, or is this common in DF2010?

[Wyvern]

The default world generation option creates an island now, instead of a region.  I think aquifers are way more common on island-type continents.

Try choosing Create World With Parameters and choosing Medium Region with no modifications and see if that helps.  That should create worlds more in line with what you used to get, assuming you never messed with the parameters before.  That's what I started doing and I don't think I've seen an aquifer since.

[PopeRichardCorey]

There seem to be serious Aquifer issues.  I saw someone else reporting that sitefinder wasn't respecting "Aquifer: NO", and then experienced the same (Maybe?) myself.  I attempted to embark slightly off of where I chose, and it warned me of an aquifer; I changed sites to where it had originally sent me and got no warning.  Then, digging out some more storage space, I found...  An aquifer.  Which I accidentally breached.  Fortunately, I had nothing but exploration beneath, so, hey, free indoor water source.

[expwnent]

In 40d, I've seen as many as 6-layer aquifers. It's generally easier to go around them, if possible.

[Belathus]

I've seen an abundance of aquifers even in non-island regions.  Were these aquifer layers in stone?  I think that non-stone aquifer layers are limited to how thick they are (how many you see on the embark screen) where stone aquifer layers can be massively thick.

[LoneJedi7]

just ignore it, it will go away.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

hahaa......no

it seems that aquifers are EVERYWHERE in DF2010, its kindof annoying really

[Raphite1]

I've seen an abundance of aquifers even in non-island regions.  Were these aquifer layers in stone?  I think that non-stone aquifer layers are limited to how thick they are (how many you see on the embark screen) where stone aquifer layers can be massively thick.

    Yeah, in stone. I've found plenty of aquifer-less maps, it's just that the aquifer-bearing maps seem to be coming with far more aquifer than advertised. Incredibly time-consuming to get through 3+ aquifer layers if you don't have magma at the surface.

[immibis]

Aquifers leak water below and to the sides. Therefore, if you have a one-layer aquifer, the layer below it will also act like an aquifer because the water comes in from above. A two-layer aquifer will behave like a three-layer aquifer.

[Paul]

I can find plenty of non-aquifer areas near mountains, so I think its an elevation thing.

You could make a custom world and change the elevations. What I did to make higher elevations was set my elevation weighted ranges to: 1, 1, 3, 2, 1 (higher chances on the upper end). I also set the minimum number of low elevation squares down so I didn't get a rejection from that. This gave me much more mountainous terrain, less aquifers, and less lake/ocean tiles on my island map (making it one big island instead of a bunch of scattered ones).

[Vieto]

on the bright side, aquifers let you farm underground without needing to breach the caverns.

on the not-so-bright side, you can't get to said caverns.

[Foxbyte]

I thought aquifers were more plentiful now due to the way stone layers work in this version; each one representing far more than it used to. So one layer of aquifer on the embark is now like three or four layers. Best to go around.

[Vieto]

I must have gotten lucky then. My aquifer was only 1 level deep, as advertised.