This paper studies the elastic behavior of near ground cavern infilled with water in a layered rock mass by applying axisymmetric boundary element method (BEM). The results of two case studies are presented to quantitatively show the effect of water infilling on the elastic stress and deformation of layered isotropic halfspaces with a spherical cavern. The cavern water pressure has a significant effect to the normal and shear stress distributions on the cavern surface. Moreover, the effect of water softening on the elastic modulus of the rock mass is considerable to the displacements on both the ground and cavern surfaces. However, this effect is insignificant for all induced stresses on the cavern surface. Hence, the full infilling of water in the rock cavern can protect the surrounding rock from cracking or fracturing because water softening can also increase the rock mass toughness.