How to Look Up a Well on Arizona Land

The registry: Wells55

The Arizona Department of Water Resources (ADWR) keeps the state's well registry, usually called Wells55. Every registered well gets a number that starts with 55- followed by six digits, for example a format like 55-123456. ADWR says wells are registered to the parcel where they are physically located.

There are two public ways in:

• The Wells55 map at azwatermaps.azwater.gov/wellreg, which shows registered wells on a map, along with depth and water-level information where it has been reported.
• The well registry search at app.azwater.gov, which lets you search by registration number, owner name, location (township, range and section) or parcel number.

These are search pages for people, not data feeds, and they are the authoritative source. Anything else, including our tool, is a copy or a pointer.

How to search for a well on a parcel

1. Get the APN and legal location. Pull the assessor record (see how to look up a parcel by APN) and note the parcel number plus the section, township and range.
2. Search by parcel number first. ADWR's search wizard accepts a parcel number. If it returns nothing, do not stop there.
3. Search by location. Enter the township, range and section. This returns every registered well in that section, which can be a square mile. Compare each well's listed location and owner to your parcel.
4. Search by owner name. Try the current owner and any previous owner you know of. A well registered decades ago may still be under the original owner's name if no one filed a change.
5. Check the map. Open the Wells55 map, zoom to the parcel and click any well symbols on or near it.
6. Open the well file. For any match, look at the registration details and the imaged documents.

If you find a well that appears to be on the parcel but is listed under someone else, that can simply mean the paperwork was never updated. When land changes hands, ADWR asks the new owner to file form 55-71A, Request to Change Well Information, or update ownership online.

What the documents mean

Notice of intent to drill

Before a new well is drilled, deepened or modified, a notice of intent must be filed with ADWR. A.R.S. 45-454 applies this requirement both inside and outside Active Management Areas. ADWR says the authority to drill is valid for one year, after which a new notice must be filed. A notice on file shows someone planned a well; by itself it does not show one was drilled.

Completion report and driller's log

After drilling, A.R.S. 45-454 requires the registered well owner to file a completion report, and ADWR collects driller's logs through its online portal. These are the most useful documents in the file, because they describe how the well was actually built, as reported at the time. ADWR provides driller's logs and scanned well documents through its imaged records.

What a registry record does not prove

A registration is a record of paperwork filed with the state. It cannot tell you:

• Whether the well was ever completed, if only a notice of intent is on file.
• Whether the pump works today, or whether there is a pump at all.
• How much water the well produces now, as opposed to when it was drilled.
• Whether the water is safe to drink.
• Whether the well has been capped or abandoned since the record was made.

The only way to know those things is on the ground: a well inspection, a flow or yield test, and a water quality test by qualified professionals. A buyer should ask for these before closing. A seller can answer most questions up front by gathering the well file.

Exempt and non-exempt wells

Most wells serving a single rural home are exempt wells. Under A.R.S. 45-454, an exempt well has a pump with a maximum capacity of 35 gallons per minute or less and is exempt from most groundwater regulation. Exempt still means registered: a notice of intent and a completion report are required.

A well with a larger pump is non-exempt and is regulated more closely. Inside the Willcox AMA, for example, ADWR requires non-exempt wells over 35 gallons per minute to be metered.

Inside vs. outside an AMA

Arizona has eight Active Management Areas (Douglas, Phoenix, Pinal, Prescott, Ranegras Plain, Santa Cruz, Tucson and Willcox) and Irrigation Non-Expansion Areas at Harquahala, Hualapai Valley and Joseph City. ADWR says wells outside AMAs and INAs are generally less regulated than those inside them. Key differences:

• Inside an AMA, generally only one exempt well may be drilled or used to serve the same non-irrigation use at the same location.
• Inside an INA, new irrigated acreage cannot be added.
• Outside both, there are fewer restrictions, but the notice and completion report rules still apply.

A.R.S. 45-454 also bars drilling a new exempt well on land where any part is within 100 feet of the operating water distribution system of a municipal provider with an assured water supply designation, with limited exceptions. Read the statute or ask ADWR if a water main runs near the parcel.

Check the parcel, not the county

Many Arizona counties are split. Maricopa County alone contains parts of the Phoenix and Pinal AMAs and the Harquahala INA. Which rules apply depends on exactly where the parcel sits. Our Arizona parcel research tool checks the parcel against ADWR's AMA and INA boundary layer. You can also view ADWR's map from its AMA overview page.

No well? Know the basin anyway

If there is no registered well, the next question is whether one could be drilled and what it might cost, which depends on local depth to water. The Wells55 map shows depth and water-level information reported for nearby wells, which is a reasonable first look. A local well driller is the best source for what is realistic in a given area. Our county pages, such as Mohave County land information, summarize which water management areas reach into each county.

Water is one of the first things buyers of rural Arizona land ask about. If your parcel has a registered well, our page on selling land with a well covers what buyers will ask for. If it has no water or power yet, see selling land without utilities. First 48 Offers buys both kinds of land.

General information, not legal, tax or survey advice. First 48 Offers LLC is a real estate investment company that buys land. It is not a law firm, brokerage, surveyor or title company. Arizona statutes, county procedures and agency boundaries change, and every parcel turns on its own facts. Verify anything important with the county, the agency named, or an Arizona attorney before relying on it.