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Water in Greenlee County
What the state and federal record says about water across Greenlee County. Each figure names the agency it came from.
Can I drill a well here?
Yes, an exempt well of 35 gallons a minute or less
-
Outside an Active Management Area
An exempt well (35 gallons a minute or less) is allowed for any use but irrigation, with no yearly cap. Domestic use includes growing plants on under two acres.
- Every well needs a notice of intention to drill filed with ADWR and a licensed driller. On five acres or less the county health authority also signs off the site plan, and no well may sit within 100 feet of a septic system.
What has actually been permitted in Greenlee County
- 92exempt wells registered since 2015
- 148production wells of every kind since 2015
- 160feet, the typical exempt well depth
- 70feet down to water, typically
ADWR wells registry Decided by: ADWR, on the notice of intention to drill.
- 3,292 Wells on record across 1,885 square miles
- 153 ft Well depth middle value across 268 of 1,885 square miles
- 71 ft Depth to water middle value across 6 of 1,885 square miles
Point at any square mile to read what is on it. Hover the maps below to compare them.
Greenlee County by the square mile
Each figure below is one number for the whole county. The map places the same records on the ground, square mile by square mile.
Wells on record. Every well ADWR has a record of, exempt and non-exempt together.
- none on record (bare ground)
- up to 1
- 2
- 3 to 4
- 5 to 10
- 11 to 40
- over 40
1,885 surveyed sections, drawn one square mile to a square. The shading is scaled against every county in Arizona, so a color means the same thing on any of these pages. The outline is the county boundary from the Census Bureau: ground inside the line and outside the shading is ground nobody has drilled, filed on or addressed. Aerial imagery is the USGS National Map.
Most wells here have no record of what the drill went through
83% of wells on record have no drill log, against 67% in the median county. The well exists on paper and nothing says what formation it hit, at what depth, or what the water was like. A neighbour's log is the cheapest evidence there is about your own ground, and here there usually is not one.
ADWR wells registry 1 of 15 counties
83% here 1st of 15 One bar per Arizona county from lowest to highest. Point at one to name it.
Soil here holds water at the surface rather than letting it through
99% of sections have hydrologic group D soil, against 74% in the median county, the slowest-infiltrating class. Good for a stock pond, bad for a septic field and for well recharge.
USDA SSURGO soil survey 2 of 12 counties
99% here 2nd of 12 One bar per Arizona county from lowest to highest. Point at one to name it.
Water rights here are still being decided in court
100% of the county falls inside a general stream adjudication that has run for decades and is not finished. Until it ends, who holds what is formally unsettled.
Arizona general stream adjudications 4 of 14 counties
100% here 4th of 14 One bar per Arizona county from lowest to highest. Point at one to name it.
FEMA has never determined the flood risk for most of this county
66% of the county is FEMA Zone D, which means undetermined hazard. Nobody has looked. That is a different thing from being studied and coming back outside the floodplain, and a lender or an insurer will treat the two differently.
FEMA National Flood Hazard Layer 6 of 15 counties
66% here 6th of 15 One bar per Arizona county from lowest to highest. Point at one to name it.
Most monitored wells here are falling rather than recovering
73% of the 11 wells ADWR has monitored for twenty years are declining rather than recovering. This counts wells, not feet: a county can be losing only a foot a year and still have almost every well in it pointing the same way, which is what says the drawdown is regional rather than one heavy pumper.
ADWR groundwater level change 7 of 15 counties
73% here 7th of 15 One bar per Arizona county from lowest to highest. Point at one to name it.
A court has already adjudicated the water over part of this county
7.2% of this county sits inside a decreed area, under 1 mapped court decree. An adjudication is a court deciding who owns what water on a stream and in what order, and once entered it governs. On an adjudicated stream the decree, rather than a well permit, is what says whether there is water to use.
ADWR decreed area boundaries 2 of 10 counties
7.2% here 2nd of 10 One bar per Arizona county from lowest to highest. Point at one to name it.
For one parcel in Greenlee County
The figures above describe the whole county. The Land, Development and Rights reports answer for one parcel: what water conveys, whether a household well needs only a notice, and whether the county requires an adequate water supply to split it. Each answer gives the evidence within a mile and who decides.
Search an address in Greenlee County