Arizona ยท counties
Water in Santa Cruz County
What the state and federal record says about water across Santa Cruz County. Each figure names the agency it came from.
Can I drill a well here?
Yes, an exempt well, with Active Management Area limits on much of the county
-
Inside an Active Management Area
An exempt well is allowed, but use other than household and stock watering is capped at 10 acre-feet a year.
-
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.
-
Near a city water main, in an older AMA
No exempt well if any part of the land is within 100 feet of a designated city provider's water mains, unless ADWR grants an exemption. The 100 feet is a survey question.
- Active Management Areas here: Santa Cruz AMA, Tucson AMA.
- 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 Santa Cruz County
- 430exempt wells registered since 2015
- 474production wells of every kind since 2015
- 340feet, the typical exempt well depth
- 176feet down to water, typically
ADWR wells registry Decided by: ADWR, on the notice of intention to drill.
- 5,202 Wells on record across 1,272 square miles
- 225 ft Well depth middle value across 566 of 1,272 square miles
- 42 ft Depth to water middle value across 51 of 1,272 square miles
Point at any square mile to read what is on it. Hover the maps below to compare them.
Santa Cruz 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
1,272 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.
A lot of this county is in a mapped floodplain
57% of the county intersects a FEMA special flood hazard area, against 25% in the median county. In Arizona that is usually a wash rather than a river, dry for most of the year and the reason the insurance is required anyway.
FEMA National Flood Hazard Layer 1 of 15 counties
57% here 1st of 15 One bar per Arizona county from lowest to highest. Point at one to name it.
Much of this county is inside an Active Management Area
56% of the county sits in Santa Cruz AMA. Inside an AMA the state limits new groundwater pumping and a subdivision must prove a hundred-year assured water supply before it can sell lots. Outside one, almost none of that applies, and which side of the line a property falls on changes what can be built there.
ADWR Active Management Areas 2 of 9 counties
56% here 2nd of 9 One bar per Arizona county from lowest to highest. Point at one to name it.
Most wells here are exempt domestic wells
65% of wells are exempt, meaning 35 gallons a minute or less for a household, against 52% in the median county. Exempt wells are quick to permit and they are also the first to go dry when a larger neighbour draws the aquifer down, because they carry no protected right against it.
ADWR wells registry 2 of 15 counties
65% here 2nd of 15 One bar per Arizona county from lowest to highest. Point at one to name it.
Wells here come in weak
The typical well makes 15 gallons a minute, against 20 gpm in the median county. A household needs roughly 5 to 10, so this is liveable and it will not support irrigation, livestock at scale, or a second home on the same well.
ADWR wells registry 2 of 15 counties
15 gpm here 2nd of 15 One bar per Arizona county from lowest to highest. Point at one to name it.
Ground here is prime farmland, but only if it is irrigated
81% of sections carry soil the USDA classes as 'prime farmland if irrigated'. The qualifier is the whole sentence: the soil is excellent and the classification depends on water reaching it.
USDA SSURGO soil survey 2 of 10 counties
81% here 2nd of 10 One bar per Arizona county from lowest to highest. Point at one to name it.
Water systems here are under enforcement
10% of the county is served by a system with a formal EPA or ADEQ enforcement action on record. An enforcement action is the step after a violation that was not fixed.
EPA Safe Drinking Water Information System 3 of 15 counties
10% here 3rd of 15 One bar per Arizona county from lowest to highest. Point at one to name it.
Part of this county is wildland urban interface
20% intersects the wildland urban interface, against 9% in the median county. That is an insurance question before it is a water one.
AZGS earth fissure and subsidence mapping 1 of 15 counties
20% here 1st of 15 One bar per Arizona county from lowest to highest. Point at one to name it.
The irrigation water here is already spoken for
528 grandfathered irrigation rights are recorded in this county. Inside an AMA, ground that was already being irrigated in 1980 kept the right to go on doing it and no new irrigation right can be created. New ground does not get water by asking for it.
528 here The bar is the whole county and the fill is this county's share.
For one parcel in Santa Cruz 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 Santa Cruz County