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Is the Verde Valley Running Out of Water? What Buyers Should Know

[00:00:00] Whenever I talk with someone who's considering moving to Arizona, the question eventually comes up, "Is Arizona running out of water?" And it is a fair question, and it's an important one, but it's not a simple yes or no answer Arizona, and I'm gonna, I'm reading more than I normally do because I wanna make sure that you're getting accurate information, and there's a lot of detail to understanding Arizona's water situation, so bear with me, okay?

So Arizona is not one giant water system. Water conditions in Phoenix, Tucson, Prescott, and the Verde Valley are not all the same. Within the Verde Valley, your water situation can depend on whether you live in town or on a private water company, a shared well, or have your own well Meaning a private well on your land, on your property.

So [00:01:00] today, let's just focus on where our water comes from here in the Verde Valley, and what buyers should actually be asking. So this is where it gets a little technical, so stay with me, and there's gonna be data to watch. So between the, me talking and the data, hopefully this will make sense. Okay. So most of the water in Yavapai County, which just so you know, is the largest county in the state of Arizona, not the largest population, just the largest st- county.

So in Yavapai County, most of the water comes from groundwater, and according to the twenty twenty-five University of Arizona Water Resources Research Center report, very important, approximately seventy-eight percent of Yavapai County's water comes from groundwater, meaning underground, about twenty-one percent from surface water, and [00:02:00] then one percent from reclaimed water.

Groundwater is stored below us in layers of rock, sand, and gravel called aquifers. And here's something especially important here in Verde Valley, our groundwater and the Verde River are connected. Some of the water moving underground eventually reaches the river, springs and streams, and that is called base flow.

It is part of what keeps the Verde River flowing even when it hasn't rained recently. Right now, we have lots of rain. It's twenty twenty-six when I'm recording this, I think September of twenty twenty-six, and we have had phenomenal monsoons, massive amounts of rain. A gallon pumped from a well doesn't necessarily mean that one gallon immediately disappears from the river. The timing and effect depend on the well's location, depth, and geology [00:03:00] underneath. But over time, increased groundwater pumping can reduce the amount of groundwater reaching streams, which is very important for a lot of other reasons.

The US Geological Survey has modeled how past and future groundwater development could affect the Verde River. And its stream flow. Its research confirms that this is a connected system, and that pumping decisions made today may have effects that show up gradually over time. That delayed effect is one reason water discussions can become confusing.

A well may be a producing water well, may be producing just fine today, while the larger groundwater system is gradually diminishing. And does that mean the Verde Valley is out of water or is about to run out of water? No. [00:04:00] That would totally be an exaggeration. We have plenty of water at the moment, but we gotta plan for the future, okay?

But this is-- it also would be accurate to say we have unli- it would be inaccurate to say that we have unlimited water supply. Nobody does. I don't care where you live. I'm from Minnesota, the Land of Ten Thousand Lakes. We still don't have unlimited water supply, and there's a lot of reasons for that.

Simply because in this case here, most of the water is still underground. So the better question to ask would be whether we're using water at the rate that protects household supplies, agriculture, springs, wildlife, and the Verde River over the long term. Okay? And there's also important difference between a home connected to the mus- municipal water system and a home served by a private well

If you are connected, which I am at [00:05:00] my home, to the city of Cottonwood or another regulated water provider, the provider manages the wells, water quality testing, delivery system, and the infrastructure. And here in Cottonwood, they literally pull from multiple wells. I think I read somewhere 24 wells, that there's like 24 wells within the city of Cottonwood or the area that Cottonwood serves that they pull water from.

Okay? Also, they are always renovating and updating the, water system and the, infrastructure. So our water bill is actually, no matter what you do, is always gonna run around 70 to $80 a month. That's without using water. That's just what it costs to maintain and take care of the water infrastructure that brings the water to our homes.

With a private well, much [00:06:00] more of that responsibility will then belong to the homeowner, so you're responsible for testing your water if you're concerned about it. You're responsible for maintaining the well. There's not a lot to it, but it's definitely your responsibility if you're a homeowner that has a private well.

And that is why, getting to you, my lovely buyer, that looking at properties with should investigate the following: the well registration and available drilling records, the well's depth and current production, whether it's an individual or shared well, the shared well agreement if there is one, water quality test results, storage tanks, pumps, and other equipment, and nearby wa- well depths and any reported changes in the groundwater levels.

Now, all of that is taken care of during the inspection period, and I connect you up with who to talk to for different things. But the [00:07:00] company that comes out, and does the well testing and tests the well, tests the water, inspects the well, they will get a lot of that information for you. So it's not like you have to dig in and di- find that.

So you should understand as a buyer the, that water availability and water quality are different questions A well can produce plenty of water that still requires treatment because of minerals and other naturally occurring substances. So I just had a young man purchase a home in Camp Verde, brand-new home, brand-new well, everything.

It's a shared well, so he'll be sharing it with others, but he's the first property to be built there. When we tested the water, it tested positive for arsenic, which is not uncommon here in this area, and it was higher than the allowed arsenic levels. We all ... There's arsenic in the water. It's naturally producing.

So there had [00:08:00] to be, to meet the lender's requirements, a whole house water treatment system installed, and then the water was retested after that system was in to confirm that it was removing all of the arsenic, or at least to the level that was acceptable, by the lender. So that's how you fix that. But then that's an added cost to maintain that filtration system.

So I don't tell buyers to avoid properties with a well. If I did, most of my people, because it's such a rural area, would not be buying houses. Many homes through the Verde Valley have wells. I've never ... I've only had one well that failed, and we canceled the transaction. It was an inheritance situation, and the family determined that no matter who they sold it to, they had to make sure that the well was functioning.

And so they reached out to my clients, my, m- myself regarding my client, and [00:09:00] they re-dug a well. It was just a little distance away from the original well, so it was in the same aquifer, but it was higher producing. So the flow of how many gallons per minute was significantly improved over what the original well wasn't producing.

So there's always an answer. There's always a solution. We're not even gonna talk about hauled water. We're not, not in this video. But we will because you should know what that is. I had no idea what it was when I moved here. "What's hauled water?" Hauled, H-A-U-L-E-D, hauled water. "What the heck is hauled water?"

Again, I'm from Minnesota, the Land of 10,000 Lakes. There's water on every corner. So, but The question then becomes, and so that's, that's kind of that little off there. I do tell them not to treat it like a kitchen appliance. It's a much larger natural system, and it deserves careful investigation during the due [00:10:00] diligence period.

So yes, we wanna answer all those questions. So is the Verde Valley running out of water? No. In the dramatic sense that one day someone will suddenly turn on a faucet and nothing will come out, but we do live in a dry climate with a limited and interconnected water supply system. Population growth, pumping, drought, and changing water patterns all matter, and it all impacts the water.

The most honest answer is that the Verde Valley has water, but how we carefully manage it will help determine how long and how this area will look for decades to come. So if you are thinking about buying a home here in the Verde Valley, especially a property with a private or shared well, send me your water questions.

I love water questions. I'd rather talk about water any day versus solar. I'm just saying, let's talk [00:11:00] water. I can help you identify what needs to be investigated. I can do that. I can help you with that before you make a decision. So that's what that inspection period is for. So please let me know your questions.

What are your keep me awake wondering, how do they do this in Arizona? It's a desert for goodness sakes. I do have more videos coming answering some of those, but the questions I get from you will help me formulate future videos regarding wells, water in Arizona. Have a blessed day