Prescott water long term? (Prescott Valley, Chino Valley: buying a home, buying, subdivisions)

[snebarekim]

I am interested in buying a home in Prescott, and have been on two scouting missions in person to do so. My wife and I found we like the south west of downtown area where there are pines abundant around the homes. My concern is long term well water (I am assuming these home are on well water for the most part), as these homes are at higher elevations.

Searching the forums I found this thread:

Arizona Wells and Ground water interactive maps+Info

But the interactive maps by geography do not seem to be working now. City planning pages for Prescott seem to point to some conflicting data.

Can anybody point me in the right direction?

Everything about Prescott feels right to my wife and I, but my concerns about long term water availability may steer our decision.

I also found this:
http://www.prescott-az.gov/services/water/chino.php

...which seems to indicate there is some longer term water viability at least in the city service portions of Prescott. But where are those areas, and what of the homes on wells?


Thanks in advance!

[BriansPerspective]

There are piles of threads about water in Prescott. The bottom line is that we are in no danger of running out of water in our lifetimes. Prescott gets its water from wells in Chino Valley. If water does become an issue in the future, the next step will be to tap the Big Chino Aquifer north of Chino Valley and import water into Prescott and Prescott Valley. Prescott, Prescott Valley, and Dewey, lie within the Prescott Active Management Area (AMA), which is a monitored watershed. The goal is to reach safe-yield by 2025, which means that we are removing the same or less water from the aquifer as is getting replenished each year. Here's a link to AMA info: Active Management Areas & INAs

Regarding the areas southwest of downtown, they are mostly on city water unless you are looking in areas within the national forest. In that case, there are not many homes drawing from the water table in that area anyway.

[snebarekim]

Originally Posted by BriansPerspective

There are piles of threads about water in Prescott. The bottom line is that we are in no danger of running out of water in our lifetimes. Prescott gets its water from wells in Chino Valley. If water does become an issue in the future, the next step will be to tap the Big Chino Aquifer north of Chino Valley and import water into Prescott and Prescott Valley. Prescott, Prescott Valley, and Dewey, lie within the Prescott Active Management Area (AMA), which is a monitored watershed. The goal is to reach safe-yield by 2025, which means that we are removing the same or less water from the aquifer as is getting replenished each year. Here's a link to AMA info: Active Management Areas & INAs

Regarding the areas southwest of downtown, they are mostly on city water unless you are looking in areas within the national forest. In that case, there are not many homes drawing from the water table in that area anyway.

Thank you for the reply, this is helpful.

[ikoolu]

Brain what do you know about water and water tables in Williamson Valley - thats where we have been looking

Mike

[BriansPerspective]

Originally Posted by ikoolu

Brain what do you know about water and water tables in Williamson Valley - thats where we have been looking

Mike

Hi Mike. There used to be an ADWR site with well graphs showing the water table height over time. I'll try to find that site again. In general, I would say that the water table is fine with some future concern. There are some subdivisions with private water systems and many areas with private wells. In the areas with private wells, the concern is that since water is essentially free, the private well users sometimes abuse their water use. The biggest single water user out there is probably the Talking Rock golf course.

I found the website: https://gisweb.azwater.gov/gwsi/Default.aspx You can zoom into the Williamson Valley area, select some wells, check one, and then click on the Hydrograph button. The wells north of Outer Loop seem to be level or recovering. The wells down by Granite Oaks and equestrian estates seems to be dropping.