Where can I get water?
Arizona water, in three numbers
476
of Arizona's 1,490 active public water systems have at least one open drinking-water violation on record.
EPA Safe Drinking Water Information System, data current to July 2026. Counted by this site from EPA's own bulk records.
72%
of Arizona's water systems serve fewer than 500 people. These smaller systems often have more limited resources for treatment and testing.
1,074 of 1,490 active systems. EPA SDWIS, July 2026.
0
official statewide lists of water haulers exist in Arizona. This directory helps fill that gap.
Hauling is permitted county by county (A.A.C. R18-4-125); those permit lists are not published online.
What to do
My water is out right now
- Search your address above and call the haulers listed. Ask about emergency or same-day delivery, and confirm they serve your road, not just your town.
- Standpipes usually are not walk-up. EPCOR's Rio Verde Foothills station needs an account and a PIN before you can draw water, so signing up is step one, not step two.
- If you cannot reach anyone, call your county emergency management office. They coordinate water assistance during outages and can point to bulk distribution if it exists.
- For drinking in the meantime, bottled water from any store is safe. If you have concerns about a well or tank, use bottled water until it can be tested.
I rely on hauled water
- Know your tank size and roughly how many days it lasts. Order before you are near empty, since haulers schedule days ahead and demand spikes in summer.
- Ask any hauler whether they carry potable water specifically. Construction and dust-control water use the same type of truck but are intended for non-potable use only.
- Ask where they source from. A hauler drawing from a permitted public system is drawing water that gets tested.
- Keep a second hauler's number. Having a backup avoids the kind of disruption Rio Verde Foothills experienced in 2023.
- If you are in Rio Verde Foothills: EPCOR's standpipe had an enrollment deadline that has passed. New home builds can still drill a well but are not eligible for standpipe access. See EPCOR's RVF FAQ or call 800-383-0834 ([email protected]).
I have a private well
- Private wells are not covered by EPA or ADEQ drinking-water rules, so testing is the owner's responsibility.
- Test at least annually for bacteria and nitrate, and in Arizona also consider arsenic, fluoride and uranium, which occur naturally in some aquifers here. Use an ADHS-licensed lab.
- Look up your well in ADWR's registry to confirm depth and construction details to confirm its current status.
- If the water level is dropping, note it. Regional decline shows up in the well and subsidence data this site reports as background context.
I'm buying property without a water connection
- Search the address here first. If no provider serves it, there may be no existing water infrastructure for that parcel.
- Ask specifically whether the parcel has a 100-year assured water supply determination. Parcels without one may face water access challenges, as Rio Verde Foothills demonstrated.
- Get the well's actual production rate in writing from an independent test or inspection report.
- Price hauled water into your monthly costs before you buy, not after.
- In Rio Verde Foothills, EPCOR standpipe eligibility is tied to the parcel (APN), not the person. If you are buying a resale home, confirm with EPCOR whether eligibility exists for that parcel and will transfer at closing. New builds after the enrollment deadline are not eligible for the standpipe and will need a well. For vacant land, confirm the water source before assuming future EPCOR access. Call 800-383-0834 or see EPCOR's RVF FAQ.
My tap water looks, smells or tastes wrong
- If you have a provider, look up its record above, then request its Consumer Confidence Report. Every community water system must give you one and it lists what was detected.
- Report the problem to your provider first and write down when you reported it.
- If they do not respond, ADEQ's Safe Drinking Water Program takes complaints about public water systems.
- Discoloured water after main work is usually sediment. Persistent taste, smell or health concerns are worth following up on with your provider or ADEQ.
Financial help with water infrastructure
- Under A.R.S. § 11-254.09, Arizona counties can create water improvement districts to fund infrastructure like wells, pipelines, and storage tanks for homeowners. As of August 2026, Mohave and Yuma counties have used this authority. Contact your county public works department to ask whether a program is available in your area.
- In the Willcox and Douglas groundwater basins, the Arizona Attorney General's settlement with Riverview, LLC addressed groundwater depletion from large-scale agricultural pumping. If you are affected by declining water levels in either basin, the AG's office may have information about relief measures under the settlement.
- If your water system qualifies, the EPA and USDA also administer federal grants and low-interest loans for small and rural water systems. Ask your provider or county whether any federal infrastructure funding applies to your area.
This is general guidance assembled from public sources, not legal, medical or engineering advice. When something here conflicts with what your provider, your county, or a licensed professional tells you about your specific situation, believe them, not this page.