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2026 Kingman (Mohave County) Well Permit and Cost Checklist

Last verified 2026-10-26 against the Arizona Department of Water Resources (ADWR), Arizona statutes, Mohave County Development Services and the other sources listed at the bottom. Free to print, share or link. This is general information, not legal or engineering advice.

Step 1. Before you buy land or call a driller

• ☐ Check whether piped water already serves the parcel. In Golden Valley, Mohave County runs the Golden Valley Improvement District water system (Mohave County GVID Water). Inside Kingman, call City of Kingman Public Works / Water at (928) 757-7467. Not verified: we could not open the City of Kingman Municipal Utility Regulations (the city site blocked our access), which reportedly require development inside the city's water service area to use city water. Ask the city before planning a well inside city limits.
• ☐ Look up nearby wells. ADWR's Wells 55 map and well registry show depth and depth-to-water of registered wells near your parcel. ADWR notes the water level is often the one measured at drilling, so newer wells are the better guide.
• ☐ Find your parcel number (APN) on the Mohave County Assessor's site. You'll need it for the site plan and the ADWR notice.
• ☐ Check AMA/INA status on ADWR's map. Much of the Kingman area is in the Hualapai Valley Irrigation Non-Expansion Area (INA). See the fee note in Step 3.
• ☐ Buying a property that already has a well? Find its registration number (it starts with "55-"), pull the imaged record from ADWR, and plan to file ADWR form 55-71A to change the well owner after closing.

Step 2. Site plan and Mohave County review (parcels of 5 acres or less)

• ☐ If any water will be used for domestic purposes on a parcel of 5 acres or fewer, state law requires a well site plan with the Notice of Intent (A.R.S. § 45-596(F)). It must show the APN, the proposed well and any septic tank or sewer system on the property or within 100 feet of the well site, and carry the county health authority's written approval.
• ☐ In Mohave County that review is done by Development Services, Environmental Quality (delegated by ADEQ). Questions: EQpermits@mohave.gov or (928) 757-0903. The county's posted fee table lists $160 for "Notice of Intent to Drill, Deepen, Replace or Modify a Well".
• ☐ Keep 100 feet between the well and every septic system, including the neighbors'. State rule A.A.C. R12-15-818 bars a well within 100 feet of a septic tank system, sewage disposal area, landfill, hazardous waste or petroleum storage unless ADWR approves in writing, and Mohave County says the same about septic separation.
• ☐ Mohave County "highly recommends" a 50-foot buffer between the well and any property line, and says you should have at least one acre under current subdivision rules. Where public water isn't available, the septic system also needs 50 feet to the property line unless neighbors record an agreement.
• ☐ Planning a septic system too? Mohave County says applying for the building permit and septic at the same time is the best way to make sure everything fits with the setbacks.

Step 3. ADWR Notice of Intent to Drill (form 55-40)

• ☐ A Notice of Intent must be filed with ADWR before drilling a new well or deepening or modifying an existing one (ADWR; A.R.S. § 45-596). Most drillers file it for you electronically (eNOI); ask who files it.
• ☐ Filing fee: $100 for a well used solely for domestic purposes with a pump of 35 gallons per minute or less that is outside any Active Management Area and outside any INA. Otherwise $150 (A.R.S. § 45-596(L)).
• ☐ Hualapai Valley INA, as of Oct 26, 2026: a Maricopa County Superior Court judge vacated the INA designation in January 2026. ADWR appealed, and the Arizona Court of Appeals stayed that judgment on June 11, 2026, so ADWR says the INA order and its irrigation limits currently remain in place. The appeal (1 CA-SA 26-0147) has been under advisement since August 6, 2026. In practice: a domestic well inside the Hualapai Valley basin is filed as an INA well ($150) while the stay lasts. Ask ADWR or your driller which fee applies to your parcel, because a ruling could change it.
• ☐ The INA restricts irrigation (two or more acres grown for sale or feed). It is not a ban on household wells.
• ☐ Exempt well: a pump of 35 gallons per minute or less, typically for household use. "Domestic purposes" include watering less than two acres (A.R.S. § 45-454).
• ☐ Timing: ADWR has 15 days by statute to process a Notice of Intent, then mails a drilling card to the driller. Authority to drill is valid for one year; after that a new notice is required.
• ☐ Licensed driller: ADWR requires a licensed well-drilling contractor. The 55-40 form asks for both the firm's ADWR driller license number and its Registrar of Contractors (ROC) license, so ask for both and check the ROC license at roc.az.gov and the firm on ADWR's Well Drillers List.

Step 4. Drilling and paperwork after the hole

• ☐ The driller files a well driller report (the drill log, including casing) with ADWR within 30 days of finishing drilling (A.R.S. § 45-600(A)). Ask for a copy.
• ☐ Within 30 days of installing the pump, the registered well owner files a completion report with ADWR (A.R.S. § 45-600(B)): equipment, a pumping capacity test of at least four hours, drawdown and static water level. Many pump installers help with this; confirm who does it.
• ☐ Not verified: whether Mohave County requires a separate building or electrical permit for the pump, pressure tank or wiring. Ask Mohave County Development Services, Building Division.

Step 5. Test the water

• ☐ ADHS recommends testing a new well for arsenic, fluoride, lead, nitrates, total coliform bacteria, total dissolved solids and uranium, then coliform bacteria and nitrates every year and arsenic, fluoride and uranium every five years, using an ADHS-certified lab (as quoted on ADWR's FAQ).

Step 6. Sharing a well?

• ☐ ADWR does not regulate shared well agreements; they are private contracts, and disputes are civil matters. Record the agreement with the Mohave County Recorder. ADWR says a shared well fits up to 14 service connections or 24 residents; beyond that it becomes a community water system with water-quality rules.

What it costs: depth first, then the per-foot rate

Depth drives the bill. These medians come from ADWR well records compiled by ZIP code on ArizonaWellData.com (a third-party compilation of the ADWR database, re-checked Oct 26, 2026):

A median is the middle well, not your well. The best local evidence is the logs of wells near your parcel on ADWR's map.

Worked example (arithmetic, not a quote): a 453 ft well (the 86409 median) at $30–$68 per foot is $13,590–$30,804 for drilling. Add the pump system, the $150 INA-area ADWR fee and the $160 county review. Hard rock, steel casing or a dry first hole push it higher.

Third-party estimates disagree with each other, and WellDrillingCosts.com's own Kingman page lists a $13,200 "complete system" average next to a $15,400–$26,800 complete-system range for the same 300 ft depth. Treat every published number as a range to test quotes against, not a price.

Questions to ask every driller

1. Your ADWR driller license and ROC license numbers?
2. Price per foot, and what depth is the quote based on?
3. Casing material and diameter?
4. What happens, and what do I pay, if the first hole is dry?
5. Who files the site plan, the Notice of Intent and the completion report?
6. Is the pump, tank and wiring priced separately from drilling?

Ready for real numbers?

Sources (opened Oct 26, 2026)

1. ADWR, Well Drilling in Arizona: azwater.gov/permitting-wells/well-drilling-arizona
2. ADWR, Permitting and wells FAQ (R12-15-818 setback, 15-day processing, ADHS testing, 55-71A): azwater.gov/permitting-wells/frequently-asked-questions
3. A.R.S. § 45-596 (Notice of intention to drill; site plan; fee): azleg.gov/ars/45/00596.htm
4. A.R.S. § 45-454 (exempt wells; domestic purposes): azleg.gov/ars/45/00454.htm
5. A.R.S. § 45-600 (driller report; completion report): azleg.gov/ars/45/00600.htm
6. ADWR form 55-40, Notice of Intention to Drill (rev. 04/2022), as posted by Mohave County: mohave.gov (PDF)
7. Mohave County Development Services, Septic & Well Permitting (100 ft separation, 50 ft buffer, $160 fee): mohave.gov
8. ADWR, Hualapai Valley INA (stay update): azwater.gov/ama/ina/hualapai-ina; Arizona Court of Appeals docket 1 CA-SA 26-0147: apps.azcourts.gov (PDF); AZCIR (Aug 2026): azcir.org
9. ArizonaWellData.com, Mohave County and ZIP pages (ADWR records): arizonawelldata.com/counties/mohave
10. WellDrillingCosts.com, Kingman AZ: welldrillingcosts.com/cities/kingman-az; HomeGuide, Well drilling cost: homeguide.com/costs/well-drilling-cost
11. Pump and tank figures: see the sources on our pump repair page.

Kingman Well Drilling Quotes is a free referral service, not a well driller. Contractors may pay us for referrals. The date at the top shows when every fact was last re-checked.