PRESS RELEASE

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                                CONTACT: Sally Stewart Lee 

Dec. 20, 2018                                                                                          PHONE: 602.771.8530

Arizona Department of Water Resources conducts “basin sweep” to collect water-level measurements in the Pinal Active Management Area

PHOENIX – Beginning the week of December 10, 2018, and continuing approximately through the end of January 2019, the Arizona Department of Water Resources (ADWR) will be conducting an extensive effort to measure water levels in wells in the Pinal Active Management Area (AMA).

ADWR staff will attempt to measure water levels at hundreds of wells in the Pinal AMA.  This survey of area wells – or basin “sweep,” as it is known — will be the first such basin survey of the area since 2013. The data collected will be used for several purposes, including:

• analysis of water-level trends
• groundwater modeling
• water-level change maps
• hydrologic reports and
• water resource planning and management.

Every year the Department’s hydrologists collect water levels in a statewide network of about 1,600 to 1,800 “index” wells that have typically been measured annually over the last several decades. Also each year, the Department targets at least one area of the State for a more intensive “sweep,” which provides a deeper dive into regional groundwater conditions.

The involvement of well owners in sweeps is entirely voluntary. ADWR greatly appreciates the cooperation of well owners who participate in the well survey.

For more information regarding this matter, please contact Public Information Officer Sally Stewart Lee at sslee@azwater.gov or (602) 771-8530.

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