CreekWell Plumbing & Water Treatment LLC · 928-228-5770 · creekwellplumbing.com
Including Paulden, about 25 minutes north of Prescott. This is well country — which means the water question here is a chemistry question, not a taste one.
Chino Valley and Paulden sit over the Big Chino sub-basin, and a large share of properties out here are on private wells rather than a municipal line.
That changes the whole conversation. A city customer gets an annual report and a utility that is legally accountable for what comes out of the tap. A well owner gets neither. There is no legal contaminant limit on a private well in Arizona and no required testing — the only standard applied is the one the owner chooses to apply.
Arsenic is the reason to take that seriously here. Just north in Paulden, Arizona Cooperative Extension records the highest arsenic concentration ever found in Arizona groundwater — 2,900 ppb in a private well (AZ1503) — and when the Arizona Department of Health Services sampled Paulden wells in 2005, six of seven samples were over the limit, one at 3,400 µg/L (ADHS health consultation). More readings, and what removes it: arsenic in Yavapai County well water.
Which is why the recommendation here is always the same and always first: run the $185 panel. Everything after that is an informed decision. Everything before it is guessing with equipment.
| Measure | Published figure | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Hardness | Not published. The town’s report has no hardness row, and it is not obliged to have one — hardness is unregulated. If you want the number here, it has to be measured. | Chino Valley, 2024 |
| PFOA | 8.77 ppt, range 3.09–8.77, against the 4.0 ppt limit printed in the town’s own table. The PFAS limits are new and phase in over several years, and compliance is judged on a running annual average, so this is not a violation — it is a number worth knowing before the deadline arrives. | Chino Valley, 2024 |
| PFHxS | 6.93 ppt, range 3.12–6.93 | Chino Valley, 2024 |
| Arsenic | Highest 7.7 ppb, against a limit of 10 | Chino Valley, 2024 |
| Nitrate | 2.46 ppm, range 1.7–2.46 | Chino Valley, 2024 |
| Source | Groundwater wells in the Little Chino sub-basin | Chino Valley, 2024 |
Every figure above is reproduced from the linked report. Where a utility does not publish a measurement — hardness is unregulated, so most do not — this table says so rather than printing a number nobody can check.
| County | Yavapai County |
|---|---|
| Population | 13,911 — the Census Bureau estimate for July 1, 2024 |
| ZIP code | 86323 |
| Elevation | 4,656 feet, by the Town’s own figure |
| From Prescott | About 25 minutes |
These are the problems we see most often in Chino Valley homes.
Chino Valley is fundamentally a well town. The Town’s own water system has about 1,100 service connections serving roughly 2,700 people (EPA’s drinking water records) in a town of 13,911, and the Arizona Department of Water Resources counts approximately 13,000 exempt wells across the Prescott Active Management Area (ADWR). If your home is on a private well, the Town’s numbers don’t apply to you — your own water test does, and that’s the number every system here should be sized from.
For homes that are on Town water, the 2024 Consumer Confidence Report is worth reading. Arsenic tested at 7.7 ppb against the 10 ppb federal limit. PFOA measured 8.77 parts per trillion against the new 4.0 ppt federal standard, with PFHxS at 6.93 ppt, and the Town writes that it “is working to select treatment methods that will bring levels below the MCL.” In the meantime, an under-sink reverse osmosis system is the usual answer for arsenic at the drinking tap, and whole-house PFAS reduction exists for homes that want every tap covered. That is not alarm — it is the Town’s own published data and a straightforward fix.
Heavy runoff is a good reason to re-run bacteria on a well, particularly if the wellhead sits low or the seal is old. It is a cheap test and the answer is either reassuring or genuinely important.
A well that tested clean for a previous owner five years ago tells you nothing about today. Casing, seal and pump all age. Test before you assume.
Well water treatment, plumbing and testing, at the same flat prices as everywhere else in the county, with the two-year workmanship warranty plus the maker’s or the supplier’s on the parts.
Under-sink, installed — an affordable answer for arsenic V and nitrate in the water you drink and cook with (not certified; a test of the RO water shows your result), if your well is inside its limits: iron up to 0.3 ppm, manganese up to 0.1 ppm, arsenic V up to 300 ppb. The Kitten at $829, the alkaline Ocelot at $999.
Detailsfrom $829InstalledCertified lab analysis for your Chino Valley address — arsenic, lead, uranium, nitrate, bacteria and hardness, 53 parameters. Ordered from SimpleLab; we read the results with you free. (PFAS is a separate $334 test, at SimpleLab’s price.)
Order a kit$185Lab panelBurst pipes, slab leaks and water-heater failures in Chino Valley get a $250 priority call — a same-day visit when Neil is free, Monday to Saturday, 7am to 7pm.
Details$250Priority callEvery service priced up front, no surprises, and free on-site estimates for Chino Valley residents.
See pricingOn a well, whole-house treatment starts at the wellhead. The Panther Package pairs an iron filter with a softener; the Cougar covers sediment, iron, softening and UV disinfection in one.
Details$3,400–$6,475Installed · reference priceSized from your own test, not the county average: the Bobcat on its own, or the Sand Cat — sediment filter plus softener — at $3,075 for gritty well water.
Detailsfrom $1,799Installed · reference priceNot bookable yet. This work comes to $1,000 or more, so it waits for CreekWell’s contractor licenses.
Until its Arizona contractor licenses are issued, CreekWell takes only jobs that come to under $1,000 in all and need no permit and no gas. The price is published so you can plan and compare; it is not an offer, a quote or a bid. What the licenses change
From Del Rio Springs — the site of Arizona’s first territorial capital, where the territorial offices ran from tents and log cabins from January to May 1864 before moving to Prescott (the historical marker; the Town tells the same story) — down to Old Home Manor and the homes along the Peavine Trail, Chino Valley runs on groundwater pulled up one well at a time. That is why point-of-entry arsenic treatment is one of the systems people here ask about most, always sized from a lab test rather than a guess.
The housing mix is broader than Prescott Valley’s: about a fifth of homes (21.6%) date to the 1980s — inside the polybutylene supply-pipe window of roughly 1978 to 1995 — with the biggest share, 30.8%, built in the 2000s (Census Bureau, American Community Survey 2020–2024). Well homes add their own equipment list: pressure tanks, pump controls and well-head sealing all age out in the open at 4,656 feet, where the Chino Valley weather station averages 127 nights a year at or below freezing — about the same as Prescott’s 128 (NOAA 1991–2020 normals). A well water treatment visit here usually starts at the wellhead, not under the sink.
SimpleLab’s 53-parameter certified lab panel. You order the kit and take the sample; Neil reads the report with you, free.
Order a kit$185At SimpleLabUnder-sink drinking water, installed, faucet hole included. Bookable now if your water is inside its limits (on a well, iron up to 0.3 ppm, manganese up to 0.1 ppm and arsenic V up to 300 ppb) and the job needs no permit. Drilling granite, quartz or stainless is $50; an Ocelot that needs it waits for the licenses.
Detailsfrom $829InstalledSink, tub, shower and laundry drains up to 2-inch pipe and 75 feet, and toilet stoppages. Main-line cabling is not offered yet.
Details$179Flat rateFlush $79, anode rod $245, valves. Tankless descaling $250.
Detailsfrom $79Flat ratesWhole-house well packages — sediment, iron removal, softening, disinfection — are reference-priced and wait until CreekWell’s contractor licenses are issued (why). Under-sink reverse osmosis can be booked now if your well is inside its limits and the job needs no permit, and it is the practical answer for arsenic in the water you actually drink. Drain clearing at $179 means branch drains up to 2 inches and 75 feet; main-line cabling, the sewer camera and hydro jetting are not offered yet.
Yes, for repairs and emergencies under $1,000.
Call or text 928-228-5770, Monday to Saturday, 7am to 7pm; a priority call gets a same-day visit when Neil is free. Whole-house systems wait for the contractor licenses (what the licenses change).
Bacteria annually; the full chemistry every three years, plus after any change.
Also test after work on the well, after heavy monsoon runoff, if taste or color changes, and before buying the property. Nobody else is checking.
It is a known regional concern, and it is undetectable without a lab.
Arsenic occurs naturally in Arizona groundwater. The EPA maximum contaminant level of 10 µg/L applies to public systems, not to your well — but it is the sensible yardstick. No handheld meter measures arsenic.
Under-sink reverse osmosis, from $829 installed, for the water you drink and cook with, if your well is inside its limits and the job needs no permit.
Its limits: arsenic V up to 300 ppb, iron up to 0.3 ppm and manganese up to 0.1 ppm (Charger). With clear-water iron up to about 2 ppm, a softener goes ahead of it (heavier or rusty iron is the Panther’s job): the Bobcat and the Kitten are $2,628 together, and both wait for the contractor licenses. Whole-house arsenic removal, the Jaguar, is reference-priced at $4,750 and waits until CreekWell’s contractor licenses are issued, because it is over the $1,000 limit. For most households the drinking-water tap is the affordable, effective answer (it works best on arsenic V).
Monday to Saturday, 7am to 7pm. Neil answers his own phone and calls requests back in the order they came in.
