CreekWell Plumbing & Water Treatment LLC · 928-228-5770 · creekwellplumbing.com
With Cornville, Clarkdale and Jerome, about 50 minutes from Prescott. This is the part of the county where the arsenic conversation is most concrete.
On city water, Cottonwood pumps all of its water from the deep regional groundwater aquifer and uses chlorination for disinfection (City of Cottonwood). Hard water is the everyday complaint — scale on fixtures and in water heaters — but the city’s report publishes no hardness number, so we don’t quote one; the free hardness check that comes with every estimate reads your actual tap instead. Arsenic is present in the city supply too, at an average under the EPA limit (details below).
Of everywhere in the county, this is where the arsenic conversation stops being theoretical. Readings well above the EPA limit of 10 µg/L have been recorded on private wells in this area — including readings in the Cornville area many times that figure.
Arsenic has no taste, no smell and no color. It does not make water look bad or the kettle scale up. There is no way to know without a laboratory, and no handheld device measures it. If you are on a well between Cottonwood and Cornville and have never run a panel, that is the single most worthwhile $185 in this entire price list.
| Measure | Published figure | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Hardness | Not published. The city’s report has no hardness row. | City of Cottonwood, 2024 |
| Arsenic | System average 8 ppb, but the range across the wells runs 0–13 against a limit of 10 — which is why treatment here is a street-by-street question | City of Cottonwood, 2024 |
| Sodium | 19–120 ppm depending which well you are on | City of Cottonwood, 2024 |
| Chromium | 13 ppb, range 4.5–13 | City of Cottonwood, 2024 |
| Nitrate | 0.60 ppm, range 0.11–0.60 | City of Cottonwood, 2024 |
| Arsenic, Verde Villages 6, 7, 8 & Quail Canyon (system 13-106) | Average 2 ppb, range 0–8.5 | City of Cottonwood, 2024 |
| PFOA and PFOS | Not detected in either system | City of Cottonwood, 2024 |
| Xylenes | 0.00061 ppm, against a limit of 10 | City of Cottonwood, 2024 |
| Source | Eight wells into the deep regional aquifer, Verde Valley sub-basin | City of Cottonwood, 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 | About 13,000 — 12,939 in the Census Bureau estimate for July 1, 2024 |
| ZIP code | 86326 |
| Elevation | 3,300 to 3,900 feet along the Verde River, by the City’s own figure |
| From Prescott | About 50 minutes |
These are the problems we see most often in Cottonwood homes.
The City of Cottonwood pumps from the deep regional aquifer through eight wells, and it runs separate small systems for the Verde Villages and Verde Santa Fe — one of them, system 13-106, serves Verde Villages 6, 7, 8 and Quail Canyon (its 2024 report). The main system’s 2024 Consumer Confidence Report shows why arsenic is the number to watch here: individual samples ranged from 0 to 13 ppb, with a compliance average of 8 against the 10 ppb federal limit (the Verde Villages 6–8 system averaged 2). That is the strongest documented case in the Verde Valley’s city water for an arsenic-rated system or an under-sink RO at the drinking tap.
Two more useful facts from the same reports: PFOA and PFOS were not detected in either system — worth saying plainly, because it’s good news — and sodium on the main system ranged from 19 to 120 ppm, which matters if anyone in the house is on a low-sodium diet and factors into how a softener gets set up. The reports don’t publish a hardness figure, so we don’t quote one.
If the panel comes back with arsenic over the limit, whole-house removal is reference-priced at $4,750 — and it waits until CreekWell’s contractor licenses are issued, because it passes the $1,000 exemption ceiling.
What can be booked now is under-sink reverse osmosis at $829, if your water is inside its limits (on a well, iron up to 0.3 ppm, manganese up to 0.1 ppm, arsenic V up to 300 ppb) and the job needs no permit. It treats the water you drink and cook with, which is where the exposure that matters comes from. It is the affordable, effective answer and it is plain about what it does not cover: the shower and the laundry still get untreated water, which for arsenic is not the concern.
Orange staining in sinks and tubs is iron; black or purple-gray is manganese. Both are common on Verde Valley wells. Iron is a nuisance. Manganese is too, but the Minnesota Department of Health treats more than 0.1 ppm (for babies) or 0.3 ppm (for everyone else) as a health concern. Both ruin fixtures and laundry, and they are worth knowing about before they do.
Old buildings on a steep hill, which is its own category of plumbing. Access is often tight and the pipe is often older than anyone currently living there. Worth a conversation on the phone before scheduling so nobody is surprised.
The same flat prices as in Prescott — no trip fee for the drive — with the two-year workmanship warranty plus the maker’s or the supplier’s on the parts.
Under-sink, installed — a common answer for arsenic in the water you drink (it works best on arsenic V; not certified, and a test of the RO water shows your result). The Kitten at $829, the alkaline Ocelot at $999.
Detailsfrom $829InstalledCertified lab analysis for your Cottonwood 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 failed water heaters in Cottonwood 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 Cottonwood residents.
See pricingCatalytic carbon takes the chlorine taste and odor out at every tap — the Lynx Package. On a well with iron staining, the Panther (iron filter plus softener) is $3,400.
Details$1,885Installed · reference priceSized from a reading at your tap, since the report gives no number: the Bobcat up to the Tiger 64K. With sodium already up to 120 ppm on parts of the city system, ask about salt-free too, from $2,225. On chlorinated city water the supplier says to protect the resin from chlorine: a Tiger, with carbon in the same tank, or the Lynx ahead of the Bobcat.
Details$1,799–$3,399Installed · 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
Cottonwood’s median home dates to 1991 — 1988 in Verde Village (Census Bureau, American Community Survey 2020–2024) — so the housing splits three ways: a genuinely old core around Old Town and Clemenceau where galvanized pipe still turns up, a large cohort from the polybutylene years of roughly 1978 to 1995, and newer copper and PEX subdivisions. Galvanized and polybutylene each fail in their own way, and both are findable in an hour’s inspection before they cost you drywall. Water line and leak repair calls here cluster in exactly those older streets.
Between 3,300 and 3,900 feet along the Verde River, Cottonwood freezes lighter than Prescott but still freezes — exterior lines and backflow assemblies need real protection, and monsoon pressure events push sediment that shows up in aerators and water heater tanks. From Old Town to the edge of Verde Santa Fe, every system gets sized from a test, not a template.
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 arsenic and iron removal are reference-priced but not currently installed — here is why. 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).
You should test. Readings far above the EPA limit have been recorded in this area.
The EPA maximum contaminant level is 10 micrograms per liter for public systems; private wells have no legal limit. Arsenic is undetectable by taste, smell, color or any handheld meter. The $185 lab panel is the only way to know.
Install an under-sink reverse osmosis system, from $829, 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 more iron, the treatment ahead of it waits for the licenses, and the RO with it. Whole-house arsenic removal is $4,750, a reference price, and waits until CreekWell’s contractor licenses are issued. Point-of-use RO is the standard affordable answer and handles the exposure route that matters most.
Iron. Black or gray-purple staining is manganese.
Both are common on Verde Valley wells and both show up on the $185 panel. Iron is a nuisance. Manganese is too, but the Minnesota Department of Health treats more than 0.1 ppm (for babies) or 0.3 ppm (for everyone else) as a health concern; the $185 panel measures both. Both are hard on fixtures and laundry.
Monday to Saturday, 7am to 7pm. Neil answers his own phone and calls requests back in the order they came in.
