Sedona ▸ dedicated page
Red rock country, and a lot of second homes.
No published hardness number — our own field readings there run from about 7 to over 30 grains (7–30+ gpg). Arsenic, chromium-6, radium and TTHMs all appear in the published data.
Service area
Water treatment and plumbing in the Verde Valley
Camp Verde, Rimrock and Lake Montezuma, with Sedona, Cottonwood, Jerome, Clarkdale and Cornville alongside. Wells, irrigation, and a lot of iron.
Verde Valley
What the water is like here
Camp Verde, Rimrock and Lake Montezuma are mostly well country, and the two things that come up most often here are iron and nitrate.
Iron is the visible one — orange staining in sinks, tubs and laundry, and a metallic edge to the taste. Nitrate is the invisible one, and it matters more. Where there is irrigation, agriculture or a concentration of septic systems, nitrate finds its way into shallow groundwater. The EPA limit is 10 mg/L, and unlike most contaminants it has a specific, serious and well-documented risk to infants under six months.
Sourced, not estimated
The published numbers for Verde Valley
| Measure | Published figure | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Hardness, Clarkdale | 71 mg/L at the Mountain Gate well and 280 mg/L at Haskell Springs — about 4.2 and 16.4 gpg. Two wells, one small town, a four-fold difference. Clarkdale tests hardness voluntarily; nobody requires it. | Town of Clarkdale |
| Arsenic, Clarkdale | Running annual average 5 ppb, range 4.3–5.7 | Clarkdale, 2025 |
| Arsenic, Camp Verde | 9.7 ppb at the Mongini wells and 6.0 at Verde River Estates, against a limit of 10 | Town of Camp Verde, 2024 |
| Source, Camp Verde | Three wells in the Verde limestone at the base of Mingus Mountain | Town of Camp Verde, 2024 |
| Hardness, Camp Verde | Not usable. The town’s report prints the same 75–130 ppm sentence as the City of Prescott’s, word for word, for a different formation sixty miles away. That reads as template text rather than a measurement, so it is not repeated here. | Town of Camp Verde, 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.
Local detail
Every community in the region
Seven communities, one valley. Sedona and Cottonwood have their own pages; the rest are covered here.
Cottonwood ▸ dedicated page
The Verde Valley’s largest city.
Deep-aquifer groundwater, chlorinated, with trace industrial compounds in the reports and arsenic averaging 8 ppb on the main system.
Camp Verde
Historic river town.
A mix of private wells and town water. Arsenic at 9.7 ppb at the Mongini wells, just under the limit.
Jerome & Clarkdale
Mining-era communities.
Steep terrain and older plumbing. Clarkdale’s two wells read 71 and 280 mg/L hardness.
Cornville & Page Springs
Wine country.
Mostly private wells. Hardness and seasonal iron are common, and arsenic has been measured far over the limit.
Rimrock & Lake Montezuma
Beaver Creek area.
A mix of wells and small utilities. Hard water with arsenic traces.
The Verde Valley arsenic picture, documented
Arsenic in Verde Valley groundwater is not folklore — it is state-documented geology. An Arizona Department of Health Services health consultation in Cornville reviewed six private-well samples and found every one over the 10 µg/L arsenic standard, ranging from 15 all the way to 952 µg/L. A 2004 study of Verde Valley groundwater measured 10–210 µg/L and traced the arsenic mainly to groundwater in contact with the Supai and Verde formations the valley sits on, rather than to old mine tailings (Foust and others, Applied Geochemistry). On the municipal side, Camp Verde’s Mongini wells read 9.7 ppb (table above) and the Town has grant money to build a 2,000-gallon-a-minute arsenic removal system there (Journal AZ, April 2024), while its Verde River Estates system reads 6.0 ppb.
Hardness swings just as widely — Clarkdale’s two wells read 71 and 280 mg/L, a four-fold difference inside one small town. The practical rule for the whole valley: the water test is the system design. Arsenic removal sized from your numbers, softening sized from your hardness — not the neighbor’s.
If there is a baby in the house, test for nitrate
This is the one piece of advice on this site that is not about saving money on appliances. Nitrate above the EPA limit is a genuine hazard for infants under six months, and boiling the water concentrates it rather than removing it.
It is on the $185 panel. If you are on a well here and expecting, run it.
Irrigation and shallow wells
Properties with irrigation nearby, or on a shallower well, carry more of this risk than a deep well on a hillside does. It is worth knowing which you have.
Arsenic here too
The Verde Valley arsenic picture applies across this area, not just around Cornville. Same answer: test first, then point-of-use reverse osmosis at $829 if the number warrants it.
What it costs in the Verde Valley
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.
Reverse osmosis systems
Under-sink, installed — a point-of-use answer for arsenic V and nitrate in the water you drink (not certified; a test of the RO water shows your result). The Kitten at $829, the alkaline Ocelot at $999.
Detailsfrom $829Installed$185 Premium water test
Certified lab analysis for your Verde 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 panelPriority same-day plumbing
Burst pipes, slab leaks and failed water heaters in the Verde Valley get a $250 priority call — a same-day visit when Neil is free, Monday to Saturday, 7am to 7pm.
Details$250Priority callTransparent pricing
Every service priced up front, no surprises, and free on-site estimates for Verde Valley residents.
See pricingWhole-house water filtration
Iron is the one here. The Panther Package pairs an iron filter with a softener; the Cougar — sediment, iron, softening and UV — is for a well that needs everything.
Details$3,400–$6,475Installed · reference priceWater softening
Sized from your hardness — which in this valley can be 4 grains or 16: the Bobcat up to the Tiger 64K. 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.
Why not yet?
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
Where you actually live
Neighborhood by neighborhood
Camp Verde, Clarkdale, Cornville: town by town
Camp Verde runs two small town systems — about 2,000 connections around the Mongini townsite and a few dozen at Verde River Estates (2,005 and 58 in EPA’s records for the town system and Verde River Estates) — and everyone else is on a well or a private utility. At about 3,100 feet, down by Fort Verde (Visit Camp Verde), winters are milder than Prescott’s but still freeze.
Clarkdale was founded in 1912 around the copper smelter, beside what is now Tuzigoot National Monument, as Arizona’s first master-planned community (Town of Clarkdale), and it has a genuinely historic core: over a tenth of its homes (10.7%) predate 1940 (Census Bureau, American Community Survey 2020–2024). That is real galvanized-pipe territory, where a supply line assessment pays for itself.
Cornville and Page Springs have no town utility at all. The City of Cottonwood pipes water to Verde Santa Fe and the Verde Villages (its water reports), and much of wine country beyond is on private wells over the same arsenic-bearing formations the ADHS studied. For those homes, well water treatment starts with a lab test and usually ends with arsenic media, a softener sized to the draw, and an RO at the kitchen tap.
What we do in Verde Valley
Water testing
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 SimpleLabReverse osmosis
Under-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 $829InstalledDrain clearing
Sink, 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 rateWater heater service
Flush $79, anode rod $245, valves. Tankless descaling $250.
Detailsfrom $79Flat ratesWhole-house iron removal and well packages are reference-priced but not currently installed (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.
Questions
Questions people ask Neil
Can you come out right now?
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).
Why does my Camp Verde well water stain everything orange?
Iron. It is extremely common on wells in this area.
It is a nuisance contaminant rather than a health one, but it ruins fixtures and laundry over time. The $185 panel quantifies it, which is what sizing any treatment depends on.
Is nitrate a real concern in the Verde Valley?
Yes, particularly near irrigation or a concentration of septic systems — and specifically for infants.
The EPA limit is 10 mg/L. Nitrate above that is genuinely dangerous to babies under six months, and boiling concentrates it rather than removing it. If there is an infant in the house and you are on a well, test.
Do you cover Rimrock and Lake Montezuma?
Yes, at the same published prices with no trip fee.
All of Yavapai County is one service area.
Book now
Call Neil, or request a visit
Monday to Saturday, 7am to 7pm. Neil answers his own phone and calls requests back in the order they came in.