Check the well, water right or permit and its management-area status before assuming annual reporting applies. Exempt-well withdrawals have a statutory reporting exemption, while covered rights can require reports even in a zero-use year. Keep the supporting withdrawal and delivery records, choose the correct ADWR schedules, and distinguish metering exceptions from reporting exemptions.
Does annual reporting apply to this withdrawal?
Identify the well registration number, the groundwater right or permit, its holder and whether it lies in an Active Management Area (AMA) or Irrigation Non-Expansion Area (INA). These are separate records. Finding a well’s ADWR file helps identify the well, but a registration number alone does not settle annual reporting.
A.R.S. 45-632 identifies covered groundwater-right, permit and use situations and their exceptions. It exempts persons withdrawing groundwater from exempt wells from that section’s recordkeeping and reporting requirements for that water. It also provides an exception for ordinary non-irrigation customers of specified water suppliers, with a permit-related qualification. Do not tell every household on a domestic well or city supply to file the same report. Have ADWR resolve the actual right and use when the classification is uncertain.
What happens in a zero-use or ownership-change year?
ADWR’s annual-reporting instructions distinguish covered rights and permits in AMAs from those in INAs. For an applicable AMA right, report even when no water was withdrawn; the statute also addresses those zero-use records. The department says an applicable INA report is required when water was withdrawn and encourages voluntary zero-use reporting there.
ADWR’s FAQ assigns responsibility for a year involving a sale to the owner of the right in December of the reported year. Confirm the relevant right holder and current instructions rather than treating a well-ownership correction or sale date alone as proof that the annual report was filed.
Which measurements and supporting records are needed?
For the applicable reporting category, assemble the well and right identifiers, withdrawal quantities, source or recipient information, uses and required pump-energy information. Use the actual ADWR schedules and well worksheets for that right. Keep contemporaneous records rather than reconstructing the year from a single current meter reading.
A.R.S. 45-604 separately establishes approved water-measuring-device requirements and specific exceptions. Some qualifying small rights or uses can be exempt from a measuring device while still needing an annual report with an authorized estimate. A metering exception is therefore not an automatic reporting exemption. Have the department confirm the permitted measurement or estimate for the actual situation.
The pump-installation completion report describes installed equipment; it does not account for a year’s groundwater withdrawals.
How should filing and confirmation be managed?
The statute generally requires the preceding calendar year’s report by March 31. ADWR’s captured website page describes the 2025 reporting cycle and its March 31, 2026 deadline; use the instructions and forms for the actual year rather than copying that past date as a new deadline.
If the supplier is also a community water system, check the ADWR CWS annual-use reporting guide for its separate scope and the specific 45-632 reporting exemption. Do not assume the two programs require duplicate filings or use the same deadline.
Choose an available online, softcopy or hardcopy route for the right type, retain the submitted report and supporting records, and use ADWR’s received-report checker to confirm submission. Resolve missing schedules or inconsistent quantities with the department. A well operating and testing routine is a separate owner responsibility, not evidence that the right holder’s annual water-use report is complete.