Use ADWR’s Request to Change Well Information process when the landowner where the well sits changes, or its contact or parcel information needs correction. Assemble the well number and supporting ownership or location documents. Changes for an already drilled well differ from amendments to a proposed well’s drilling notice.
Does the well record need an ownership change?
ADWR’s public FAQ says to update the record when the landowner where the well resides changes. It also identifies changes in owner contact information and parcel splits or combinations as reasons to submit Form 55-71A, Request to Change Well Information, or use the agency’s available ownership-update process.
Start by establishing which parcel contains the well. ADWR says that ownership does not need to be updated merely because another served parcel is transferred when the well is not on that parcel. For a shared well, registry information and the parties’ private water-sharing agreement are separate matters; ADWR’s FAQ explains that it cannot intervene in a private agreement dispute.
A transaction involving a covered groundwater right or permit can also raise a separate annual groundwater-use reporting question. Confirm the actual right holder and reported year with ADWR rather than treating the well-record correction as the annual-use filing.
What supporting documents should be gathered?
Locate the 55- well registration number and compare the current record with the proposed change. The official form’s ownership section asks for legal proof of ownership, such as a recorded deed or another document demonstrating ownership, and an assessor map or aerial image marked with the well’s location.
If that identifier or file is missing, start with finding the well registration and imaged records before assembling the correction packet.
Prepare the previous and new owner information, current mailing and contact details, parcel identifier and actual well location. Resolve inconsistent names or locations before submitting the packet. Check the current form and fee instructions at the time of filing; the form distinguishes an ownership transfer from changes in address, legal location, GPS or parcel number rather than assigning every correction the same fee.
Is this an existing well or a proposed one?
Section four of Form 55-71A applies to wells that have already been drilled. It calls for a narrative summary and maps or diagrams explaining the correction. For changed information on a proposed well, the form instead directs applicants to an amended Notice of Intent to Drill. A change of driller has its own form.
Updating a registry address does not authorize a new well, relocation or deepening. Keep the drilling-notice requirements separate from an administrative correction. Retain the submitted packet and ask ADWR how to confirm that the record now shows the intended change.
What if the property also contains an open well?
A.R.S. 45-593 separately requires a new property owner to notify ADWR in writing within thirty days after ownership changes about discovered open wells. Thereafter, it requires reporting within ten days after discovering an open well. These are open-well reporting provisions, not a universal deadline for every ownership-record correction.
Keep people away from an unsecured opening and obtain qualified help. The construction and capping rules address that physical hazard. A corrected owner name neither caps the well nor establishes the water’s safety; continue the appropriate well operation and testing responsibilities.
For the physical closure and its separate submissions, use the cap-versus-permanent-abandonment guide. Filing the ownership correction or open-well report is a different task.