Arizona Water Factsheets … Did You Know?
Navajo County Depends on Groundwater
Navajo County, located in northeastern Arizona between Coconino and Apache counties, comprises two distinct geographic regions: arid and desert-like mesas, plateaus, and buttes in the north and mountainous piñon-juniper and ponderosa pine woodlands in the south. About 54% of Navajo County residents live in rural areas that depend on domestic groundwater wells for water. Water management practices within the county are largely determined by land ownership, which is 66% Tribal, and includes the Navajo Nation, the Hopi Reservation, and the White Mountain Apache Tribe, with their autonomous systems of land and water management.
While the Little Colorado River, a major tributary to the Colorado River, provides most of Navajo County’s surface water, the primary water resource is groundwater (73.2%) that comes from underground aquifers — subsurface porous rock or sediment saturated with water. Realizing that many of its residents depend on groundwater, county leadership has taken steps to address challenges, which include supply shortages and water contamination; for example, a significant groundwater contaminant in the Pinetop-Lakeside area is trichloroethene (TCE), a solvent used in metal degreasing and cleaning. The Arizona Department of Environmental Quality regulates cleanup efforts to ensure clean water for the residents of Navajo County.