Where Does Kingman AZ Get Its Water?

Why do so many people in Kingman still think our tap water comes from the Colorado River?

I filled a glass at my sink today, and again, it was just regular well water from under this town, not some river pipe running into my kitchen.

I took my son by Walmart after, and I heard somebody in line talking like Lake Havasu water and Kingman water were the same thing, which they are not.

A friend recently commented to me that she always assumed we got river water because Bullhead and Lake Havasu do, and she was shocked when she found out Kingman runs on wells.

5-7 years ago, I would never have heard so many people mix this up out loud. Now, they are always there, saying river this and river that like we are on the same system.

These river water people seem to think every town in Mohave County drinks from the same Colorado River hose, as if our desert wells do not even exist.

On top of this, north of town we are on the deeper valley water, and south of town it is a different basin altogether, so basically even Kingman itself is not one simple pipe story.

I drove Andy Devine today and passed Public Works like I always do, and it hit me again that what comes out of my faucet is pumped up from underground, stored, pushed through the lines, and that is it.

The worst issue is the mixup. It is everywhere. People talk like we are a river city, when Golden Valley is on wells too, and the river towns are the ones with the Colorado River deals.

Your faucet may look the same as theirs, but I have no idea why that makes people think the water source is the same.

For the record, I do not hate the river towns. I go to Bullhead and Lake Havasu, I get why they talk river water, it is what they have.

I am not mad at the city water. I am mad at these river water people who keep telling newcomers we drink Colorado River water when we do not.

It is a daily occurrence now. Every day somebody asks where Kingman gets its water, and every day the simple answer is still wells under the valleys around town.

These river water people say it everywhere. At the gas station, at McDonald’s, in Facebook comments, it does not matter.

My brother said half the people arguing about Kingman running dry do not even know it is groundwater first, and that is basically how the confusion starts.

While I understand the Colorado River news is loud and scary and easy to repeat, I do wish these people would stop saying our taps are river water when they are not.