Can you drill a well without a permit in Arkansas?

Exempt — no permit or water right. Critical Groundwater Area designation in Arkansas is explicitly NON-regulatory — no water right or permit is required to drill or use a well, even inside a critical area. A new landowner can drill a household well anywhere.

Which Arkansas counties have groundwater restrictions?

14 Arkansas counties sit in a managed, over-appropriated, adjudicated, or critically overdrafted groundwater basin — including Arkansas County, Craighead County, Cross County, Jefferson County, Lonoke County. Each county profile cites the specific basin and rule.

Arkansas · off-grid water rights

Water rights in Arkansas

Whether a new off-grid home can legally get its own water in Arkansas: the state well and water-rights rules, then the 14 counties where a specific groundwater basin adds a catch — each cited to the state water agency.

Arkansas water rules

Household well
Exempt — no permit or water right
Critical Groundwater Area designation in Arkansas is explicitly NON-regulatory — no water right or permit is required to drill or use a well, even inside a critical area. A new landowner can drill a household well anywhere.
Limit: non-domestic users >=50,000 gpd register; domestic exempt
Arkansas Dept of Agriculture — Water-Use Registration / Critical Groundwater Areas ↗
Greywater reuse
none
No residential greywater provision; treated as wastewater.
Greywater Action / EPA REUSExplorer ↗
Rainwater harvesting
regulated
Non-potable; system must be engineer-designed with cross-connection safeguards.
NCSL ↗
Water rights
riparian
Riparian; domestic/livestock use unregulated.
National Agricultural Law Center ↗

14 constrained counties in Arkansas

Over-appropriatedArkansas CountyGrand Prairie Critical Ground Water Area69
Over-appropriatedCraighead CountyCache Critical Ground Water Area58
Over-appropriatedCross CountyCache Critical Ground Water Area63
Over-appropriatedJefferson CountyGrand Prairie Critical Ground Water Area55
Over-appropriatedLonoke CountyGrand Prairie Critical Ground Water Area55
Over-appropriatedMonroe CountyGrand Prairie Critical Ground Water Area70
Over-appropriatedPoinsett CountyCache Critical Ground Water Area62
Over-appropriatedPrairie CountyGrand Prairie Critical Ground Water Area64
Over-appropriatedSt. Francis CountyCache Critical Ground Water Area64
Actively managedBradley CountySouth Arkansas (Sparta) Critical Ground Water Area77
Actively managedCalhoun CountySouth Arkansas (Sparta) Critical Ground Water Area79
Actively managedColumbia CountySouth Arkansas (Sparta) Critical Ground Water Area68
Actively managedOuachita CountySouth Arkansas (Sparta) Critical Ground Water Area76
Actively managedUnion CountySouth Arkansas (Sparta) Critical Ground Water Area74

The Bolthole Index Letter

One email a week: the best counties to live off-grid, rule changes that matter, and Arkansas water-rule changes as basins close. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.

Keep exploring Arkansas

See the full Arkansas county ranking, compare states on the water-rights hub, or read how water access is scored. Physical water is dimmed — never erased — where a county sits in one of these basins, household-first.

General guidance, not legal advice. Off-grid, building, and land-use rules are often set at the county level and change often. Verify with your county and state before acting. Data reviewed 2026-06-26.