Groundwater & Well Leases
Wells, permits, and pumping allocations can all be leased, if the local rules allow it.
Groundwater leasing is the most locally governed deal in water. Depending on the state, your groundwater is a private property right (Texas), a state permit (most of the West), or a district-managed allocation (Nebraska NRDs, Kansas GMDs, Arizona AMAs). What you can lease, and to whom, follows from that.
The demand side is broad: irrigators short on allocation, municipalities firming supply, industrial projects, and developers who need mitigation or offset credits tied to groundwater. In over-appropriated basins, an existing well permit is often the only way a new user can get water at all, which is exactly what makes it leaseable.
The risk side is real too: aquifer declines, district rule changes, and metering obligations all belong in the lease. Price the hydrology, not just the paper.
Ideal for
- Owners of permitted wells with unused capacity
- Landowners in district-managed basins holding allocations
- Texas landowners with groundwater under the rule of capture
- Owners near data centers, industrial projects, or growing towns
From "what do I even have?" to a priced asset
Most owners negotiate water deals exactly once in their lives, against counterparties who do it every week. The valuation levels that field before the first phone call.
- 01Day 0
Tell us what you hold
A short intake: the right, shares, or land, and the state it sits in. No documents required to start.
- 02Days 1-3
Records check + valuation
We confirm the right in state records and bracket its value against sourced comparables and basin demand.
- 03Same week
See your options
The demand map for your water: bank rates, lease structures, and the premium counterparties worth approaching.
- 04Your call
Move when ready
We connect you with the vetted broker, program, or counterparty that fits, or you take the numbers and act on your own.
Other lease types
Groundwater Leases: FAQ
Can groundwater rights be leased like surface rights?
Usually, but through a different door. Permit states process a change or temporary transfer of the groundwater permit; district states (Nebraska NRDs, Kansas GMDs, Arizona AMAs) apply their own transfer rules; and Texas groundwater can be contracted privately under the rule of capture unless a district restricts it. The first question is always which regime your well sits in.
What is a groundwater lease worth?
The honest answer is that it is set by the alternative supply cost of the lessee. A city offsetting new pumping, a developer needing mitigation credits, or an operator needing frac water will each pay very different rates for the same acre feet. Sourced anchors from our rates library and local comparables bracket it for your basin.
Who monitors the pumping under a lease?
Build it into the agreement: metering, reporting, and audit rights, plus responsibility for staying inside the permit or allocation. In managed districts, the district will also be watching, and a lessee’s over-pumping can jeopardize your permit if the lease does not allocate that risk.
Find out what your water is worth before anyone else tells you.
Tell us what you hold. We bracket its value against sourced comparables and real demand in your basin, then point you at the strongest path: lease, bank, or sell. Confidential, and yours to act on however you like.
- A defensible range, anchored to sourced comparables
- The demand map for your basin: who would pay and why
- Reply within one business day, confidential throughout