Wells
- Abandoning Wells
- Grout Inspection
- Permit
- Records
- Setback Requirements
- Water Sample Procedure
- Well Head Inspection
- Well Testing & Disinfecting
The owner of a well must abandon the well within 30 days of a Notice to Abandon issued by the local Health Department. Within 30 days of commencement of construction, the owner or Certified Well Drilling Contractor must abandon a well that will not be placed into service. Abandoning of a well must be documented on North Carolina State Form GW-30, Well Abandonment Form. The local Health Department must be given a minimum of 24 hours notice of all well abandonment activities.
State Department of Public Health, Environmental Health Section
Rules governing water supplies
Resources
According to NCAC the Certified Well Contractor must contact the Health Department by the end of the business day before the grouting is to occur and schedule a time before proceeding with grouting. Graham County Environmental Health Section will make every effort to be responsive and available for well grouting inspections by continuing to take inspection requests during regular business hours.
The area of the County in which the drilling site is located may impact this schedule, so contractors are encouraged to give as much advance notice as possible to the Health Department staff. If an Environmental Health Specialist (EHS) is not on-site within one hour of the scheduled time for a grouting inspection, the Certified Well Contractor may proceed with the grouting - only can grouting proceed with no EHS on-site.
Self-certification verifying proper grouting shall be attested by the Well Contractor’s signature and date on the NC State Form GW - 1a, Well Completion Report. Depth of grout will be further verified and documented during a subsequent site visit by Environmental Health staff. A copy of the Certificate of Completion with the ‘grout inspection’ portion signed by an authorized State Agent will be issued as a ‘Finals Held’ until such time as the well head installation requirements have been satisfied.
How to obtain a well permit:
- Any easement or rights of way on the property
- Driveway location
- Existing wells or springs on property of adjacent lots
- Fill out a complete well application by visiting Environmental Health office or by an online application
- Payment schedule
- Location of existing or proposed septic systems on property
- Location of future structures or improvements to the property
- Property lines shall be properly marked
- Proposed location/size of house on lot
- Provide a survey plat or site plan
- The site shall be easily accessible
- Well Application
A signed Well Construction Report or Well Abandonment Form shall be submitted to the Health Department and the State by the Certified Well Contractor completing the construction, repair or abandonment of a private drinking water well. The well construction report must be received by the Health Department within thirty working days after completion of the well. The North Carolina State Form GW-1a is acceptable and recommended as the Well Construction Report.
Requirements
- A water supply well shall not be located in any area where surface water or runoff will accumulate around the well due to depressions, drainage ways, and other landscapes that will concentrate water around the well.
- The minimum horizontal separation between a water supply well and potential sources of groundwater contamination, which exist at the time the well is constructed, is as follows unless otherwise specified:
- Above ground or underground storage tanks which contain petroleum fuels used for heating equipment, boilers or furnaces, with the exception of tanks used solely for storage of propane, natural gas, or liquefied petroleum gas 50 feet
- All other petroleum or chemical storage tank systems 100 feet
- All other potential sources of groundwater contamination 50 feet
- All other surface water bodies, such as brooks, creeks, streams, rivers, sounds, bays and tidal estuaries 25 feet
Animal barns 100 feet - Animal feedlots, as defined by G.S. 143-215.10B(5), or manure piles 100 feet
- Cesspools and privies 100 feet
- Chemical or petroleum fuel underground storage tank systems regulated under 15A NCAC 02N:
- With secondary containment 50 feet
- Without secondary containment 100 feet
- Fertilizer, pesticide, herbicide or other chemical storage areas 100 feet
- Gravesites 50 feet
- Industrial or municipal residuals disposal or wastewater-irrigation sites 100 feet
- Land Clearing and Inert Debris (LCID) landfills 100 feet
- Non-hazardous waste storage, treatment or disposal lagoons 100 feet
- Other sewage and liquid-waste collection or transfer facility 100 feet
- Other subsurface ground absorption waste disposal system 100 feet
- Perimeters, including any attached structures 25 feet
- Sanitary landfills, municipal solid waste landfill facilities, incinerators, construction and demolition (C&D) landfills and other disposal sites except Land Clearing and Inert Debris landfills 500 feet
- Septic tank and drainfield, including drainfield repair area 100 feet
- Sewage or liquid-waste collection or transfer facility constructed to water main standards in accordance with 15A NCAC 02T.0305(g)(2) or 15A NCAC 18A.1950(e), as applicable 50 feet
- Surface water bodies which act as sources of groundwater recharge, such as ponds, lakes and reservoirs 50 feet
- For a water supply well [as defined in G.S. 87-85(13)] on a lot serving a single-family dwelling and intended for domestic use, where lot size or other fixed conditions preclude the separation distances specified in Subparagraph (a)(2) of this rule, the required horizontal separation distances shall be the maximum possible but shall in no case be less than the following:
ENR - Environmental Management 15A NCAC.0100
- Animal barns 50 feet
- Septic tank and drain field, including drain field repair areas, except saprolite systems as defined in 15A NCAC 18A. 1956(6) 50 feet
- Sewage or liquid-waste collection or transfer facility constructed to water main standards in accordance with 15A NCAC 02T.0305(g)(2) or 15A NCAC 18A. 1950(e), as applicable 25 feet
Upon completion of new construction, a private drinking water well shall have the water tested. An authorized agent from the Health Department will check the well water for residual disinfecting agent using an approved test kit. As soon as it has been documented that the well water is clear of disinfecting agent, the Health Department will collect a water sample. The water sample will be tested for:
- Arsenic
- Barium
- Cadmium
- Chromium
- Copper
- Fluoride
- Iron
- Lead
- Magnesium
- Manganese
- Mercury
- Nitrate
- Nitrite
- pH
- Selenium
- Silver
- Sodium
- Total and Fecal Coliform
- Zinc
The Certified Well Contractor, Pump Installer, or Property Owner shall notify the Health Department when the well head installation is complete including:
- Hose bib
- Pump identification tag
- Pump installed
- Seal
- Vent
- Well identification tag
An Environmental Health Specialist will then inspect the well head, collect a clearance water quality sample and issue the Certificate of Completion. No Certificate of Occupancy will be released until a water sample meeting Federal and State maximum allowable contaminant levels has been documented from the well supplying that residence. No well can be hooked up and placed into service without a Certificate of Completion.