(A) (1) The permit application for construction and use of a well for purposes other than a public water supply system shall be made with the office of the City Engineer on forms provided by the city. The permit application shall include attachments that provide the City Engineer’s office with drawings and specifications for any proposed work and data concerning the soil and groundwater contamination in the particularly described application site, availability of public water source, estimated proposed flow requirements and distances from existing wells.
(2) For demand requirements exceeding 100 gallons per minute, the permit application shall also include:
(a) A hydrogeological study including a draw down analysis and an analysis of the impact of the proposed wells on any public water supply system in terms of quantity; and
(b) A water quality monitoring plan.
(3) An application fee of $50 shall accompany the application.
(B) In determining whether a permit should be issued or not, the City Engineer shall consider the availability of public water to serve the facility, the estimated amount of water to be used, the impact of the proposed wells on the public water supply system, in terms of both quantity and quality, and any other available information provided by the applicant. The City Engineer shall notify the State Department of Natural Resources and the operator of the public water supply system of any application. A permit for the well from the County Sanitarian must also be obtained after the issuance of a city permit. The City Engineer shall make a recommendation to the City Council to either grant or deny the permit within 30 days of receiving the completed application. The City Engineer shall send notification to the applicant regarding what the recommendation is and the date and time the City Council is scheduled to decide whether to issue a permit or not no less than ten days before the City Council is scheduled to make the decision. The City Council shall either grant or deny the permit at the meeting.
(C) It is recognized that the quantity and quality of the community’s drinking water could be impacted by the operation of wells permitted and constructed under this chapter. Therefore, certain monitoring, testing and reporting is required as a condition of the permit for any permittee with demand requirements exceeding 100 gallons per minute. The permittee is required to monitor water levels at permittee’s well site(s) and conduct daily monitoring submitted to the city on a quarterly basis including pumping rate, monthly withdrawal amounts, static levels and draw down levels. The permittee also will be required to follow the water quality monitoring plan submitted with the permit application, subject to modifications agreed to during the application review process. In the event the public water supply experiences detrimental water quality or quantity changes, the City Administrator and City Engineer may call a meeting with well operators in the city, whether permitted or not, for the purpose of discussing the potential causes of detrimental changes and to identify possible solutions. If in the opinion of the City Engineer, a permit should be revoked to help protect the quality or quantity of the public water supply, the City Engineer shall make the recommendation to the City Council. The City Engineer shall send notification to the permittee regarding the reasons for the recommendation to revoke and the date and time the City Council is scheduled to decide whether to revoke the permit no less than ten days before the City Council is scheduled to make the decision. The City Council shall vote on the recommendation at the next practicable City Council meeting. This chapter does not limit in any way, the legal remedies the city may pursue in the event harm is caused to the public water supply.
(Ord. 2300, passed 8-23-2005; Ord. 2324, passed 5-23-2006) Penalty, see § 102.99