(A) Location of water supply wells. The location of water supply wells or buried suction lines shall conform to the minimum separation requirements of Table I, as set forth in Appendix A.
(1) Private water supply wells shall be located at a high point on the premises and shall be protected from surface drainage and flooding.
(2) Each single-family residence constructed after the adoption of this chapter shall have its own separate well on the lot whereon it is located except where such residence is connected to and using a public water supply.
(3) No well shall be located within the basement of any building or under a building that has no basement.
(B) Construction of wells. All wells shall be constructed in accordance with the requirements below. Water supply wells for other than single- family residential use shall have sufficient stabilized yield to produce a minimum pressure of 20 psi for all uses.
(1) Casing.
(a) All wells shall be cased to a depth of at least 25 feet below ground surface.
(b) The casings of wells developed in sand or gravel shall extend water-tight to or into the aquifer.
(c) The minimum casing diameter for a well to be used as a source of potable water shall be four inches or greater. Under no conditions shall it be less than two inches inside diameter.
(d) Every drive pipe shall be fitted at its lower end with a standard drive shoe, threaded or welded onto the pipe so that the pipe rests on the internal shoulder of the shoe. The shoe shall have a beveled and tempered cutting edge of metal alloyed for this special purpose.
(e) The casing of the well shall be wrought iron, steel, or type K copper and shall be of sufficient thickness and quality to protect the well against structural deficiencies during construction and against contamination by surface water or other undesirable materials during the expected life of the well. Only recessed couplings may be used on threaded pipe or casing. Ferrous casing shall be new, first-class material meeting American Society for Testing Materials (ASTM) Standards A-120 or A-53, or American Petroleum Institute (API) Standards API-5A or API-5L. No thin-walled, sheet metal, used, reclaimed, rejected or contaminated pipe or casing shall be used in a water well. New pipe or casing, when salvaged from water well test holes only, shall not be considered as used or contaminated. Where corrosive water or soil is likely to be encountered, thicker walls in pipe or casing than those which appear in Tables II through V, as set forth in Appendix A, should be used.
(f) Other types of casing may be used in dug or bored wells if the annular space between the casing and the soil is completely filled by a monolithic pour of dense, water-tight, puddled or vibrated concrete measuring at least six inches thick, especially at the bells or joints. This casing shall be new material and shall extend to a depth of at least 25 feet below ground surface. For special construction required to prevent surface contamination at the top of large diameter dug or bored well casings, the State Board of Health should be consulted. Approval of the Health Officer is required for this type of construction.
(g) The casing pipe of any well shall project not less than 12 inches above the pumphouse floor or finished ground surface, and at least 24 inches above the highest flood level of record. No casing shall be cut off below ground surface except to install a basement offset or a pitless adapter. The adapter shall project not less than 12 inches above ground surface.
(h) There shall be no opening in the casing wall below its top except by the use of a properly installed pitless adapter designed to, and fabricated of such materials that will, keep soil and water from entering the well during the life of the casing. The pitless adapter shall be of such design that the tubing or drop pipe cannot be dropped into the well by misalignment in assembling the internal parts. The upper terminal of the pitless adapter shall meet the requirements of the preceding paragraph. Due to the difficulty of making strong and water-tight welds under field conditions, adapters threaded onto the casing shall be used. A heavy-weight transition fitting, welded water-tight both internally and externally (full double weld) to the casing and terminating in a full-sized 8-thread per inch connection may be used instead of cutting threads on the casing pipe. The adapter fitting itself shall be a commercially-produced casting or shop-welded fitting, pressure tested to at least 300 psi with no weeping or leakage. Saddle-type fittings with heavy corrosion- resistant U bolts and rubber gaskets under system pressure at all times also may be used.
(I) The outside casing wall shall not be used as a suction pipe.
(2) Sealing.
(a) The casings of wells developed in rock shall be firmly seated in sound rock. If broken or creviced rock is encountered above the aquifer, the hole shall be reamed through the broken or creviced rock and the casing seated in sound rock or an aquiclude. In areas where rock wells can be developed only in the upper fractured rock, casing may terminate in this formation if there are at least 25 feet of unconsolidated material above the rock. When there is less overburden and deeper strata will not produce potable water, the substandard quality of the well must be recognized. The State Board of Health should be consulted for the treatment necessary to provide a safe supply. Approval of the Health Officer shall be required in this case.
(b) In a rock well, the annular space between the casing and the drill hole shall be sealed to a sufficient depth to prevent surface drainage water, or shallow subsurface drainage, from entering the hole. If rock is encountered within 25 feet of the surface, the hole shall be reamed at least four inches greater diameter than the casing so that a minimum two-inch annular space can be filled with cement grout. The casing shall be extended at least ten feet into the rock, or to a point at least 25 feet below the surface, and cement grout shall be used to seal the annular space.
(c) Cement grout that is used to seal a hole diameter larger than the casing shall be composed of a thorough mixture of portland cement and clean water at a rate of one bag (94 pounds) of cement to five to six gallons of water so that it can be pumped or puddled into the annular space to seal it. If such a cement grout cannot be placed effectively, additives may be used provided shrinkage is held to a minimum and the mixture will form a water-tight seal throughout the entire depth required to prevent objectionable waters from entering the hole.
(d) Where pipe is driven through clay, silt, sand or gravel into a hole of smaller diameter than the casing, and where such unconsolidated clays, silts, sand or gravel are present to a depth greater than 25 feet below the surface, puddled bentonitic clay may be used to seal the annular space. Bentonitic clay shall be kept puddled around the point where the casing enters the ground in order to maintain a seal around the drive pipe and couplings and to serve as a lubricating medium while driving the casing.
(e) Whenever a casing is placed in a hole of larger diameter than the casing, the annular space between the casing and the wall of the hole shall be sealed from the rock or screen setting to the surface with either thick bentonitic clay, mud or cement grout in the manner described above.
(f) Dug or bored wells constructed with a screen threaded or welded to metallic casing, and with a concrete cut-off seal at least 30 inches thick poured and puddled to fill the excavation 25 or more feet below ground surface, may be back-filled above the seal with compacted drillings or clay in such a manner that the resulting fill will be as resistant to seepage as the undisturbed earth around it. The screen used in this construction shall be bronze or stainless steel to permit acidizing since it cannot be removed.
(3) Screens. Casings of wells drawing from unconsolidated water-bearing formations, except those described in divisions (B)(1)(f) and (B)(2)(f) above, shall be fitted with strainers or screens which are set through the casing in a manner that will permit removal and replacement without adverse effect on the water-tight construction of the well. Slotted pipe is not acceptable. The screen shall have openings properly sized to exclude the granular material of the developed aquifer.
(4) Temporary caps. Temporary caps placed on a well until pumping equipment can be installed shall be such that no contamination can enter the casing. A properly fitted and firmly driven solid wooden plug or equally watertight closure is the minimum acceptable.
(5) Yield.
(a) Wells constructed as a source of water for a residence shall have a stabilized yield of at least 300 gallons per hour (gph). If a lesser yield is the maximum amount of water obtainable from the aquifer, the Health Officer shall be informed and his or her approval obtained.
(b) Before it is put into use, every well shall be tested by pumping for yield and drawdown. The test pump shall have a capacity at least equal to the pumping rate that is expected of the well during its usage. The test pump shall be installed to operate continuously until the water level has become stabilized and, at this point, the yield and drawdown determined. Bailing may be used to give a rough estimate of the yield of the well, and may be the only practical way to test very weak wells, but it is not to be considered a reliable substitute for a pumping test for yields over 150 gph.
(6) Records. The well driller shall furnish the Health Officer and the well owner with duplicate copies of the information he supplies to the Department of Natural Resources in compliance with the provisions of I.C. 25-39-4-1. The record shall include a log of the materials penetrated and their depth or thickness.
(`83 Code, § 51.03) (Ord. 1977-39, passed 12-19-77) Penalty, see § 10.99