Well Drilling in Alpena County, MI

• Coverage includes Alpena Township, Ossineke, Hubbard Lake, Lachine, Long Rapids, Herron, Spratt and the Thunder Bay shoreline.
• Crews work along US 23 up the Lake Huron shore, Highway 32 (M-32) west toward Atlanta and Highway 65 (M-65) south toward Hubbard Lake.
• Other Michigan counties on this site: Chippewa County, Kent County and Eaton County.

• New domestic wells into limestone bedrock
• Replacement wells for shallow wells near sinkholes or old septic fields
• Pump and pressure tank replacement
• Coliform, nitrate and partial chemistry tests for new wells
• Cottage wells around Hubbard Lake and Long Lake
• Plugging abandoned wells on farmsteads

• Local depth: at the Wellogic median of about 82 ft, the site calculator's formula gives $3,550–$9,830 for a complete well. At the 75th percentile (about 137 ft) it gives $4,925–$13,405, and at the 90th (about 200 ft) $6,500–$17,500. The site calculator's method is depth × $25–$65 per foot, plus permit $200–$500, pump $900–$2,500 and tank $400–$1,500. It is an estimate, not a quote.
• Karst limestone: wells that hit open fractures or voids may need extra casing and grout to seal off surface water, which adds cost beyond depth alone.
• Testing: the health department requires coliform, partial chemistry and nitrate tests on new wells, a lab cost to add to the drilling bill.
• Fees: District Health Department No. 4 publishes its permit fees on a yearly schedule; until you have the current amount, the site calculator's $200–$500 permit line is the placeholder.

• Step 1, permit: apply to District Health Department No. 4 before drilling. Fees are on the department's yearly schedule; the site calculator budgets $200–$500 until you confirm the amount.
• Step 2, timing: the department's well permit form (EH-216) says a permit is valid for 24 months.
• Step 3, siting: Michigan Rule 325.1622 sets 50 feet from a septic tank, a subsurface disposal field and a buried sewer, and 10 feet from a lake or stream.
• Step 4, testing: the department requires a coliform test, a partial chemistry test and a nitrate test on a new well.
• Step 5, records: the driller files the well record with EGLE, where it joins the Wellogic database.

• Karst country: Alpena County sits on Devonian limestone and dolomite of the Traverse Group and older formations, and sinkholes are common near the Thunder Bay River and in the northeast of the county. Groundwater in the limestone bedrock moves along fractures, and the bedrock aquifer comes close to the surface near the shore, where the drift layer is thinnest.
• Reading the log: in the north and east of the county, along the Lake Huron shore and around Alpena, the glacial drift is thin and wells finish in limestone bedrock, where water moves through fractures and solution openings; south and west, toward Hubbard Lake and Ossineke, the till and sand layers are thicker and some wells stop in the glacial aquifer. Because the limestone outcrop is close to the surface, surface water can reach the aquifer quickly.
• EGLE Wellogic well records (n=4,655 household wells with depth): 25th percentile about 50 ft, median about 82 ft, 75th percentile about 137 ft, 90th about 200 ft. USGS site records for the county list only two wells, so the state database is the better guide.
• Census ACS counts about 15,707 housing units with a median year built of 1968, so many wells are 50 years old or more.

Alpena · Ossineke · Hubbard Lake · Lachine · Long Rapids · Herron · Spratt