Well Drilling in Chippewa County, MI

• Coverage includes Sault Ste. Marie, Kinross, Rudyard, Pickford, Brimley, Bay Mills, DeTour Village, Drummond Island and Paradise.
• Crews work along I-75, Highway 28 (M-28), Highway 129 (M-129), M-48 and M-123; island jobs depend on the DeTour ferry schedule.
• The county health department is at 508 Ashmun St in Sault Ste. Marie, 906-635-3620.
• Before you call: for island or remote camp jobs, tell the driller about access, ferry timing and where a rig can set up; that drives the schedule more than depth does.

• New wells for homes and camps outside the Soo
• Replacement wells where shallow drift wells failed
• Pump and pressure tank work, including freeze damage
• Wells for small public supplies (Type II and III) at resorts and campgrounds
• Bacterial testing after spring thaw
• Plugging old camp wells

• Local depth: at the USGS median of about 120 ft, the site calculator's formula gives $4,510–$12,330 for a complete well. At the 75th percentile (about 202 ft) it gives $6,550–$17,630, and at the 90th (about 225 ft) $7,125–$19,125. 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. The USGS sample is small.
• Permit: Chippewa County's fee wasn't published on the well page we checked, so ask the health department; the calculator budgets $200–$500.
• Distance and season: long drives to Paradise, DeTour or the islands, plus frost and snow, push some work into a short window and add mobilization cost.
• Limestone and dolomite under thin drift in the south of the county can mean more casing to seal off creviced rock.

• Step 1, permit: apply to the Chippewa County Health Department. U.P. Environmental Health Code section 5-3.2 requires the permit before drilling and makes it valid for 24 months.
• Step 2, type: the department issues separate permits for private, Type II and Type III wells, so tell them who the well will serve. Until the office confirms a fee, the site calculator budgets $200–$500 for the permit.
• Step 3, siting: Michigan Rule 325.1622 sets 50 feet from a septic tank, a disposal field or an outhouse, and 10 feet from a lake or stream, which matters on waterfront camps.
• Step 4, construction: the driller follows Michigan's well construction code and files the well record.
• Step 5, testing: sample for bacteria after drilling and after any flooding or pump work.

• Cambrian-Ordovician rock and glacial drift: USGS site records for Chippewa County code wells to the Cambrian-Ordovician aquifer system and to glacial deposits, with the sandstone and dolomite of the Lake Superior basin under the drift.
• Reading the log: near the St. Marys River and along the Lake Superior shore, wells tend to tap sand and gravel above the bedrock; to the south, toward Pickford and DeTour, the till is thin over limestone and dolomite of the Paleozoic formations, and wells take water from fractures in that bedrock aquifer. Sandstone of the Cambrian-Ordovician aquifer lies deeper in the north of the county.
• USGS site records (n=14 with depth): 25th percentile about 93 ft, median about 120 ft, 75th percentile about 202 ft, 90th about 225 ft.
• Frost: deep frost can split shallow lines and pitless adapters; Michigan Rule 325.1622 also asks for 10 feet from sumps and pits.
• Census ACS counts about 20,348 housing units with a median year built of 1976.

Sault Ste. Marie · Kinross · Rudyard · Pickford · Brimley · Bay Mills · DeTour Village · Drummond Island · Paradise