Well Drilling in Erath County, TX

• Coverage includes Stephenville, Dublin, Lingleville, Bluff Dale, Morgan Mill, Huckabay, Selden and Thurber.
• Crews work along US 281, US 377, US 67, SH 108 and SH 6 across the county.
• Other Texas counties on this site: Parker County, Hays County and Bell County, plus the Texas well drilling guide.

• Deep domestic wells into the Trinity aquifer
• High-capacity wells for dairies and irrigation, which need a district permit
• Pump, column pipe and pressure tank replacement
• Well registration and permit paperwork with the district
• Water testing on deep wells
• Plugging abandoned wells under state rules

• Local depth: at the USGS median of about 420 ft, the site calculator's formula gives $12,000–$31,800 for a complete well. At the 75th percentile (about 470 ft) it gives $13,250–$35,050, and at the 90th (about 540 ft) $15,000–$39,600. 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 has 31 wells.
• Permit: the Middle Trinity GCD asks for a refundable $200 deposit with an operating permit application for wells over 17 gpm or on 10 acres or less.
• Deep Trinity wells need long pump settings and heavier column pipe, so pump costs run toward the top of the calculator's range.
• Hard limestone layers between the Trinity sands slow drilling and add to the per-foot cost.

• Step 1, register: file the Middle Trinity GCD registration form for a new well before drilling.
• Step 2, permit: the district requires an operating permit, with a refundable $200 deposit, for a well that pumps more than 17 gpm or sits on 10 acres or less, unless the lot was platted before the district formed.
• Step 3, siting: 16 TAC §76.100 sets 150 feet from concentrated sources of contamination, 100 feet from a septic absorption field and 50 feet from a property line and from a watertight sewage facility.
• Step 4, contractor: a TDLR-licensed driller builds the well and files the state well report.
• Step 5, alternatives: 16 TAC §76.100 lets some distances drop to 50 feet if the well is cemented with a positive displacement technique, outside the Edwards Aquifer.

• Trinity aquifer: USGS site records for Erath County code wells to the Trinity aquifer group, with 27 coded to the Hosston (Twin Mountains) sand, the deepest water-bearing unit.
• Reading the log: in the west of the county, toward Morgan Mill and the Palo Pinto County line, the Trinity sands lie closer to the surface; east and south, toward Dublin and Hico, the formations dip and wells pass the Glen Rose limestone and Paluxy sand before reaching the Hensell and Hosston aquifer layers. Along the Bosque River corridor, shallow alluvium holds some water but is exposed to dairy runoff.
• USGS site records (n=31 with depth): 25th percentile about 393 ft, median about 420 ft, 75th percentile about 470 ft, 90th about 540 ft. These are among the deepest wells on this site.
• Census ACS counts about 18,694 housing units with a median year built of 1991.

Stephenville · Dublin · Lingleville · Bluff Dale · Morgan Mill · Huckabay · Selden · Thurber