Well Drilling in Georgia, GA

• County pages on this site: Cherokee County, Hall County and Jackson County. Each lists its environmental health office, local fees where published, and USGS depth data.
• Cherokee sits where the Piedmont meets the Blue Ridge, Hall runs from Lake Lanier's shoreline to poultry country, and Jackson is growing fast along the I-85 corridor.
• Well permits and inspections are county programs. Hall County's Board of Health requires a construction permit; Jackson County lists a well location inspection; in Cherokee County the driller notifies environmental health before drilling.

• New private wells for rural homesites outside water-line areas
• Pump and pressure tank replacements on 1980s–2000s systems
• Low-yield well deepening and hydrofracking in fractured rock
• Iron and manganese treatment, among Georgia's most common well-water problems
• Abandoned well sealing, required of the present owner under state law

• Method: our calculator's crystalline-rock row (granite, gneiss and similar hard rock), $55–$85 per foot, plus $900–$2,500 for an installed pump and $400–$1,500 for a pressure tank, applied to each county's USGS median depth, because all three counties are on crystalline rock. County fees are added where a current county fee is published.
• Jackson County (USGS median about 238 ft): our calculator gives about $14,465–$24,305 including the $75 well location inspection.
• Hall County (USGS median about 240 ft): our calculator gives about $14,500–$24,400 before the $150 county well permit on Hall County Environmental Health's current fee schedule.
• Cherokee County (USGS median about 240 ft, deepest near 675 ft): our calculator gives about $14,500–$24,400 before county fees, but fractured rock means the final depth sets the final bill.
• Testing: Jackson County lists an individual water sample at $40, the kind of bacteria test Georgia DPH recommends every year.

• Step 1: Hire a state-licensed water well contractor and a certified pump installer; Georgia EPD publishes both lists under the Water Well Standards Act (§ 12-5-134).
• Step 2: The contractor notifies the county health department before drilling. Hall County requires a construction permit ($150) and a final location inspection; Jackson County lists a $75 well location inspection.
• Step 3: Site the well to the minimums in § 12-5-134: 10 ft from a sewer line, 50 ft from a septic tank, 100 ft from an absorption field, 150 ft from a cesspool or seepage pit and 100 ft from an animal or fowl enclosure.
• Step 4: Test the water. Georgia DPH recommends a bacteria test every year and a W-33C chemical screen every three years through UGA Extension county offices.
• Step 5: Retire old wells. The present owner must have any abandoned well filled, sealed and plugged; a well out of service for more than three years counts as permanently abandoned under § 12-5-134.
• Agencies: Georgia EPD licenses contractors, county environmental health offices (Cherokee's in the North Georgia Health District, Jackson's in the Northeast Health District, and Hall County Environmental Health) handle permits and inspections, and USGS publishes the well records.

• Aquifer overview: USGS classifies wells in all three counties in the Piedmont and Blue Ridge crystalline-rock aquifers of granite, gneiss and schist, where water moves through fractures.
• USGS notes that water-bearing fractures decrease in number and tend to close up with depth, so drilling deeper does not always buy more water.
• Bedrock: the county's 2007 planning assessment places Cherokee County in the Upper Piedmont, on crystalline granite, gneiss, schist and quartzite with the Cherokee Upland District covering most of the northwest.
• Groundwater across Jackson County, from Braselton east to Commerce, comes from fractures in Piedmont crystalline rock; there is no sand aquifer to fall back on.
• Regolith: weathered rock and soil over the bedrock stores groundwater and feeds the fractures below, which is why casing is set through it and seated in solid rock.
• Cherokee County: USGS records show a median near 240 ft with the deepest near 675 ft, and the assessment maps probable groundwater recharge areas on a southwest-to-northeast trend near Holly Springs and Canton.
• Hall County: USGS puts typical reported yields for these aquifers at about 15 to 20 gallons per minute, so poultry and farm users should plan a yield test.
• Jackson County: USGS records for 94 wells put the 25th percentile at 185 ft, the median near 238 ft and the 75th percentile at 310 ft.
• Water quality: iron and manganese are among Georgia's most common well-water problems, according to UGA Extension, and both are treatable.

Cherokee County · Hall County · Jackson County · Canton · Gainesville