Well Drilling in Hampshire County, MA

• Coverage includes Belchertown, Granby, Pelham, Amherst, Hadley, Williamsburg, Chesterfield, Goshen, Cummington, Huntington, Westhampton and Ware.
• Crews work along I-91, Route 9, Route 202, Route 116 and Route 112.
• Each town's Board of Health has its own well regulations.
• Before you call: ask your town's Board of Health for its well regulation and fee, and have a scaled plot plan ready, since most towns ask for one with the application.

• New bedrock wells for hill-town homes
• Replacement wells for old dug wells
• Pump and tank work
• Yield and water quality testing for home sales
• Hydrofracking low-yield bedrock wells
• Decommissioning old wells

• Local depth: at the USGS median of about 136 ft, the site calculator's formula gives $4,890–$13,310 for a complete well. At the 75th percentile (about 225 ft) it gives $7,125–$19,125, and at the 90th (about 350 ft) $10,250–$27,250. 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.
• Bedrock yield: crystalline rock wells depend on fractures, so a low-yield well may need more depth or hydrofracking.
• Local permit fees vary by town Board of Health; the calculator's $200–$500 line is a placeholder.
• Water treatment: MassDEP's guidelines note high iron in some schist and gneiss, and arsenic in a few bedrock wells elsewhere in the state, so treatment can follow drilling.

• Step 1, permit: apply to the town Board of Health; fees vary by town, so the site calculator budgets $200–$500. MassDEP's guidelines say the application typically lists the owner, the driller's registration and a scaled plan showing structures and land uses within 200 feet.
• Step 2, driller: MassDEP says anyone who drills, repairs or decommissions a private well must be registered with the state Division of Water Supply Protection.
• Step 3, siting: MassDEP's guidelines say Title 5 of the State Environmental Code (310 CMR 15.00) sets 50 feet from a septic tank and 100 feet from a leaching facility, and towns can require more.
• Step 4, report: MassDEP's guidelines say 313 CMR 3.00 requires that the registered driller files a Well Completion Report within 30 days, with a copy to the Board of Health.
• Step 5, wetlands: MassDEP's guidelines note that work within 100 feet of a wetland needs a filing with the town Conservation Commission under 310 CMR 10.00.

• Bedrock and glacial deposits: USGS site records code 182 Hampshire County wells to bedrock, with others in glacial sand and gravel along the Connecticut River valley.
• Reading the log: in the hill towns west and east of the Connecticut River valley, most wells tap crystalline bedrock, schist and gneiss of the New England crystalline aquifer, where water comes from fractures. Along the river valley near Hadley and Northampton, glacial lake clay and sand-and-gravel aquifer deposits are common, and some valley wells stop in the sand and gravel layer.
• USGS site records (n=516 with depth): 25th percentile about 78 ft, median about 136 ft, 75th percentile about 225 ft, 90th about 350 ft.
• Iron in rusty schist and gneiss is common, MassDEP's guidelines say, and often needs treatment.
• Census ACS counts about 66,786 housing units with a median year built of 1969.

Belchertown · Granby · Pelham · Amherst · Hadley · Williamsburg · Chesterfield · Goshen · Cummington · Huntington · Westhampton · Ware