Well Drilling in Hanover County, VA

• Coverage includes rural Ashland, Mechanicsville, Atlee, Hanover Courthouse, Beaverdam, Doswell, Montpelier, Rockville, Studley, Old Church, Elmont and Hanover's Pamunkey River side.
• Permits run through the Hanover Health Department, part of VDH's Chickahominy Health District.
• Eastern Hanover, east of I-95, falls in the Eastern Virginia Groundwater Management Area, which matters for large withdrawals more than for a single home.

• New drilled wells for rural lots
• Replacing old large-diameter dug or bored wells
• Well and septic permits for new homes
• Pump and pressure tank replacement
• Iron and acidity treatment referrals in Piedmont wells
• Well abandonment when a home connects to county water

• Method: our calculator multiplies depth by its published per-foot rates, $25–$40 per foot through sand and gravel and $55–$85 through granite and other crystalline rock, then adds about $1,500–$4,500 for the permit, pump and pressure tank. That's an estimate, not a quote.
• Coastal Plain well: at the USGS inventory median of about 306 ft, our calculator's sand-and-gravel row gives $9,150–$16,740. All 47 of the inventory's wells with a depth sit east of Ashland, on the Coastal Plain side.
• Piedmont well: the county plan says small-diameter wells reach as much as 200 ft into the Piedmont, and a 200-ft rock well on the calculator's crystalline row comes to $12,500–$21,500.
• State fees: 12VAC5-620-70 lists $300 for a private well permit, $725 for a combined well and septic permit without OSE/PE work, and $525 with it for systems up to 1,000 gallons per day.

• Step 1, sanitary survey: VDH's Private Well Program says a private well or soil evaluator does the sanitary survey that locates the well away from contamination before a construction permit is issued.
• Step 2, permit: apply at the Hanover Health Department; 12VAC5-620-70 lists $300 for a private well permit, and Chickahominy Health District says well-only permits are valid for 54 months (combined well and septic permits, 18 months).
• Step 3, construct: a licensed water well systems provider drills the well to the permit and VDH's Private Well Regulations (12VAC5-630 in the Virginia Administrative Code).
• Step 4, inspect: Chickahominy Health District says a Record of Inspection needs the driller's log and a negative total coliform sample before an Environmental Health Specialist inspects the well.
• After that, testing is up to you. VDH says it doesn't test private wells and doesn't require testing at a home sale, though a lender may.

• Fall Line: the county plan places Hanover astride the Fall Line, with unconsolidated marine and non-marine sediments over crystalline rock to the east and massive igneous and metamorphic rock to the west.
• Depth: according to the county plan, small-diameter wells have been drilled as much as 200 ft into the Piedmont and as much as 350 ft into the Coastal Plain, and some yield as much as 50 gallons per minute.
• Dug wells: the plan says older large-diameter wells in Piedmont weathered rock and Coastal Plain sediments are commonly less than 60 ft deep and susceptible to contamination.
• USGS records: the USGS groundwater site inventory lists 47 Hanover County wells with a recorded depth, median about 306 ft, half between 260 and 356 ft, all of them east of Ashland on the Coastal Plain side.
• Bedrock and sediment: west of the Fall Line, wells are drilled into Piedmont igneous and metamorphic bedrock; to the east, the county plan says the same crystalline rock lies beneath the Coastal Plain sediments, and groundwater east of I-95 falls in the Eastern Virginia Groundwater Management Area.
• Water quality: the plan names high iron and acidity as the two most common groundwater problems in the Piedmont part of the county.

Ashland (rural) · Mechanicsville · Atlee · Hanover Courthouse · Beaverdam · Doswell · Montpelier · Rockville · Studley · Old Church · Elmont