Well Drilling in Hickman County, KY

• Coverage includes Clinton, Columbus, Moscow, Fulgham, Oakton and Spring Hill.
• Crews work along US 51, Highway 58 (KY 58), Highway 123 (KY 123) and the Purchase Parkway corridor to the east.
• The Kentucky Division of Water keeps the well records and certifies drillers.
• Before you call: ask the driller for the AKGWA number on the well record, since the Kentucky Division of Water uses it to track the well.

• New domestic and farm wells
• Replacement wells for old dug or bored wells
• Pump and tank work
• Irrigation wells on row-crop farms
• Bacteria testing, which the driller must do on a new well
• Plugging abandoned wells

• Local depth: at the USGS median of about 120 ft, the site calculator's formula gives $4,500–$12,300 for a complete well. At the 75th percentile (about 155 ft) it gives $5,375–$14,575, and at the 90th (about 190 ft) $6,250–$16,850. 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.
• Sand wells need a screen, and the driller must grout the annulus in one continuous pour to within two feet of the surface, per the University of Kentucky's summary of 401 KAR 6:310.
• Old wells in pits must be eliminated and the casing raised four inches above grade when a well is serviced, which adds to a repair job.
• Kentucky has no separate county well permit fee, so the permit line in the calculator is mostly paperwork time.

• Step 1, driller: under 401 KAR 6:310, part of the Kentucky Administrative Regulations, only a Kentucky-certified water well driller may build, modify or plug a well.
• Step 2, siting: Rule 401 KAR 6:310 sets 50 feet from a septic tank or sewer line, 70 feet from a lateral trench or lagoon, 75 feet from a wastewater disposal system and 10 feet from a property line.
• Step 3, flood: in a flood zone, the casing must end at least two feet above the highest known flood, important near the Mississippi and Obion bottoms.
• Step 4, records: the driller gives you the Uniform Kentucky Well Construction Record and a bacteriological test result, and reports the well to the Division of Water.
• Step 5, plugging: abandoned wells must be plugged by a certified driller and reported. With no county permit fee, the site calculator's $200–$500 permit line covers paperwork and testing.

• Claiborne sands: USGS site records code Hickman County wells to the Claiborne Group, Eocene sands of the Mississippi embayment that underlie the Purchase. The Claiborne aquifer dips west toward the Mississippi, and alluvium along the river floodplain forms a separate aquifer; typical domestic wells don't reach bedrock, because the formations here are unconsolidated sand, gravel and clay.
• Reading the log: under the uplands, wells drill through loess and gravel into the Claiborne aquifer, sand of the Mississippi embayment; west, toward Columbus and along the river floodplain, alluvium of the Mississippi Valley aquifer lies near the surface. East, toward the Obion Creek corridor, deeper sand formations such as the McNairy-Wilcox aquifer zone are reached by some deeper wells.
• USGS site records (n=37 with depth): 25th percentile about 70 ft, median about 120 ft, 75th percentile about 155 ft, 90th about 190 ft.
• Loess bluffs and river bottoms: thin loess over sand on the uplands, and flood-prone bottoms along the river.
• Census ACS counts about 2,156 housing units with a median year built of 1975, so many wells are 40 or more years old.

Clinton · Columbus · Moscow · Fulgham · Oakton · Spring Hill