Well Drilling in Indiana, IN

• Each county below has its own page on this site. The place named is a 2020 Census place in that county, and the map numbers are DNR's unconsolidated and bedrock aquifer systems maps as listed on its county publications page.
• Brown County: Nashville town; DNR maps 02-A and 02-B (2003).
• Hendricks County: Danville town; DNR maps 69-A and 69-B (2010).
• Johnson County: Franklin city; DNR maps 18-A and 18-B (2005).
• LaGrange County: Lagrange town (the Census spelling); DNR's aquifer systems description is adapted from Water Resource Assessment 87-1 on the St. Joseph River Basin (1987).
• Marion County: Indianapolis city (balance) in Census files; DNR maps 81-A and 81-B (2011).
• Monroe County: Bloomington city; DNR maps 05-A and 05-B (2003).
• Morgan County: Martinsville city; DNR maps 70-A and 70-B (2010).
• Putnam County: Greencastle city; DNR maps 67-A and 67-B (2010).
• Shelby County: Shelbyville city; DNR maps 19-A and 19-B (2005).
• Tippecanoe County: Lafayette city and West Lafayette city; DNR maps 58-A and 58-B (2009).

• Replacing or repairing a submersible or jet pump in an existing well
• Drilling, casing and grouting a new domestic well to 312 IAC 13
• Pressure tanks inside the house and the pipes and wiring from well to house, which DNR says the well statute and rules do not regulate
• Chlorinating a well and sampling for coliform bacteria after well or pump work
• Capping an idle well and plugging an abandoned well or dry hole

• Depth: NGWA's 2021 Well Owner's Guide explains that drillers price by the foot, with recent survey averages near $24 per foot at 4-inch diameter and $30 per foot at 6-inch. The guide cautions that these are a general indication rather than exact local costs and that prices change over time and from place to place.
• Casing and grout minimums: a new well's casing must have an inside diameter of at least 2 in. (312 IAC 13-4-1(b)), and it must reach at least 25 ft below the ground surface unless the Division of Water approves otherwise (13-4-1(c)). A rotary or augered well also needs at least 25 ft of its annulus pressure grouted with neat cement or bentonite slurry, again unless the division approves otherwise (312 IAC 13-6-1). Monitoring and dewatering wells are outside both sections, and public water supply wells are outside 13-6-1.
• Pump setting: 312 IAC 13-4-3.5 requires, unless DNR approves otherwise, at least 20 ft of available drawdown for a well finished in an unconsolidated aquifer and at least 50 ft for a bedrock well (monitoring and dewatering wells excluded). DNR's FAQ says 25 ft for unconsolidated deposits instead, so check the current figure with DNR.
• Pump prices in the same guide come from recent survey data: $3,000 to $3,200 for a typical household submersible and about $1,545 to $1,570 for a typical household jet pump. They are NGWA's 2021 numbers, not Indiana quotes.
• DNR advises comparing prices and services and getting a signed contract that covers the charge per foot, materials, dry holes and damage caused by drilling, and it notes that home improvement contracts are required by IC 24-5-11 for residential work exceeding $150.

• Licensing (IC 25-39-3): apart from the exemptions in the next item, nobody may work as a water well driller or pump installer in Indiana without a DNR license, which runs through December 31 of the year it is issued. IC 25-39-3-3 sets the qualifications: a minimum age of 18, three references (two of them water well drillers, pump installers or licensed plumbing contractors familiar with the applicant's work experience and professional competency) and a DNR competency exam. By rule the license costs $100 per calendar year (312 IAC 13-2-2) and the exam $25 (312 IAC 13-2-4), in rule text readopted May 17, 2023. Unless the original license is less than a year old, a renewal application must include continuing education verification (IC 25-39-3-2(c); IC 25-39-6).
• Exemptions (IC 25-39-1.5-3): the licensing and well regulation chapters do not reach four groups. They are someone putting in a personal-use well of 1 1/4 in. inside diameter or less and 24 ft deep or less; a plumber who holds an IC 25-28.5 license, has registered with DNR under IC 25-39-1.5-4 and installs wells within those same limits; someone installing or repairing a pump or pumping equipment for personal use; and anyone working under the direction and personal supervision of a license holder. Under 312 IAC 13-1-19.3, personal use means water supply use on property owned or possessed by the person (as IC 14-8-2-202 defines person) or, for a public water supply utility, a well or pumping equipment possessed by one of its permanent employees.
• Location and wellhead (312 IAC 13-3-2, which excludes monitoring and dewatering wells): a well has to make use of natural protection, sit as far as practicable from high capacity wells and known contamination sources, and have earth graded around it so surface water drains away. Its finished casing or pitless unit must rise at least 1 ft above the ground, and inside a designated flood hazard area it must also meet one of two conditions: reach 2 ft above the regulatory flood elevation, or carry a watertight pitless unit cap or well seal vented to that height.
• Grout (312 IAC 13-5-1): the rule names the sealing materials and placement methods allowed for a new well's annulus and sets the timing: within 24 hours of installing the casing or before the drilling equipment leaves the site, if that comes sooner. Public water supply wells are governed by 327 IAC 8-3.4 instead.
• Well record: the driller has 30 days after completing a well to file accurate records with DNR on a departmental or division-approved form (312 IAC 13-2-6; IC 25-39-4-1). The rule spells out each required entry, including a signed attestation of accuracy by the driller or an authorized representative. A written request from the owner or the licensee keeps the record confidential for one year (IC 25-39-4-10).
• Septic separation (410 IAC 6-8.3-57, IDOH's residential on-site sewage rule): a septic tank or other treatment unit, dosing tank, lift station or soil absorption system may be no closer than 50 ft to a private water supply well and 100 ft to a commercial one. A footnote doubles those figures for an absorption system where a horizon, layer or stratum in the top 34 inches has a loading rate over 0.75 gallons per day per square foot, unless the system design can overcome that hazard; another lets the distance to a private well abandoned under 312 IAC 13-10-2(e) drop to 10 ft.
• Unused wells (312 IAC 13-10-1): a well left idle for over three months, but not permanently abandoned, needs a watertight cap at or above grade that is welded, threaded or mechanically attached, and must be kept from becoming a source or channel of ground water contamination. The statute calls a well abandoned when its original purpose and use have stopped for over five years, or when disrepair makes drawing ground water from it impractical or a health hazard (IC 25-39-2-2). For a well abandoned after December 31, 1987, IC 25-39-4-6(b) gives the landowner one year to have a water well driller plug it, and 312 IAC 13-10-2(c) calls for plugging by a driller or pump installer with impervious grouting material.
• Dry holes and older wells: a well drilled after December 31, 1987 and not equipped with casing has to be plugged by its driller within 72 hours after drilling ends (IC 25-39-4-4). Wells abandoned before January 1, 1988, and wells drilled before that date but abandoned before January 1, 1994, fall under 312 IAC 13-10-2(a)-(b), which also requires plugging of any such well that poses a hazard to human health. Subsection (e) sets plugging materials, methods and chlorination by well type, and (f) requires written notice to the division within 30 days after plugging is completed.

• DNR's FAQ separates aquifers into two kinds: unconsolidated aquifers of loose material, typically sand and gravel deposited by rivers or glaciers, and consolidated bedrock aquifers such as sandstone, limestone and shale. It says wells drilled into sand and gravel are often very productive, while unfractured limestone and non-porous shale or siltstone are likely to be dry.
• IDOH states that neither the Indiana Department of Environmental Management nor the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency regulates private well water and that owners are responsible for their own safety when drinking from a private source. The same page lists glacial arsenic deposits and naturally occurring methane deposits as present throughout the state.
• DNR's Division of Water says it does not investigate ground water contamination reports and directs those concerns to the Indiana Department of Environmental Management's Office of Water Quality.

Brown County · Hendricks County · Johnson County · LaGrange County · Marion County · Monroe County · Morgan County · Putnam County · Shelby County · Tippecanoe County