Well Drilling in Ingham County, MI

• Coverage includes Mason, Williamston, Leslie, Stockbridge, Webberville, Dansville, Holt and the rural parts of Delhi, Vevay, Alaiedon, Wheatfield and Onondaga townships.
• Other Midwest well pages on this site: Tippecanoe County and Marion County in Indiana.
• Ingham County Environmental Health takes well and septic applications online and handles point-of-sale paperwork.

• Replacement wells flagged in a point-of-sale inspection
• New wells on township lots outside city water
• Pump and pressure tank replacement in 1960s–1970s homes
• Well abandonment and plugging when a home connects to city water
• Water sampling for a sale, a refinance or a new well
• Combined well and septic jobs on rural parcels

• Local depth: at the USGS median of about 182 ft, the site calculator's formula gives $6,050–$16,330 for a complete well. At the 75th percentile (about 354 ft) it gives $10,340–$27,480, and at the 90th (about 415 ft) $11,885–$31,500. The calculator's method is depth × $25–$65 per foot plus permit, pump and pressure tank allowances; treat it as an estimate.
• Aquifer choice: wells that stop in glacial sand and gravel are shallower than wells finished in the Saginaw sandstone, where USGS records put the median near 260 feet.
• Sale deadlines: Ingham County's point-of-sale brochure says that when a replacement well is required, 150% of the bid total goes into escrow at closing, so get a written bid early.
• County fees: the health department fee table lists $495 for a well permit and $1,355 for a combined well and septic permit.

• Step 1, permit: apply online with the Ingham County Health Department. Its fee table lists $495 to construct or alter a private residential, Type II or Type III well.
• Step 2, construction: Michigan's Part 127 of the Public Health Code and the state well construction code (Mich. Admin. Code R 325.1601 and following) set casing, grouting and isolation rules; the county sanitarian writes the permit after a site visit.
• Step 3, point of sale: the county's point-of-sale regulation requires a well and septic evaluation before a home transfers. The fee table lists a $320 application fee and a $320 well evaluation by county staff; private certified inspectors set their own prices.
• Step 4, conformance: the county says it issues a conformance or non-conformance letter within 5 business days of receiving the inspector's report, and the letter is good for 12 months.
• Step 5, escrow: if a replacement well is required, the brochure says 150% of the bid total is held in escrow at closing.

• Saginaw aquifer: under the townships south and east of Lansing, USGS Water-Supply Paper 2480 describes Pennsylvanian sandstone of the Saginaw Formation, generally up to about 300 feet thick, as the main bedrock aquifer under Ingham, Clinton and Eaton counties.
• Glacial cover: the same USGS report describes glacial deposits up to about 300 feet thick over the bedrock, so depth to bedrock changes from one township to the next and aquifer choice along the Grand River and Red Cedar River valleys may stop in sand and gravel.
• USGS site records (n=193 with depth): 25th percentile 120 ft, median about 182 ft, 75th percentile about 354 ft. Of those, 123 are coded to the Saginaw aquifer, with a median near 260 feet.
• Census ACS puts the median year built at 1971 across about 126,232 housing units, so many rural wells and pumps are decades old.

Mason · Williamston · Leslie · Stockbridge · Webberville · Dansville · Holt · Vevay Township · Wheatfield Township