Well Drilling in Lake County, FL

• Places: the 2020 Census place-by-county list for Florida names, under Lake County, the cities of Clermont, Groveland, Mascotte, Minneola, Eustis, Mount Dora, Tavares, Leesburg and Umatilla, the town of Astatula, and the Yalaha, Paisley and Altoona census-designated places, each still carried on the bureau's current TIGERweb layers.
• SWFWMD's share of the county: DOH-Lake posts a guideline sheet listing, by section, township and range, the land within SWFWMD boundaries in Lake County. Match it against the parcel's legal description, or ask DOH-Lake which agency handles your lot.

• New household wells under 6 inches in the SJRWMD part of the county, on a DOH-Lake permit
• Wells 6 inches or larger, and any well inside a delineated area, on an SJRWMD permit in that district's part of the county
• Wells in the southwest corner, on a SWFWMD permit
• Irrigation wells, which have their own line on the county's fee schedule
• Plugging abandoned and incomplete wells under the district plugging rules
• Pump, pressure tank and water conditioning work
• Water sampling for bacteria, nitrate and lead, and pesticide sampling on old grove land

• DOH-Lake permit fees: Exhibit S (Florida Department of Health in Lake County) of Lake County's adopted fee schedules for fiscal year 2027 lists Private Residential Potable Well Construction at $100, Irrigation Well Construction at $75, Abandonment (permit required) at $50, Re-Inspection of Wells at $50, and Late or No Application at $300, noting that all well construction fees are for wells less than 6 inches. The schedule prints no effective date beyond the fiscal year, and the older sheet DOH-Lake still links, headed "Fees Effective 01/2018", shows $130 and $105 for the first two, so confirm the fee with DOH-Lake before paying.
• Permit timing: DOH-Lake's provisos (revised 2013) say delegated SJRWMD well permit application processing fees are not refunded, an approved permit is only valid for one year, and another application fee will be required if the work is not completed in that timeframe. Current SJRWMD Rule 40C-3.301(8) (amended 5-20-26), part of the chapter DOH-Lake administers under its delegation agreement, conflicts: it makes all permits valid for 90 days from the date of issuance, unless the time limit is extended by the District. If the work is not completed, the District shall extend the permit once, for up to 90 days with no additional fee, on a written request from the permittee or agent received before expiration, provided the permittee first shows that circumstances and conditions have not changed substantially and the well will not adversely impact water resources (public water supply well permits may be renewed up to one year from issuance, in 90-day increments). Under subsection (9), work may not start or continue after expiration without that timely request, and unfinished work needs a new permit. Confirm the applicable duration with DOH-Lake.
• SWFWMD-area fees (Rule 40D-1.607(6), effective 8/17/2014): $50 (non-public supply water wells), $130 (public supply wells, or wells built to that standard), $100 (potable wells that are not public supply, inside 62-524 delineated areas) and $500 (public supply wells inside them). Under subsection (9)(b) no such fee is due on an application to abandon a water well, or on resubmitting an application that was denied or withdrawn in the prior twelve months or once any administrative or judicial challenge to a denial has concluded.
• Wells SJRWMD permits directly carry the District's own fees under Rule 40C-1.603(2), which also reduces fees for qualifying local-government applications and waives them for the Department of Environmental Protection and other water management districts; check the rule or ask the District.

• Permit first: Rule 40C-3.041(1) (SJRWMD) requires a permit before the construction, repair or abandonment of any well, and Rule 40D-3.041 (SWFWMD) before construction, repair, modification or abandonment of any water well, each unless expressly exempted by statute or rule; SWFWMD also wants the permit at the well site during the work. SJRWMD's Rule 40C-3.051(5) exemption for licensed contractors on wells under six inches does not apply where the District has delegated those wells, as it has to DOH-Lake.
• Contractors (ss. 373.323 and 373.336, F.S.): anyone in business as a water well contractor needs a water management district license, valid in every district, and must show its number on every piece of drilling equipment it owns, leases or operates. Only someone employed by a licensed water well contractor, working under one's supervision, or exempt under s. 373.326 may lawfully build, repair or abandon a water well, or operate drilling equipment for it.
• DOH-Lake provisos (signed with every delegated application): the permit does not imply the well will produce adequate flows or guarantee satisfactory water quality, and local codes, flood plain elevation and deed restrictions remain the driller's and/or applicant's responsibility. The provisos make it the owner's or agent's and driller's responsibility to verify, check and comply with the county, city and/or local water supplier on any additional well permitting restrictions, replacement or construction requirements, and/or mandatory connection to the public water system.
• Finishing in the SJRWMD area: under Rule 40C-3.461(3), a metallic tag goes on the well head, a permanently attached fixture, the terminal box or a concrete marker, with at least the contractor license number, completion date and permit number (contractor-supplied tags need a District-approved sample and go on at completion). Rule 40C-3.411 then has the contractor submit the State of Florida Well Completion Report for every well's construction, repair or abandonment, permitted or not, within 30 days of the completion of the work (contractor-generated forms only if the District approved them before use). Where no work is performed or the well remains incomplete, the contractor files, within thirty days after the permit expires, a report stating that no well construction was performed or completed under the permit. DOH-Lake's provisos add that the tag must be in place and the completion report filed before the certificate of occupancy can be released.
• Finishing in the SWFWMD area: Rule 40D-3.411 has the contractor or individual permittee submit the completion report within 30 days of completing construction, repair or abandonment, and, where no work is performed or the well remains incomplete, a completion report filed within 30 days after the permit expires stating that no construction was performed or completed under it; it also adds record duties when drilling problems arise.
• Grouting and plugging: Rules 40C-3.517 and 40D-3.517 set grout and seal requirements whose limits turn on well size, use, construction method and site conditions, and Rules 40C-3.531 and 40D-3.531 govern plugging; SWFWMD requires a permit before abandoning any well, including an incomplete one. Ask the permitting office which provisions apply.
• Septic tank setbacks (Rule 62-6.005, F.A.C., effective 6/8/2026): for systems established after its effective date, the minimum is 75 ft from a private potable or multi-family well; 100 ft from a public drinking water well when the facility it serves has estimated sewage flow of 2,000 gallons or less per day, 200 ft when the flow is higher; and 50 ft from a non-potable well. Rule 62-6.005(7) sets separate system and setback requirements, including a possible reduced setback to private potable wells, for residential lots platted and recorded or approved on or after 1/1/1972 and before 1/1/1983 that do not meet the lot area, dimension or density requirements; ask DOH-Lake which of them apply to such a lot. A schedule 40 PVC effluent transmission line needs not less than 25 ft from any private potable well, irrigation well or surface water body when installed.

• Ridges: USGS WRI 02-4207 says ridges are characterized by closed-basin lakes, water-table depths greater than 100 ft and subsurface drainage, with surface-drainage features generally absent.
• Central Valley: the same report describes this landform as large lakes (the Ocklawaha chain), flat terrain and relatively high surface runoff. There, water levels in surficial aquifer wells are at or only a few feet below land surface, and water flows above land surface from many Upper Floridan aquifer artesian wells.
• Water type: a 2001 USGS report on samples from 1990 to 1999 (WRI 01-4008) found water throughout most of the Upper Floridan aquifer to be a calcium-bicarbonate or calcium-magnesium-bicarbonate type, with calcium the dominant cation in southern Lake County and calcium and magnesium further north. Near the St. Johns and Wekiva Rivers, sodium, chloride and sulfate were the dominant ions.

Clermont · Groveland · Eustis · Mount Dora · Tavares · Leesburg · Minneola · Mascotte · Umatilla · Astatula · Yalaha · Paisley · Altoona