Well Drilling in Union County, NC

• Census places: rows for Union County in the bureau's 2020 North Carolina place codes name Monroe city; Fairview, Hemby Bridge, Indian Trail, Marshville, Mineral Springs, Mint Hill, Stallings, Unionville, Waxhaw, Weddington and Wingate towns; Lake Park, Marvin and Wesley Chapel villages; and the JAARS census-designated place. The 2020 county subdivision codes names nine townships: Buford, Goose Creek, Jackson, Lanes Creek, Marshville, Monroe, New Salem, Sandy Ridge and Vance.
• Added reviews: the county's wells page says an application for a parcel served by public sewer or water is reviewed by Union County Public Works, and every well applied for in the City of Monroe needs approval from the Monroe Water Resources Department. The county says this generally increases permit preparation time by seven days or longer.

• New private drinking water wells, irrigation wells and water-producing geothermal wells, all of which the county lists as needing a permit
• Repairs such as deepening, changing casing depth, cleaning or redevelopment, which need a county repair permit; maintenance that does not break or open the well seal, and work limited to repairing or replacing a pump or tank, do not (G.S. 87-85(12), 87-97(c))
• Pump installation, with a plate showing the install date, intake depth and horsepower attached within 72 hours under 02C .0107(j)(3)
• Hydrofracturing a low-yield bore, which the DHHS certification chart lists as a Level B activity
• Permanently closing old or unused wells under a county abandonment permit
• Arsenic, manganese and bacteria testing through Environmental Health, followed by treatment chosen from the lab results

• Estimator: the cost tool on this site multiplies the depth you enter by a national per-foot band for the geology you pick, adds a generic permit allowance and, by default, pump and pressure tank allowances; its code cites Angi, HomeGuide and HomeAdvisor cost pages for those figures. It holds no Union County well data, so treat its result as rough budgeting.
• Depth: no source cited on this page publishes a typical well depth for Union County. USGS Water-Supply Paper 2341-A (1989), based on more than 6,200 wells in the fractured crystalline rocks of 65 western North Carolina counties, describes the average well drilled in those rocks as a domestic well 125 feet deep, 6 inches or less in diameter, on a hill or ridge. The identification plates on nearby wells, which must show total depth, give a closer local picture.
• Casing: outside the .0117 area, 02C .0107(d) sets a 20-foot minimum casing depth, except for wells built at reduced separation distances (see setbacks below), which need 43 feet. A well drawing from rock also needs its casing firmly seated at least five feet into the rock, and the casing top ends at least 12 inches above land surface.
• Yield: NC State Extension publication AG-473-6 puts average yields in the Carolina Slate Belt at 15 to 16 gallons per minute, against 18 to 21 gpm through most of the Piedmont, and WSP 2341-A found that wells in draws or valleys average three times the yield of wells on hills and ridges. Each domestic well must be tested for capacity by one of the methods in 02C .0110.

• Who may do the work: G.S. 87-98.4 bars anyone from performing, managing or supervising the construction, installation, repair, alteration or abandonment of a well without well contractor certification. It exempts people employed by or working for a certified contractor under that contractor's personal supervision; someone who builds, repairs or abandons a well sited on land they own or lease (DHHS describes this as your own property for your own personal use and says those wells must still meet all State and local construction standards); government employees working solely within the scope of their employment; and the other persons and activities listed in G.S. 87-98.4(b), each on its own conditions, plus any the certification commission exempts by rule. Under G.S. 87-98.4(a), a person who is not a certified well contractor or who is not employed by a certified well contractor may not offer to perform any well contractor activity unless that person uses a certified well contractor to perform it and, before the work is done, discloses to the landowner in writing the name of the certified well contractor who will perform it, that contractor's certification number and the name of the company that employs the contractor. These exemptions concern certification only; the G.S. 87-97 permit requirement still applies to private drinking water wells other than those the Environmental Management Commission permits under G.S. 87-88.
• Plumbers: the Act does not apply to a licensed plumbing contractor who installs pumps or pumping equipment, installs, breaks or reinstalls a well seal, or disinfects a well incident to installing, altering or replacing pumps or pumping equipment within or near a well, provided the contractor keeps documentation of a continuing education course covering well seal installation, protection and sanitation attended within the two years before the work, and remains on site while the work is performed until the well is disinfected and sealed (G.S. 87-98.4(b)(13)).
• Certification levels on the DHHS chart: Level D covers pump installation and installing other equipment in a well, pump repair that breaks the seal, chlorination, disinfection and down-hole cameras; Level C adds work including grouting, abandonment, well development, packers and liners; Level B adds hydrofracturing, cable tool, hollow stem auger, direct push and jetting, but not air or mud rotary, wet rock coring or sonic drilling; Level A covers all well contractor activities, including those methods and geothermal loop installation. Certification applies only to individuals, not companies, and DHHS says at least one certified contractor of the appropriate level must be physically present to supervise or conduct the work.
• Applying: the owner or agent applies to Environmental Health with the items 15A NCAC 02C .0303 lists. Union County asks for a site plan showing property line dimensions, structures, pools, septic systems and the other contamination sources named on its form, with the fee due at submission. After a field visit, the permit carries a scaled drawing showing contamination sources and setbacks, and the well may go anywhere outside the setback areas.
• Decision and validity (G.S. 87-97): the health department must issue or deny a construction or repair permit within 30 days of receiving the application; if it does not act in time the permit issues automatically, though the department may challenge it under Chapter 150B. A construction permit is conditioned on properly closing any abandoned well on the site, and a permit is valid for five years unless revoked for a material change in a fact or circumstance it was issued on.
• Setbacks to contamination sources existing when the well is built (02C .0107(a)(2)) include 50 feet from a single-family septic tank and drainfield including its repair area (100 feet for a saprolite system); 100 feet from septic systems serving other facilities and other subsurface absorption systems; 25 feet from building perimeters, counting attached garages, patios or decks that need a building permit; 25 feet from a watertight sewer lateral, 50 feet from a sewer main built to water-main standards and 100 feet from other sewage collection lines; 50 feet from surface water bodies that act as sources of groundwater recharge, such as ponds, lakes and reservoirs; and 25 feet from all other surface water bodies, such as brooks, creeks, streams and rivers. The rule sets distances for other named sources too, such as 100 feet for animal barns and chemical storage areas, 500 feet for sanitary, municipal solid waste and construction and demolition landfills (100 feet for land clearing and inert debris landfills), and 50 feet for any source it does not name. Where lot size or other fixed conditions rule these out for a water supply well serving a single-family dwelling for domestic use, (a)(3) requires the greatest distance possible but never less than 25 feet to such a sewer main or 50 feet to animal barns, and the well then needs 43 feet of casing and a source deeper than 43 feet.
• Grout: the casing is grouted to at least 20 feet, and deeper wherever needed to seal off contaminated, saline or other non-potable zones, within seven days after it is set (one day if a saline zone is penetrated); 02C .0107(e)-(f) specifies the permitted grouts and how each may be placed. Under 02C .0305 the contractor contacts the local health department to schedule a grout inspection, giving the location, permit number and anticipated grouting time. If the department cannot inspect within one hour of the scheduled time, the contractor may grout without the inspection and must certify in writing that the grout complies with 02C .0100; a completed GW-1 stating so serves as that certification, and the department accepts it for the certificate of completion if it was contacted to schedule the inspection, could not inspect within that hour and finds no evidence at final inspection that the grout fails the rules. Separately, G.S. 87-97(e2) says the local health department shall not conduct a grouting inspection during construction, repair or abandonment of a private drinking water well when all of these apply: the contractor gives written, verbal or electronic notice of intent to grout before 9:00 a.m. on the grouting date; the notice includes the location, permit number and anticipated grouting time and indicates that grouting may occur after normal business hours or on the weekend; for grouting on a State holiday, the notice is given by the last business day before the holiday; and the contractor gives the department written certification, in a format and method specified by the Commission, that the well was grouted in compliance with the rules adopted under the Article. Under (e3) the department may still choose to be present. Under (e4), if a variance has been issued to a rule requiring grouting to a certain depth, the contractor must schedule a grout time and inspection with the department, and only the department may certify the grout.
• Finishing: before the rig leaves, the casing gets a watertight cap or well seal, and within 72 hours an identification plate goes on with the items 02C .0107(j)(2) lists, among them the contractor's certification number, total depth, casing depth, yield and static water level. Under 02C .0111 the well is then disinfected to at least 100 ppm chlorine, with the casing and equipment above the water rinsed, left 24 hours or more and pumped until no chlorine residual is detectable, unless the Department has approved an equally effective method in advance. The county inspects the grout and wellhead, checks that the GW-1 well construction record has arrived and, if the well complies, issues a certificate of completion with an as-built drawing; no one may place a new well, or return a repaired one, into service without it.
• Well records (02C .0114): whoever completes or abandons a well files a record with DEQ's Division of Water Resources within 30 days, certifying the work met the rules, on form GW-1 for construction (DEQ calls online GW-1 submission its preferred method) or GW-30 for abandonment, and sends the county health department a copy for a water supply well. Under 02C .0307 a repair record goes to both offices within 30 days as well.
• New-well testing: within 30 days after issuing a certificate of completion for a new well, the health department tests the water, or makes sure a certified laboratory does, for arsenic, barium, cadmium, chromium, copper, fluoride, lead, iron, magnesium, manganese, mercury, nitrates, nitrites, selenium, silver, sodium, zinc, pH and bacterial indicators (G.S. 87-97(h)). Results go to the owner and, where practicable, to any leaseholder of a dwelling or facility the well serves.
• Closing a well: a county abandonment permit comes first (02C .0304), and the applicant or contractor gives the health department the location, permit number and expected time. The department may choose to inspect; if it opts not to, or cannot within one hour of the scheduled time, the contractor may proceed and must certify the abandonment in writing, for which a GW-30 stating compliance serves (02C .0309). 02C .0113 sets the fill and grout methods for each well type. The owner is responsible for abandonment unless it is needed because of a contractor's improper well work or someone's improper pump work, in which case that person is, and whoever drills a test boring abandons it when the boring is done.

• Slate belt: Union County Environmental Health says metamorphosed volcanic and sedimentary rocks, commonly called the Carolina Slate Belt, cover about two-thirds of the county, and that slate belt areas of the Piedmont, Union County among them, have a greater number of drinking water wells with arsenic than other regions, though low arsenic levels turn up in groundwater throughout North Carolina.
• Arsenic study: NC DEQ Groundwater Circular 2009-01 states that the Cid Formation underlies a major portion of Union County. Near its Morgan Mill study site in the formation's Mudstone Member, 14 of 23 private supply wells sampled exceeded the EPA's maximum contaminant level of 10 micrograms per liter, with results from below the 5 microgram detection limit to 77; all of the exceedances were in the Mudstone Member, while wells in the Flat Swamp Member generally stayed below 5. The report says its data suggest the arsenic is naturally occurring and comes primarily from the bedrock, with iron-sulfide minerals the apparent main source; pyrite often lines fractures in the site's rock core.
• Manganese: the county cites the EPA's 0.05 mg/L secondary standard, notes that people often treat above it because manganese affects color, taste and staining, says treatment or bottled water should be considered above 0.3 mg/L, and says drinking water for pregnant women and young children should be below the manganese standard level.

Monroe · Waxhaw · Indian Trail · Weddington · Marvin · Wesley Chapel · Stallings · Wingate · Marshville · Mineral Springs · Unionville · Fairview