NewsBits - Issue 2, May 2018

- by Liesa Lehmann, Private Water Supply Section Chief

This issue of NewsBits provides data and information about DNR’s private water supply program activities during 2017. Our priority work includes:

• Compliance monitoring, including inspecting wells during construction and reviewing required reports for compliance with NR 812.
• Conducting enforcement, including well construction and reporting violations, and working without a license.
• Issuing approvals for variances, geothermal projects and other requirements.
• Administering the licensing program, including exams for new licenses and processing annual renewals.
• Responding to acute private well contamination events.

I hope you enjoy this issue.

Construction 

Figure 1. DNR received 8,706 reports for well construction in 2017.  More than 8,200 were private potable wells.

Figure 2. Well construction numbers declined more than 30% from 2008 to 2011. Over the past few years the numbers are gradually increasing, but are not back to 2008 levels.

Figure 3. Geothermal projects have significantly declined since 2009, based on approvals and notifications processed by DNR. Industry partners indicate this decline is likely due to low natural gas prices and elimination of a past federal tax credit.

Figure 4. DNR private water supply specialists inspected over 1,000 wells during construction in 2017, which was 12.8% of the well notifications received by DNR. This was slightly lower than the percent inspected each of the prior 4 years, due to two staff vacancies.

In 2017, private water field specialists increased contacts with pump installers to develop relationships, answer questions and evaluate compliance. DNR created six Driller/Installer Fact Sheets to explain key code requirements and answer frequently-asked questions about NR 812 requirements.

Filling and Sealing

406 WARS system users submitted 4,439 filling and sealing reports in 2017. More than 7,200 Well Filling and Sealing reports have been submitted to DNR electronically since electronic reporting was required on July 1, 2016.

Well Grants

Figure 5. DNR awarded a combined total of over $120,000 in well abandonment and well compensation grants in 2017. 

Well compensation grants helped five well owners to replace wells due to arsenic (2), manganese (1) or livestock (2) contamination. Forty-four owners received well abandonment grant assistance to fill and seal unused or contaminated wells. A 2017 change in state law now allows up to $12,000 in state assistance for each eligible Well Compensation or Well Abandonment grant project.

Licensing

Almost 1,300 individuals hold an active Wisconsin license as a well driller, heat exchange driller and/or pump installer. Each year some individuals do not renew, and newly-licensed individuals are added. This table shows the number of license holders at the end of 2017:

Figure 6. The total number of licensed well drillers and registered rig operators has declined over the past 10 years. Heat exchange drilling license was added to state statute in 2015. The number of licensed pump installers also decreased from 1,327 in 2008, to 1,237 in 2017.

Enforcement Activity

Private water staff issued 302 notices of noncompliance (NONs) in 2017. 

Figure 7. Noncompliance in 2017 covered a broad range of code requirements. Improper or failure to fill and seal was most common, followed by paperwork violations and late water samples.

DNR issued 6 Notices of Violation (NOV) to drillers, pump installers or unlicensed individuals in 2017, and held enforcement conferences. 6 citations were issued for failure to submit paperwork or water samples, failure to fill and seal a well, and filling and sealing a well without a license.

One case was investigated and referred to the Department of Justice in 2017. The case is still pending.

NewsBits

NewsBits is published by the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, Bureau of Drinking Water and Groundwater.

Archived issues are available at: dnr.wi.gov/topic/wells/newsbits.html.