Connecticut Administrative Code › Title 25 - Water Resources, Flood and Erosion Control › 128 - Description of Organization, Rules of Practice, and Regulations for the Well Drilling Industry › Section 25-128-36 - Definitions

Current through July 10, 2024
(a) Unless expressly stated otherwise, the
			 following terms shall, for the purpose of the Connecticut Well Drilling Code
			 and any permit or completion report filed pursuant to said code, have the
			 meanings indicated in this section.
(b) Words used in the present tense include
			 the future; words used in the masculine gender include the feminine and neuter;
			 the singular number includes the plural and the singular.
(c) Where the terms are not defined in this
			 section or in section 25-126 of the Connecticut General Statutes, they shall
			 have their ordinarily accepted meanings or such as the context may imply.
(1) Access port: A suitable opening into a
			 well to allow measurement of The water level.
(2) Annular space: The space between two
			 objects, one of which is surrounded by the other. This includes the space
			 between the wall of an excavation and the wall of a pit; between the wall of an
			 excavation and the casing or piping of a well or geothermal bore hole; or
			 between two casings.
(3) Aquifer: A
			 water bearing strata that can transmit water in significant quantity. It can be
			 either consolidated rock, such as bedrock, or unconsolidated material, such as
			 sand, gravel, or soil with boulders.
(4) Artesian well: A well in which static
			 water level rises above the top of the aquifer. The aquifer is confined by an
			 impermeable geologic formation overlying the aquifer.
(5) Board: The State Plumbing and Piping Work
			 Examining Board.
(6) Casing: A pipe
			 placed in a well or geothermal bore hole to prevent the walls from caving, or
			 to seal off surface drainage and other contaminants, so that they cannot enter
			 the well or bore hole.
(7)
			 Closed-loop geothermal fluid: The heat transfer fluid circulating within the
			 piping and associated components of a closed-loop geothermal system. Such fluid
			 serves to transfer energy between the Earth or water surrounding the piping and
			 the heat exchange components of the geothermal system. Fluids that have been
			 approved for use by the department are set forth in section 25-128-39b of the
			 Regulations of Connecticut State Agencies.
(8) Closed-loop geothermal surface water
			 body: A surface water body, such as a pond, stream or lake, that is utilized as
			 a heat source or heat sink for a closed-loop geothermal system. No public
			 drinking water reservoir, lake, pond or stream tributary to a public drinking
			 water reservoir, or water body that has direct influence to a public well,
			 shall be utilized as a heat source or heat sink for a closed-loop geothermal
			 system.
(9) Closed-loop geothermal
			 surface water system: A closed-loop geothermal system that utilizes a
			 closed-loop geothermal surface water body as a heat source or heat
			 sink.
(10) Closed-loop geothermal
			 system: A heat exchange system consisting of piping buried or placed in a
			 geothermal bore hole, trench, or closed-loop geothermal surface water body.
			 These self-contained systems are intended to transfer energy between the Earth
			 or water surrounding the piping and the geothermal fluid circulating within the
			 piping.
(11) Contamination: The act
			 of introducing into water, foreign materials of such nature, quality, and
			 quantity as to cause degradation of the quality of the groundwater, such as in
			 a bore hole or aquifer, or a surface water body.
(12) Department: The Department of Consumer
			 Protection.
(13) Direct exchange
			 geothermal system: A heat exchange system that employs a refrigerant geothermal
			 fluid that changes its physical state between liquid, vapor and gas as the
			 fluid circulates through closed-loop geothermal piping (also known as direct
			 expansion).
(14) Disinfection: The
			 inactivation of harmful organisms present in water, through use of an accepted
			 chlorine solution or other disinfection material or procedure accepted by the
			 Commissioner of Consumer Protection.
(15) Draw down: The extent of lowering of the
			 water table or piezometric surface within or adjacent to the well, resulting
			 from the discharge of water from the well. Drawdown is measured between the
			 static water level and the pumping water level. The quantity of water available
			 in the well from the static water level to the pump intake is known as the
			 Drawdown available storage.
(16)
			 Dug well: Has the same meaning as provided in section
			 19-13-B51b
			 of the Regulations of Connecticut State Agencies.
(17) Established grade: The permanent
			 elevation of the surface of the ground at the site of the well after completion
			 of grading, excavation , or other land movements.
(18) Geothermal bore hole: A bore hole that
			 is used solely for the purpose of heat transfer and is fitted with closed-loop
			 or open-loop heat exchange piping in accordance with section 25-128-39a of the
			 Regulations of Connecticut State Agencies.
(19) Geothermal system: A closed-loop or
			 open-loop heat system used for the purpose of exchanging heating or cooling by
			 utilizing the relatively constant temperature of the Earth as a heat source or
			 heat sink.
(20) Global Positioning
			 System (GPS): A location-finding method whereby a user-operated receiver
			 determines such receiver's position by communicating with satellites. The
			 United States Department of Defense developed this system, which is officially
			 known as the "Navigation Satellite Timing and Ranging Global Positioning
			 System."
(21) Groundwater: Water
			 encountered below the ground surface of the Earth within the zone of saturation
			 that can supply wells and springs.
(22) Grout or grouting material: A low
			 permeability material placed in the annular space between the casing and the
			 formation or within a geothermal bore hole which is at least as impermeable as
			 the soil formation. The purpose of the grout is to resist the migration of
			 pollutants into the annular space.
(23) Flowing artesian well: A well in which
			 the static water level is higher than the top of the casing and water flows
			 from the well.
(24) Gravel well:
			 Has the same meaning as provided in section
			 19-13-B51b
			 of the Regulations of Connecticut State Agencies.
(25) Hazardous Substance: Has the same
			 meaning as provided in
			 42 USC 13101,
			 et seq., and
			 49 USC
			 101, et seq., and the regulations promulgated
			 thereunder.
(26) High water mark:
			 The upper limit of any land area that water may cover, either standing or
			 flowing, at any time during the year.
(27) Hydrofracturing: A method of well
			 development used to improve the specific capacity of a new or existing drilled
			 well whereby certain zones within the well are pressurized in an effort to
			 force open fractures in the bedrock.
(28) Installation of pumps and pumping
			 equipment: The procedure employed in the placement and preparation for
			 operation of pumps and pumping equipment, including all construction involved
			 in making entrances to the well and to the building, establishing seals,
			 installing pump piping, valves, wiring, electrical controls and
			 tanks.
(29) Liner pipe: Pipe that
			 is installed inside a completed and cased well for the purpose of sealing off
			 undesirable water or for repairing ruptured or punctured casing or screens. The
			 liner pipe and screens may be constructed of PVC schedule forty (40) plastic
			 that meets or exceeds American Society for Testing and Materials standard
			 D-1785.
(30) Non-hazardous
			 substance: Has the same meaning as provided in
			 42 USC 13101,
			 et seq., and
			 49 USC
			 101, et seq., and the regulations promulgated
			 thereunder.
(31) Non-water-supply
			 well: Has the same meaning as provided in section 25-126 of the Connecticut
			 General Statutes.
(32) Open-loop
			 geothermal well: A well within which a supply of groundwater from an aquifer is
			 directly withdrawn and employed as the heat transfer fluid in a geothermal
			 system. Geothermal systems employing open-loop geothermal wells include pump
			 and discharge geothermal systems, pump and recharge geothermal systems and
			 standing column wells depending upon the discharge or return point of the
			 water.
(33) Owner: Any person or
			 such person's agent who holds the title or other rights of property where a
			 well or geothermal system is constructed, repaired, or abandoned.
(34) Potable water: Water free from
			 impurities in amounts sufficient to cause disease or other harmful
			 physiological effects, with the minimum or maximum bacteriological, physical,
			 and chemical composition as required in section
			 19-13-B102
			 of the Regulations of Connecticut State Agencies for public wells or section
			 19a-37 of the Connecticut General Statutes for private wells and semipublic
			 wells .
(35) Private well: Has the
			 same meaning as provided in section 19a-37 of the Connecticut General
			 Statutes.
(36) Public water system:
			 Has the same meaning as provided in section
			 19-13-B102
			 of the Regulations of Connecticut State Agencies.
(37) Public well: Has the same meaning as
			 provided in section 19a-37 of the Connecticut General Statutes.
(38) Pump and discharge geothermal system: A
			 type of open-loop geothermal system where groundwater from an aquifer is pumped
			 directly from a water supply well to a building, where it transfers its heat
			 energy to a heat pump. After leaving the building, the water is discharged to a
			 permitted discharge point.
(39)
			 Pump and recharge geothermal system: A type of open-loop geothermal system
			 where groundwater from an aquifer is piped directly from a water supply well to
			 a building, where it transfers its heat energy to a heat pump. The water is
			 then pumped back into the same aquifer via a second discharge or diffusion well
			 with an immediate hydraulic connection to the source water supply.
(40) Repair: Any work involved in the
			 reaming, sealing, installing, changing of casing depth or height, perforating,
			 screening, cleaning, acid washing, surging, hydrofracturing or other
			 redevelopment of a well.
(41)
			 Semipublic well: Has the same meaning as provided in section 19a-37 of the
			 Connecticut General Statutes.
(42)
			 Specific capacity: The yield of a well expressed in gallons per minute per foot
			 of drawdown, as abbreviated "gpm/ft."
(43) Standing column wells: A type of
			 open-loop geothermal system where temperate water is withdrawn from a water
			 supply well, circulated through a heat pump exchanger and returned to the water
			 column in the same well.
(44)
			 Static water level: The depth to the surface of the water in a well measured
			 from the land surface or other convenient, permanent, and specified datum, when
			 no water is being discharged from the well and the water level has reached
			 equilibrium.
(45) Surface water
			 body: Water located on the surface of the Earth in bodies such as lakes,
			 rivers, streams, ponds, and reservoirs.
(46) Water supply well: Has the same meaning
			 as provided in section 19a-37 of the Connecticut General Statutes.
(47) Well: Any water supply well or
			 non-water-supply well.
(48) Well
			 abandonment: Actions taken to ensure that a well that is no longer in use shall
			 not be a source or conduit for contamination of Groundwater
			 resources.
(49) Well contractor: A
			 person regularly offering to the general public the personal services of such
			 contractor or the services of such contractor's employees in the industry of
			 obtaining water from a well for any purpose or use.
(50) Well vent: An outlet at the upper
			 terminal of a well casing to allow equalization of air pressure in a well, but
			 at the same time so constructed as to avoid entry of water and foreign material
			 into the well.
(51) Yield: Has the
			 same meaning as provided in section
			 19-13-B51b
			 of the Regulations of Connecticut State Agencies.