Virginia Administrative Code › Title 12 - HEALTH › Agency 5 - DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH › Chapter 630 - PRIVATE WELL REGULATIONS › Part III - Design and Construction Criteria › Article 1 - General Requirements › Section 12VAC5-630-450 - Well abandonment

Current through Register Vol. 40, No. 24, July 15, 2024
A. Well
					 abandonment is governed jointly by the Department of Environmental Quality and
					 the Department of Health pursuant to § 62.1-44.92(6) of the Ground Water
					 Act of 1973 (Repealed). In addition, the abandonment of any private well
					 governed by this chapter, or any private well abandoned as a condition of a
					 permit issued under this chapter, shall be administered by the Department of
					 Health in conformance with this section.
B. A temporarily abandoned well shall be
					 sealed with a water-tight cap or well head seal. Such a well shall be
					 maintained so that it will not be a source or channel for contamination to
					 ground water during temporary abandonment.
C. Permanent abandonment. The object of
					 proper permanent abandonment is to prevent contamination from reaching ground
					 water resources via the well. A permanently abandoned well shall be abandoned
					 in the following manner:
1. All casing
					 material may be salvaged.
2. Before
					 the well is plugged, it shall be checked from land surface to the entire depth
					 of the well to ascertain freedom from obstructions that may interfere with
					 plugging (sealing) operations.
3.
					 The well shall be thoroughly chlorinated prior to plugging (sealing).
4. Bored wells and uncased wells shall be
					 backfilled with clean fill to the water level. A two-foot-thick bentonite plug
					 shall be placed immediately above the water level. Clean fill shall be placed
					 on top of the bentonite plug and brought up to at least five feet from the
					 ground surface. The top five feet of the well casing, if present, shall be
					 removed from the bore hole. In an open annular space is present around the well
					 casing, the annular space shall be filled with grout to the maximum depth
					 possible, but less than or equal to 20 feet. A one-foot-thick cement or
					 bentonite grout plug that completely fills the bore void space shall be placed
					 a minimum of five feet from the ground surface. The remaining space shall be
					 filled with clean fill which is mounded a minimum of one foot above the
					 surrounding ground surface. Bored wells or uncased wells abandoned in this
					 manner shall be treated as wells with respect to determining the minimum
					 separation distance to sources of contamination listed in Table 3.1. The
					 location of these wells shall be permanently marked for future
					 location.
5. Wells constructed in
					 collapsing material shall be completely filled with grout or clay slurry by
					 introduction through a pipe initially extending to the bottom of the well. Such
					 pipe shall be raised, but remain submerged in grout, as the well is
					 filled.
6. Wells constructed in
					 consolidated rock formations or which penetrate zones of consolidated rock may
					 be filled with sand or gravel opposite the zones of consolidated rock. The top
					 of the sand or gravel fill shall be at least five feet below the top of the
					 consolidated rock and at least 20 feet below land surface. The remainder of the
					 well shall be filled with grout or clay slurry.
7. Other abandonment procedures may be
					 approved by the division on a case by case basis.
8. Test and exploration wells shall be
					 abandoned in such a manner to prevent the well from being a channel for the
					 vertical movement of water or a source of contamination to ground
					 water.
9. When bored wells are
					 bored and a water source is not found, and the casing has not been placed in
					 the bore hole, the bore hole may be abandoned by backfilling with the bore
					 spoils to at least five feet below the ground surface. A two-feet-thick
					 bentonite grout plug shall be placed at a minimum of five feet from the ground
					 surface. The remainder of the bore hole shall be filled with the bore
					 spoils.