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CA Well Driller study materials
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CA Well Driller: California Well Standards, Reporting, and Licensing Law

CA Well Driller · Work through your exam, one topic at a time.

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California Well Standards, Reporting, and Licensing Law

What this domain tests

Law and reporting questions ask who regulates wells in California and what paperwork makes a job legal: the Water Code well provisions, DWR Bulletin 74-90, local ordinances, the C-57 contractor license, permits, and the well completion report.

Who regulates what

  • DWR publishes the California Well Standards (Bulletin 74-90, which superseded Bulletin 74-81). DWR does not issue well permits and does not inspect construction.
  • Cities and counties adopt standards and issue permits. Their ordinances may be stricter than the state standard and control in a conflict. Enforcement sits with the local environmental health agency.
  • The Well Driller Act is in the Water Code beginning at Section 13700. It requires a driller's log and reporting of well construction, repair, reconstruction, and destruction.
  • Since SGMA, groundwater sustainability agencies and permitting agencies in some basins add requirements for new wells; basins designated probationary face stricter permitting.

Licensing

  • Water well work must be done by a licensed contractor holding the C-57 (Water Well Drilling) classification, which covers drilling, casing, and pump work on water wells. Contracting without a license is illegal and makes the contract unenforceable.
  • Licensing is administered by the CSLB: qualifying journey-level experience (four years, part of which may be substituted by education), an exam, a $25,000 contractor bond, and workers' compensation coverage.

Reporting

  • The driller files the well completion report, DWR Form 188, within 60 days of completing the well, covering location, depth, casing, annular seal, water levels, and yield. Dry holes are reportable.
  • Copies go to the owner and, in most counties, to the local agency. Destruction reports follow the same logic.

Worked example

A driller finishes a 220-foot well on May 1 and starts another job immediately. On July 15 the Form 188 is still unfiled. That is past the 60-day limit, which fell around June 30, and is an enforcement exposure even though the well itself is sound. Correct practice is to file within days of completion and keep the driller's log with company records.

Traps that cost marks

  • Calling DWR for a well permit; the county or city issues it.
  • Assuming the 60-day clock starts at the permit date rather than at completion.
  • Believing repair or destruction work needs no report because it is not new construction.