Permitting, Reporting, and Recordkeeping
This domain tests the paperwork that makes a well legal and traceable: permits before drilling, the completion report after, and the records that answer questions years later when a pump fails or a contamination case opens.
Before drilling
- Confirm the local board of health well permit is in hand and that the approved location matches the stake on the ground.
- For a public supply well, confirm MassDEP approval and Zone I control before mobilizing.
- Check access, utility locates, erosion controls and any wetland filing needed under the Wetlands Protection Act.
After drilling
- File the Well Completion Report: driller name and licence number, owner and address, well location, date, drilling method, total depth, casing size and length, screen or open-hole interval, grout type and quantity, static water level, test yield and drawdown, and water quality results.
- The report is due promptly after completion - 30 days under the current program - and a report is required even for a dry hole or a well you abandon.
- Keep your field log: depths, formations, grout volumes, lost-circulation zones. The log is your defence when a completion report is questioned.
Worked example
You finish a 240-ft bedrock well on a Friday and the owner leaves for the summer. The permit, the log and the water sample are in the truck. The correct sequence is to disinfect, sample, complete the report from the field log while the numbers are fresh, submit it with the required fee, and leave a copy with the owner. Waiting for the lab results before writing the depth and grout figures is how details get lost.
Traps
Filing nothing for a dry hole; reporting drilled depth as tested yield; omitting grout quantity; and letting the owner hold the only copy of the log.