Daly City Municipal Code Ch. 13.20 Well Standards

It is the purpose of this chapter to protect the health, safety and general welfare of the citizens of the city by ensuring that the groundwaters of this city will not be polluted or contaminated. To this end, minimum requirements are contained in this chapter for construction, reconstruction, repair and destruction* of water wells, cathodic protection wells, and monitoring wells. (*The California Water Code Section 13801(b) refers to well construction, maintenance, and abandonment standards. Since on abandoned well in terms of an undesirable condition is best remedied by destruction of the well, this usage is followed in this chapter.)

(Ord. 1116 § 1 (part), 1990)

A. Except as otherwise required by the context of this chapter, the terms used in this chapter shall have the same meaning as in Chapter 10 of Division 7 of the California Water Code and the Department of Water Resources Bulletin 74-81 and subsequent supplements or revisions.

B. "City clerk" means the city clerk of the city of Daly City or her authorized representative.

C. "City council" means the governing board of the city of Daly City.

D. "Days" means working days.

E. "Department of water resources" means the California State Department of Water Resources.

F. "Director" means the director of the city of Daly City's department of water and wastewater resources or his authorized representative.

G. "Permit" means a permit issued by the city of Daly City for the construction, repair, reconstruction, abandonment or destruction of a water well within the jurisdiction of the city.

H. "Permittee" means any person granted a permit, as defined in Section 13.20.020(G).

I. "Person" means any person, firm, corporation or governmental agency, to the extent authorized by law.

J. "Regional board" means the Regional Water Quality Control Board, San Francisco Bay Region.

K. Section Headings. Section headings when contained in this chapter, shall not be deemed to govern, limit, modify, or in any manner affect the scope, meaning, or intent of the provisions of any section.

L. Well or Water Well. The California Water Code, Section 13710, defines well or waterwell to mean "...any artificial excavation constructed by any method for the purpose of extracting water from, or injecting water into, the underground." This chapter does not intend that potholes, drainage trenches, pipe trenches or canals, wastewater ponds, shallow root zone piezometers, stock ponds, or similar excavations be included with the definition of wells.

(Ord. 1116 § 1 (part), 1990).

A. No person shall dig, bore, drill, deepen, modify, repair, or destroy a water well, cathodic protection well, observation well, monitoring well or any other excavation that may intersect ground water without first applying for and receiving a permit as provided in this chapter unless exempted by law.

B. Any person who commences any work for which a permit is required by this chapter without having obtained a permit shall be required, if subsequently granted a permit for this work, to pay double the standard permit fee.

C. The above provisions shall not apply to emergency work required on short notice to maintain drinking water or agricultural supply systems. In such cases, the person responsible for the emergency work shall:

1. Satisfy the director that such work was urgently necessary; and

2. Demonstrate that all work performed was in conformance with the technical standards as designated in Section 13.20.090.

(Ord. 1116 § 1 (part), 1990)

Applications for permits shall be made to the director on forms approved by the director and shall contain all such information as the director requires to accomplish the purposes of this chapter. The application shall be accompanied by the required filing fee. If the director finds the application contains all necessary information, he shall issue to the applicant a comprehensive permit containing such conditions as are necessary to fulfill the purposes of this chapter.

(Ord. 1116 § 1 (part), 1990)

Filing fees may be set by the city council from time to time by resolution.

(Ord. 1116 § 1 (part), 1990)

A. When the director issues a permit pursuant to this chapter, he may condition the permit in any manner necessary to carry out the purposes of this chapter. Conditions may include, but are not limited to, such quantity and quality testing methods as the director finds necessary.

B. The director may require a performance bond as a condition to the permit.

C. All construction, reconstruction, or destruction work on wells shall be performed by a person who possesses both an active C-57 contractor's license (in accordance with the provisions of the California Business and Professions Code, Section 7000, et seq. and Water Code Section 13750.5) and a valid Daly City business license.

D. The permit shall contain a clause requiring the safe and appropriate handling and disposal of drilling fluids and other drilling materials used in connection with the permitted work.

E. As a condition of a construction or reconstruction permit, any abandoned wells on the property shall be destroyed in accordance with standards provided in this chapter.

F. It shall be the responsibility of the permittee to maintain a copy of the permit on the drilling site during all stages of construction or destruction.

(Ord. 1116 § 1 (part), 1990)

The director shall deny an application for a permit if, in his judgment, issuance of a permit is not in the public interest.

(Ord. 1116 § 1 (part), 1990)

A. The director may suspend or revoke any permit issued pursuant to this chapter whenever he finds that the permittee has violated any of the provisions of this chapter, or has misrepresented any material fact in his application, or any supporting documents, for such a permit. Prior to ordering any such suspension or revocation, the director shall give the permittee an opportunity for an appeal. The appeal shall be made to the city council. Procedures for appeal are set forth in Section 13.20.170.

B. No person whose permit has been suspended or revoked shall continue to perform the work for which the permit was granted until, in the case of suspension, such permit has been reinstated by the director.

C. Upon suspending or revoking any permit, the director may order the permittee to perform any work reasonably necessary to protect the underground waters from pollution or contamination, if any work already done by the permittee has left a well in such condition as to constitute a hazard to the quality of the underground waters. No permittee or person who has held any permit issued pursuant to the chapter shall fail to comply with any such order.

(Ord. 1116 § 1 (part), 1990)

Except as otherwise specified, the standards for the construction, repair, reconstruction, or destruction of wells shall be as set forth in:

A. Water Resources Bulletin 74-81 Water Well Standards, State of California except as modified by subsequent revisions; and

B. All subsequent Bulletin 74-81 supplements or revisions issued by the department of water resources.

(Ord. 1116 § 1 (part), 1990)

The director shall have the power under the following specified conditions to grant a variance from any provision of the standards referenced above and to prescribe alternative requirements in their place:

A. There must be, in a specific case, a special circumstance where practical difficulties or unnecessary hardship would result from the strict interpretation and enforcement of any standard; and

B. The granting of such a variance is consistent with the purposes of this chapter.

(Ord. 1116 § 1 (part), 1990)

The director may designate areas where groundwater quality problems are known to exist and where a well will penetrate more than one aquifer. The director may require in these designated areas special well seal(s) to prevent mixing of water from several aquifers. Where an applicant proposes well construction, reconstruction, or destruction work in such an area, the director may require the applicant to provide a report prepared by a registered geologist or registered civil engineer (California Business and Professions Code Sections 7850 and 6762 respectively) that identifies all strata containing poor quality water and recommends the location and specifications of the seal or seals needed to prevent the entrance of poor-quality water or its migration into other aquifers.

(Ord. 1116 § 1 (part), 1990)

The director shall make an inspection of the annular seal construction work. He may make an initial inspection of each proposed drilling site, an inspection at the completion of the work, and inspections at such other times as he deems appropriate. Upon receipt of an application, the director may make an inspection of the drilling site prior to the issuance of a well permit. The purpose of this inspection is to determine whether there are any site conditions such that the director shall do the following:

A. Require relocation of the drilling site should the location shown on the permit application be too close to potential sources of pollution; or

B. Set additional conditions if needed to remediate any previously unknown groundwater quality protection problems.

(Ord. 1116 § 1 (part), 1990).

A. The director shall inspect the annular space grout depth prior to the sealing.

B. The director shall be notified by the well driller a minimum of twenty-four hours prior to sealing the annular space. Drillers who anticipate completing a well in less than one day shall notify the director twenty-four hours prior to commencement of drilling and provide the anticipated time to commence the sealing of the annular space.

C. If the director wishes to allow a seal to be tremied or placed without inspection, the driller shall seal the well in accordance with the standards of this chapter and any permit conditions. No seal shall be tremied or placed until permission to proceed is given.

(Ord. 1116 § 1 (part), 1990)

The driller shall notify the director within seven days of the completion of their work at each drilling site. The director may make a final inspection after completion of the work to determine whether the well was completed in accordance with this chapter.

(Ord. 1116 § 1 (part), 1990)

The director may waive inspections should any of the following conditions exist:

A. The work will be inspected by the staff of the Regional Board or the California Department of Health Services, if these designated agencies will inspect and report to the director on all drilling features required by the standards;

B. The well is a monitoring well that will penetrate only aquifers containing degraded waters or will penetrate only formations that normally contain no water;

C. Initial inspections may be waived when the drilling site is well known to the director and it is known that no significant threats to groundwater quality exist in the area.

(Ord. 1116 § 1 (part), 1990)

A. The driller shall provide the director a completion report within thirty days of the completion of any well construction, reconstruction, or destruction job.

B. A copy of the report of completion (Water Well Driller's Report, Department of Water Resources Form 188) required by California Water Code Section 13751 shall be submitted by the permittee to the director within thirty days of construction, alteration, or destruction of any well. This report shall document that the work was completed in accordance with the standards and all additional permit conditions. This section shall not be deemed to release any person from the requirement to file said report with the department of water resources.

C. In accordance with California Water Code Section 13752, reports shall not be made available for inspection by the public but shall be made available for inspection by governmental agencies for use in making studies. Reports shall be made available to any person who obtains written authorization from the owner of the well.

D. Nothing in this chapter shall be deemed to excuse any person from compliance with the provisions of California Water Code Sections 13750 through 13755 relating to notices and reports of completion or any other federal, state, or local reporting regulations.

(Ord. 1116 § 1 (part), 1990)

A. Any person whose application for a permit has been denied, or granted conditionally, or whose permit has been suspended or revoked, or whose variance request has been denied may appeal to the city council in writing.

B. Said appeal shall be in writing and shall specify the grounds upon which it is taken and shall be accompanied by such fees as may be required. Said appeal shall be submitted to the city council within ten days of the decision of the director. The city council, as soon as it is practicable after receipt of the notice of appeal, shall set a time for hearing on said appeal. The time of the appeal shall be set not less than fourteen days nor more than forty-five days from the date the city council sets the hearing date.

C. The applicant shall be notified by mail not less than ten days before the date of hearing by the city clerk. The time of hearing may be continued at-the request of the party aggrieved at any time, which continuance shall not exceed a maximum of sixty days from the date originally set for hearing. Said right of continuance shall be subject to approval by the city council and the decision of the city council shall be final.

D. Notice of the decision of the city council shall be delivered to the appellant personally, or sent by certified mail, return receipt requested by the city clerk. The effective date of said decision shall be the date of mailing of said notice of decision or date same is personally delivered to said appellant.

E. Failure of any person to file an appeal in accordance with the provision of this chapter shall constitute a waiver of any right to an appeal and adjudication of the notice and order or to any portion thereof.

F. After such hearing, the city council may reverse, wholly or partly, or may modify the order or determination appealed from. Such action shall be final.

(Ord. 1116 § 1 (part), 1990)

The director shall have the right to enter upon any premises at all reasonable times to make inspections and tests for the purpose of enforcement and administration of this chapter. If any such premises are occupied, he shall first present proper credentials and demand entry. If the same is unoccupied, he shall first make a reasonable effort to locate the owner or other person having charge or control of same and demand entry. If such entry is refused, he shall have recourse to such remedies as are provided by law to secure entry.

(Ord. 1116 § 1 (part), 1990)

All persons owning an abandoned well as defined in the well standards shall destroy it before December 31, 1991 except those excluded by California Health and Safety Code Section 24440.

(Ord. 1116 § 1 (part), 1990)

Any person who violates any of the provisions of this chapter is guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon conviction thereof is punishable by such penalties as the city council shall from time to time set by ordinance.

(Ord. 1116 § 1 (part), 1990)

A. Whenever the director determines that a well:

1. Has not been completed in accordance with a well permit or the plans and specification relating thereto; or

2. Has been constructed without the required permit; or

3. Which is abandoned has not been destroyed in accordance with the standards;

the director may record a notice of violation with the office of the county recorder. The owner(s) of the property, as revealed by the assessment roll on which the violation is situated and any other person responsible for the violation, shall be notified of the recordation, if their address is available.

B. If the property owner(s) or authorized agent disagree with the determination, he may submit evidence to the director indicating that there is no violation and then shall have a right to appeal an adverse decision of the director to the city council in accordance with the provisions of Section 13.20.170.

(Ord. 1116 § 1 (part), 1990)

The director shall submit a removal of notice of violation to the San Mateo county recorder when:

A. It is determined by the director or the city council after review, that no violation of this chapter exists; or

B. All required and corrective work. has been completed and approved by the director.

(Ord. 1116 § 1 (part), 1990)

Violations of this chapter may also be redressed in the manner hereinafter set forth by civil action. In addition to being subject to prosecution, any person who violates any of the provisions of this chapter may be made the subject of a civil action. Appropriate civil action includes, but is not limited to, injunctive relief and cost recovery.

(Ord. 1116 § 1 (part), 1990)

The remedies available to the city council to enforce this chapter are in addition to any other remedies available under code or statute, and do not replace or supplant any other remedy but are cumulative thereto.

(Ord. 1116 § 1 (part), 1990)

Pursuant to California Water Code Section 13225(c), the director shall submit a report, not less than annually, to the Regional Board. This report shall contain the following data, unless the Regional Board determines a lesser amount of information is necessary:

A. The number of wells constructed or destroyed; and

B. Descriptions of all well destructions undertaken by the director using his regulatory authority under nuisance abatement powers; and

C. A description of each specific case where variances were granted and the circumstances that made a variance necessary; and

D. A description of each specific case where an inspection was waived and the circumstances that made the waiver necessary.

(Ord. 1116 § 1 (part), 1990)