Imperial County Municipal Code Ch. 1 General Provisions

Imperial County is an arid region located in the southeastern portion of the state of California and the preservation and protection of the county's groundwater resources are extremely critical. The board of supervisors hereby finds and declares that the preservation, protection and management of the groundwater within the county for the protection of domestic, commercial, agricultural, industrial, municipal, wildlife habitat, and other uses is in the public interest, that protection is necessary to ensure availability of groundwater reasonably required to meet the present and future beneficial needs of the county, and that the adoption of a system of regulation of groundwater is for the common benefit of all county water users. The board of supervisors has, therefore, determined to regulate the use, consumption and development of groundwater on a county-wide basis. Further, it is the intent of the board of supervisors to protect the health, safety, and general welfare of the people of Imperial County by insuring that the groundwater of this county will not be polluted or contaminated. To this end, minimum requirements have been prescribed in this division for the construction, reconstruction, repair, replacement, re-perforation, reactivation, operation, and destruction of a well or wells.

(Ord. 1415 § 320, 2006)

As used in this division:

"Cathodic protection well" means any artificial excavation constructed by any method for the purpose of installing equipment or facilities for the electrical protection of metallic equipment in contact with the ground.

"Commercial well (large)" means a water well used to supply more than one commercial establishment, or utilizing more than ten (10) AF/Y.

"Commercial well (small)" means a water well used to supply a single commercial establishment, consuming less than ten (10) acre feet per year ("AF/Y") of groundwater.

"Community water supply well" means a water well used to supply water for domestic, commercial industrial purposes in systems subject to Chapter 7 of Part I of Division 5 of the California Health and Safety Code (Section 4010 et seq.), i.e., more than five service connections.

"Construct, reconstruct, (construction, reconstruction)" means to dig, drive, bore, drill, or deepen a well, or to re-perforate, remove, replace, or extend a well casing.

"Contamination" means an impairment of the quality of water to a degree that creates a hazard to the public health through poisoning or spread of disease.

"Deep anode bed well" means any cathodic protection well more than fifty (50) feet.

"Destruction" means a proper filling and sealing of a well no longer useful so as to assure that groundwater is protected and to eliminate a potential physical hazard.

"Electrical grounding well" means any artificial excavation in excess of twenty (20) feet constructed by any method for the purpose of establishing an electrical ground.

"Enforcement agency" means an agency designated by the board of supervisors to administer and enforce this division. For the purpose of this division it shall be the planning and development services department.

"Individual domestic well" means a water well used to supply water for domestic needs of an individual residential, utilizing less than ten (10) AF/Y.

"Modification, repair, or reconstruction" means the deepening of a well, the re-perforation, or replacement of a well casing and all well repairs and modifications that can affect groundwater quality.

"Observation well" means a well used for monitoring or sampling the conditions of a water-bearing aquifer, such as water pressure, depth, movement or quality.

"Permit" means a building permit issued by the county of Imperial planning and development services department, permitting the construction, reconstruction, destruction, or abandonment of a well.

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

"Planning director" means the planning director of Imperial County or his or her designee.

"Pollution" means an alteration of the quality of water to a degree which unreasonably affects: (1) such waters for beneficial uses; or (2) facilities which serve such beneficial uses. Pollution may contain contamination.

"Potable" means water generally intended for human consumption and/or meeting safe drinking water standards by state or federal regulations.

"Public nuisance" when applied to a well, means any well which threatens to impair the quality of groundwater or otherwise jeopardize the health and safety of the public.

"Shallow anode bed well" means any cathodic protection well more than twenty (20) feet deep, but less than fifty (50) feet deep.

"Test or exploratory well" means an excavation used for determining the nature of underground geological or hydrological conditions, whether by seismic safety, direct observation or any other means.

"Well" means an artificial excavation constructed by any method for the purpose of extracting water from or injecting water underground, or providing cathodic protection or electrical grounding of equipment, for making tests for observation of underground conditions, or for any other similar purposes. Wells shall include, but shall not be limited to, community water supply wells, individual domestic water wells, commercial wells, industrial wells, cathodic protection wells, electrical grounding wells, test or exploratory holes, observation wells and other wells whose regulation is necessary to accomplish purposes of this chapter.

Wells shall not include: (1) oil and gas wells, geothermal wells, or other wells that are constructed under the jurisdiction of the State Department of Conservation, except oil wells converted to use as water wells; or (2) wells used for the purpose of de-watering excavations during construction, or stabilizing earth embankments.

(Ord. 1415 § 322, 2006; prior code § 92101.01)