Monterey Municipal Code Art. 3 Water Well Standards

The purposes of this Article are:

a.To regulate the construction, maintenance, repair, reconstruction, abandonment and destruction of wells so as to protect the quality of underground waters by preventing or minimizing the pollution or contamination thereof, thereby promoting the public health, safety and welfare.

b.To comply with Article 4 (beginning at Section 13800) of Chapter 10, Division 7 of the Water Code, relating to well standards.

As used in this Article, unless otherwise apparent from the context, the following words shall mean:

Contamination, pollution and nuisance. Meanings ascribed to them by Section 13050 of the Water Code.

Health Officer. The health officer or the director of health services of the county or the authorized representative of either of them.

Well or water well. Any artificial excavation constructed by any method for the purpose of extracting water from or injecting water into the underground. This definition shall not include oil and gas wells or geothermal wells constructed under the jurisdiction of the department of conservation, except those wells converted to use as water wells; or wells used for the purpose of dewatering excavation during construction or stabilizing hillsides or earth embankments.

a.No person shall construct, repair, reconstruct, abandon or destroy any well unless a written permit has first been obtained from the health officer pursuant to this Article.

b.No person to whom such a permit has been issued shall fail to comply with all of the terms and conditions thereof and with the standards specified in this Article.

c.No person other than a contractor licensed in accordance with the provisions of the Contractors License Law (Chapter 9, Division 3 of the Business and Professions Code) shall perform any construction, repair, reconstruction or destruction of a well unless exempted by that law.

a.Application for a permit pursuant to this Article shall be:

1.Made in writing to the health officer, in such form as he may prescribe, setting forth such information as he may reasonably require to secure the purposed of this Article.

2.Signed by the applicant and accompanied by a filing fee in an amount to be set by resolution, no part of which shall be refundable.

b.Any permit which is issued may contain and be subject to such terms and conditions as the health officer finds necessary to carry out the purposes of this Article. He shall deny an application for a permit if, in his judgment, its issuance would tend to defeat the purposes of this Article.

c.Every permit issued pursuant to this Article shall expire and become null and void if the work authorized thereby has not been completed within one year following its issuance. Upon expiration, no further work shall be done unless and until a new permit has been obtained.

a.The health officer may suspend or revoke any permit issued pursuant to this Article whenever he finds that the permittee has violated any of the provisions of this Article or has misrepresented any material fact in his application or any supporting documents for such permit. Prior to ordering any such suspension or revocation, the health officer shall give the permittee an opportunity for a hearing thereon, after reasonable notice.

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 health officer.

c.Upon suspending or revoking any permit, the health officer 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 shall fail to comply with any such order.

The health officer shall have the power, in specific cases, to grant a variance from any provision of the standards incorporated into this Article by reference whenever he finds that special circumstances exist in a particular case and that practical difficulties or unnecessary hardship would result from the strict interpretation and enforcement of any such standard, and that the granting of such a variance would not tend to defeat the purposes of this Article.

Chapter II and appendices E, F, and G of the California Department of Water Resources Bulletin No. 74, “Water Well Standards,” dated February , 1968, and California Department of Water Resources Bulletin No. 74-1, “Cathodic Protection Well Standards,” dated March, 1973, copies of both of which are on file as required by law, are adopted and incorporated into this Article by reference, with the following modification to paragraph A of section 8 of Part II of such Bulletin No. 74: The minimum distance between all wells and any subsurface sewage leaching field or septic tank shall be 100 feet.

a.Nothing contained in this Article shall be deemed to excuse any person from compliance with the provisions of Article 3 (commencing at Section 13750) of Chapter 10, Division 7 of the Water Code, relating to notices and reports.

b.Upon completion of a well, the owner or his authorized representative shall file with the health officer a copy of the well driller’s detailed log, referred to in Section 13751 of the Water Code.

a.Any person whose application for a permit has been denied, or granted conditionally, or whose permit has been suspended or revoked, may appeal to the Board of Supervisors in writing within ten days after any such denial, conditional granting, suspension or revocation. Such appeal shall specify the grounds upon which it is taken and shall be accompanied by a filing fee in an amount to be set by resolution. The clerk of such board shall set such appeal for hearing at the earliest practicable time, and shall notify the appellant and the health officer in writing of the time so set at least five days prior to the hearing.

b.After such hearing, the Board of Supervisors may reverse, wholly or partly, or may modify the orders or determination appealed from.

The health officer shall enforce and administer this Article and shall have the right to enter upon any premises at all reasonable times to make inspections and tests for the purpose of such enforcement and administration. If any such premises are occupied, he shall first present proper credentials and demand entry, and if same are 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.