(a) All well drillers, installers and persons having
a well drilled, deepened or altered, and persons in possession of
abandoned or deteriorated wells, shall adhere to the provisions of
the Code and this chapter prescribing the location of wells and proper
drilling, completion, capping, repairing and plugging.
(b) A licensed driller shall ensure that when injurious
water or constituents are knowingly encountered, the well is plugged
or is converted into a properly completed monitoring well as defined
in §76.10(35), and under the standards set forth in §76.104.
(c) A driller must comply with applicable requirements
of the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality rules under 30 TAC
Chapter 331, if injurious water or constituents are encountered while
drilling a Class V Injection well.
(d) If a landowner, or person having the well drilled,
deepened or altered refuses to allow a licensed driller or installer
access to the well which requires plugging, capping, repairing or
completion or otherwise precludes the driller or installer from plugging,
capping, repairing or completing a well where injurious constituents
or water have been encountered, the driller shall, within forty-eight
(48) hours of the refusal, file a signed statement to that effect
with the department and provide a copy of the statement to the local
groundwater conservation district. The statement shall indicate that:
(1) the driller, installer or person under his supervision,
encountered injurious water or constituents while drilling the well;
(2) the driller or installer has informed the person
having the well drilled, deepened or otherwise altered that injurious
water or constituents were encountered and that the well must be plugged
or completed pursuant to Texas Occupations Code, §1901.254 or §1902.253,
and this chapter;
(3) the person or landowner having the well drilled,
deepened or altered has denied the driller or installer access to
the well;
(4) the reason, if known, for which access has been
denied; and
(5) if known, whether the person having the well drilled,
deepened or otherwise altered intends to have the well plugged or
completed.
(e) A deteriorated well must be plugged. An abandoned
well must be either capped or plugged. If a landowner or person who
possesses an abandoned or deteriorated well fails to have the well
plugged or capped under standards and procedures adopted by the commission
within one hundred eighty (180) days from learning of its condition,
the department shall notify the local groundwater conservation district
and the department may initiate a contested case against the landowner
or person for a violation of Texas Occupations Code, §1901.255.
(f) It is the responsibility of a landowner or person
in possession of a well that is open at the surface, to have the well
capped under standards set forth in §76.104, unless subsection
(g) of this section applies.
(g) The driller of a newly-drilled well shall place
a cover or cap which is not easily removed over the boring or casing
if the well is intended to be left unattended without a pump installed.
It shall be the responsibility of the pump installer to place a cap
over the casing which is not easily removable if the well is intended
to be left unattended with the pump removed.
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Source Note: The provisions of this §76.72 adopted to be effective March 1, 2013, 38 TexReg 1142; amended to be effective September 15, 2014, 39 TexReg 7090; amended to be effective April 1, 2018, 43 TexReg 1635 |