H-1878.1  _______________________________________________

                          HOUSE BILL 2203

          _______________________________________________

State of Washington      57th Legislature     2001 Regular Session

By Representatives Linville, Quall, G. Chandler and B. Chandler

Read first time 02/26/2001.  Referred to Committee on Agriculture & Ecology.

Allowing for construction of environmental investigation wells.

    AN ACT Relating to well construction; and amending RCW 18.104.020 and 18.104.055.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:

    Sec. 1.  RCW 18.104.020 and 2000 c 171 s 26 are each amended to read as follows:

    The definitions ((set forth)) in this section apply throughout this chapter((,)) unless ((a different meaning is plainly required by)) the context clearly requires otherwise.

    (1) "Abandoned well" means a well that is unused, unmaintained, and is in such disrepair as to be unusable.

    (2) "Constructing a well" or "construct a well" means:

    (a) Boring, digging, drilling, or excavating a well;

    (b) Installing casing, sheeting, lining, or well screens, in a well; ((or))

    (c) Drilling a geotechnical soil boring; or

(d) Installing an environmental investigation well.

    "Constructing a well" or "construct a well" includes the alteration of an existing well.

    (3) "Decommission" means to fill or plug a well so that it will not produce water, serve as a channel for movement of water or pollution, or allow the entry of pollutants into the well or aquifers.

    (4) "Department" means the department of ecology.

    (5) "Dewatering well" means a cased or lined excavation or boring that is intended to withdraw or divert ground water for the purpose of facilitating construction, stabilizing a landslide, or protecting an aquifer.

    (6) "Director" means the director of the department of ecology.

    (7) "Environmental investigation well" means a cased hole used to extract a single sample of ground water, vapor, or soil from an underground formation.  An environmental investigation well is typically installed using direct push technology or auger boring, uses the probe, stem, or rod as casing, and is decommissioned immediately after the sample is obtained.  An environmental investigation well is not a geotechnical soil boring.

(8) "Geotechnical soil boring" or "boring" means ((an uncased)) a well drilled for the purpose of obtaining soil samples or information to ascertain structural properties of the subsurface.  ((Geotechnical soil boring includes auger borings, rotary borings, cone penetrometer probes and vane shear probes, or any other uncased ground penetration for geotechnical information.

    (8))) (9) "Ground water" means and includes ground waters as defined in RCW 90.44.035.

    (((9))) (10) "Instrumentation well" means a well in which pneumatic or electric geotechnical or hydrological instrumentation is permanently or periodically installed to measure or monitor subsurface strength and movement.  Instrumentation well includes borehole extensometers, slope indicators, pneumatic or electric pore pressure transducers, and load cells.

    (((10))) (11) "Monitoring well" means a well designed to obtain a representative ground water sample or designed to measure the water level elevation in either clean or contaminated water or soil.

    (((11))) (12) "Observation well" means a well designed to measure the depth to the water level elevation in either clean or contaminated water or soil.

    (((12))) (13) "Operator" means a person who (a) is employed by a well contractor; (b) is licensed under this chapter; or (c) who controls, supervises, or oversees the construction of a well or who operates well construction equipment.

    (((13))) (14) "Owner" or "well owner" means the person, firm, partnership, copartnership, corporation, association, or other entity who owns the property on which the well is or will be constructed.

    (((14))) (15) "Pollution" and "contamination" have the meanings provided in RCW 90.48.020.

    (((15))) (16) "Remediation well" means a well used to withdraw ground water or inject water, air (for air sparging), or other solutions into the subsurface for the purpose of remediating, cleaning up, or controlling potential or actual ground water contamination.

(17) "Resource protection well" means a cased boring used to collect subsurface information or to determine the existence or migration of pollutants within an underground formation.  Resource protection wells include monitoring wells, observation wells, piezometers, spill response wells, remediation wells, environmental investigation wells, vapor extraction wells, and instrumentation wells.

    (((16))) (18) "Resource protection well contractor" means any person, firm, partnership, copartnership, corporation, association, or other entity, licensed and bonded under chapter 18.27 RCW, engaged in the business of constructing resource protection wells or geotechnical soil borings.

    (((17))) (19) "Water well" means any excavation that is constructed when the intended use of the well is for the location, diversion, artificial recharge, observation, monitoring, dewatering, or withdrawal of ground water.

    (((18))) (20) "Water well contractor" means any person, firm, partnership, copartnership, corporation, association, or other entity, licensed and bonded under chapter 18.27 RCW, engaged in the business of constructing water wells.

    (((19))) (21) "Well" means water wells, resource protection wells, ((instrumentation wells,)) dewatering wells, and geotechnical soil borings.  Well does not mean an excavation made for the purpose of obtaining or prospecting for oil, natural gas, geothermal resources, minerals, or products of mining, or quarrying, or for inserting media to repressure oil or natural gas bearing formations, or for storing petroleum, natural gas, or other products.

    (((20))) (22) "Well contractor" means a resource protection well contractor and a water well contractor.

    Sec. 2.  RCW 18.104.055 and 1993 c 387 s 9 are each amended to read as follows:

    (1) A fee is hereby imposed on each well constructed in this state on or after July 1, 1993.

    (2)(a) The fee for one new water well, other than a dewatering well, with a minimum top casing diameter of less than twelve inches is one hundred dollars.

    (b) The fee for one new water well, other than a dewatering well, with a minimum top casing diameter of twelve inches or greater is two hundred dollars.

    (c) The fee for a new resource protection((, observation, and monitoring)) well, except for an environmental investigation well, is forty dollars for each well.

    (d) There is a fee for all environmental investigation wells in which ground water is sampled.  The minimum fee is forty dollars for construction of up to four environmental investigation wells per project.  A ten-dollar fee is required for each additional environmental investigation well constructed on projects with more than four wells.  No fees may be imposed on environmental investigation wells used only for soil or vapor sampling purposes.

(e) The combined fee for construction and decommissioning of a dewatering well system shall be forty dollars for each two hundred horizontal lineal feet, or portion thereof, of the dewatering well system.

    (3) The fees imposed by this section shall be paid at the time the notice of well construction is submitted to the department as provided by RCW 18.104.048.  The department by rule may adopt procedures to permit the fees required for resource protection wells to be paid after the number of wells actually constructed has been determined.  The department shall refund the amount of any fees collected for any water wells on which construction is not started.  The fees for resource protection wells are nonrefundable.

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