BILL REQ. #: S-1076.1
State of Washington | 62nd Legislature | 2011 Regular Session |
Read first time 02/03/11. Referred to Committee on Environment, Water & Energy.
AN ACT Relating to wells; and amending RCW 18.104.020.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:
Sec. 1 RCW 18.104.020 and 2005 c 84 s 1 are each amended to read
as follows:
The definitions in this section apply throughout this chapter
unless the context clearly requires otherwise.
(1) "Abandoned well" means a well that is unmaintained or is in
such disrepair that it is unusable or is a risk to public health and
welfare.
(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;
(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 groundwater 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 intended
or used to extract a sample or samples of groundwater, vapor, or soil
from an underground formation and which is decommissioned immediately
after the sample or samples are obtained. An environmental
investigation well is typically installed using direct push technology
or auger boring and uses the probe, stem, auger, or rod as casing. An
environmental investigation well is not a geotechnical soil boring.
(8) "Geotechnical soil boring" or "boring" means a well drilled for
the purpose of obtaining soil samples or information to ascertain
structural properties of the subsurface.
(9) "Ground source heat pump boring" means a vertical boring
constructed for the purpose of installing a closed loop heat exchange
system for a ground source heat pump.
(10) "Groundwater" means and includes groundwaters as defined in
RCW 90.44.035.
(11) "Grounding well" means a grounding electrode installed in the
earth by the use of drilling equipment to prevent buildup of voltages
that may result in undue hazards to persons or equipment. Examples are
anode and cathode protection wells.
(12) "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.
(13) "Monitoring well" means a well designed to obtain a
representative groundwater sample or designed to measure the water
level elevation in either clean or contaminated water or soil.
(14) "Observation well" means a well designed to measure the depth
to the water level elevation in either clean or contaminated water or
soil.
(15) "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.
(16) "Owner" or "well owner" means the person, firm, partnership,
copartnership, corporation, association, other entity, or any
combination of these, who owns the property on which the well is or
will be constructed or has the right to the well by means of an
easement, covenant, or other enforceable legal instrument for the
purpose of benefiting from the well.
(17) "Pollution" and "contamination" have the meanings provided in
RCW 90.48.020.
(18) "Remediation well" means a well intended or used to withdraw
groundwater 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 groundwater contamination.
(19) "Resource protection well" means a cased boring intended or
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, ground source heat pump
boring, grounding wells, and instrumentation wells.
(20) "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.
(21) "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
groundwater. "Water wells" include ground source heat pump borings and
grounding wells.
(22) "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.
(23)(a) "Well" means water wells, resource protection wells,
dewatering wells, and geotechnical soil borings.
(b)(i) "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.
(ii) "Well" does not mean an excavation of less than six feet in
depth, regardless of purpose or method of construction, as long as the
excavation is not conducted on a site regulated under chapter 70.105D
RCW.
(24) "Well contractor" means a resource protection well contractor
and a water well contractor licensed and bonded under chapter 18.27
RCW.