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 intended or
used to extract a sample or samples of ground water, 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 ((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 intended or 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 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, 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)
The fee for an environmental investigation well in which ground water is
sampled or measured is forty dollars for construction of up to four
environmental investigation wells per project, ten-dollars for each additional
environmental investigation well constructed on a project with more than four
wells. There is no fee 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 wells on which construction is not
started.)) The department shall refund the amount of any fee collected
for wells, borings, probes, or excavations as long as construction has not
started and the department has received a refund request within one hundred
eighty days from the time the department received the fee. The refund request
shall be made on a form provided by the department.
