455B.190 ABANDONED WELLS PROPERLY PLUGGED.
1. As used in this section:
a. "Class 1 well" means a well one hundred feet or less
in depth and eighteen inches or more in diameter.
b. "Class 2 well" means a well more than one hundred feet
in depth or less than eighteen inches in diameter or a bedrock well.
c. "Class 3 well" means a sandpoint well or a well fifty
feet or less in depth constructed by joining a screened drive point
with lengths of pipe and driving the assembly into a shallow sand and
gravel aquifer.
d. "Department" means the department of natural
resources.
e. "Designated agent" means a person other than the
state, designated by a county board of supervisors to review and
confirm that a well has been properly plugged.
f. "Filling materials" means agricultural lime. Filling
materials may also include other materials, including soil, sand,
gravel, crushed stone, and pea gravel as approved by the department.
g. "Owner" means the titleholder of the land where a well
is located.
h. "Plug" means the closure of an abandoned well with
plugging materials which will permanently seal the well from
contamination by surface drainage, or permanently seal off the well
from contamination into an aquifer.
i. "Plugging materials" means filling and sealing
materials.
j. "Sealing materials" means bentonite. Sealing
materials may also include neat cement, sand cement grout, or
concrete as approved by the department.
k. "Well" means an abandoned well as defined in section
455B.171.
2. All wells shall be properly plugged in accordance with the
schedule established by the department. The department shall develop
a prioritized closure program and a time frame for the completion of
the program and shall adopt rules to implement the program. The
schedule established by the department shall provide that to the
fullest extent technically and economically feasible, all wells shall
be properly plugged not later than July 1, 2000.
3. Wells shall be plugged as follows:
a. Class 1 wells shall be plugged by placing filling
materials up to one foot below the static water level. At least one
foot of sealing materials shall be placed on top of the filling
materials up to the static water level, as a seal. Filling materials
shall be added up to four feet below the ground surface. However,
sealing materials may be used to fill the entire well up to four feet
below the ground surface. The casing pipe shall be removed down to
at least four feet below the ground surface and shall be capped with
at least one foot of sealing materials. Obstructions shall be
removed from the top four feet of the ground surface and the top four
feet shall be backfilled with soil and graded.
b. Class 2 wells shall be plugged by placing filling
materials at the bottom of the well up to four feet below the static
water level. At least four feet of sealing material shall be added
on top of the filling material up to the original static water level.
Filling materials shall be placed up to four feet below the ground
surface and the well shall be capped with at least one foot of
sealing material. However, sealing materials may be used to fill the
entire well up to four feet below the ground surface. The upper four
feet of the casing pipe below the ground surface shall be removed.
The top four feet of the ground surface shall be removed of
obstructions and backfilled with soil and graded.
c. Class 3 wells shall be plugged by pulling the casing and
sandpoint out of the ground, and collapsing the hole. The well may
also be plugged by placing sealing materials up to four feet below
the ground surface and by removing the upper four feet of casing pipe
below the ground surface. The top four feet of the ground surface
shall be removed of obstructions and backfilled with soil and graded.
4. The department shall sponsor an advertising campaign directed
to persons throughout the state by print and electronic media
designed to notify owners of the deadline for plugging wells,
penalties for noncompliance, and information about receiving
assistance in plugging wells.
5. An owner may, independent of a contractor, plug a well
pursuant to this section subject to review and confirmation by a
designated agent of the county or a well driller registered with the
department.
6. A person who fails to properly plug a well on property the
person owns, in accordance with the program established by the
department, or as reported by a designated agent or a registered or
certified well contractor, is subject to a civil penalty of up to one
hundred dollars per every five calendar days that the well remains
unplugged or improperly plugged. However, the total civil penalty
shall not exceed one thousand dollars. The penalty shall only be
assessed after the one thousand dollar limit is reached. If the
owner plugs the well in compliance with this section, including
applicable departmental rules, before the date that the one thousand
dollar limit is reached, the civil penalty shall not be assessed.
The penalty shall not be imposed upon a person for improperly
plugging a well until the department notifies the person of the
improper plugging. The moneys collected shall be deposited in the
financial incentive portion of the agriculture management account.
The department of agriculture and land stewardship may provide by
rule for financial incentive moneys, through expenditure of the
moneys allocated to the financial-incentive-program portion of the
agriculture management account, to reduce a person's cost in properly
plugging wells abandoned prior to July 1, 1987. Section History: Recent Form
87 Acts, ch 225, § 305; 89 Acts, ch 286, § 1; 91 Acts, ch 224, §7
Referred to in § 455B.183A, 558.69