Virginia’s private well regulations were amended effective November 6, 2024. For most owners, day-to-day pump and tank work is unaffected. The changes matter most if you are building, deepening, altering or sealing a well. Wellborne summarizes what the regulation now says.
A written permit for construction, alteration, deepening and abandonment
The current rule says that no person shall construct, alter, abandon or increase the depth of a private well without a written construction permit from the Virginia Department of Health. Conditions may be attached to the permit, and the work must follow them.
For owners, that means:
- Sealing an old well needs a permit, just as drilling a new one does.
- Deepening a well needs a permit.
- Other alterations to the well itself need a permit.
Permits are valid for 18 months, with one 18-month renewal.
What still needs no well permit
The same section is explicit that some common work is not a well alteration:
- Replacing a well pump.
- Replacing a well seal or cap with an equivalent one.
- Extending the well casing vertically above the ground surface.
So a pump replacement, a new cap, or raising a casing that ends too close to the ground does not need a VDH permit. The permit guide sets out which jobs do and do not.
Fees
The VDH fee schedule lists $300 for a private well construction or abandonment permit. The fee regulation also sets out waivers:
- No fee to abandon a well on the owner’s principal place of residence.
- A full refund of a replacement well’s fee once a completion report shows the old well has been permanently and properly abandoned.
- Waivers for owners at or below the federal poverty guidelines.
Disinfection, setbacks and abandonment methods
The amended regulation also sets out, among other things, the disinfection required before a well is placed in service (100 mg/L of chlorine for 24 hours, or an equivalent of at least 1,000 contact units), the separation distances between wells and septic systems, sewer lines and buildings, and the methods and prohibited materials for sealing a well. Rubble such as brick or broken concrete, and flowable fill made with fly ash, cannot be used to fill a well.
Who does the work
Well construction, repair and abandonment in Virginia are done by water well systems providers certified through DPOR at trainee, journeyman or master level. The provider is required to give the health department advance notice before well construction or abandonment so staff can observe if they choose.
What it means for Suffolk owners
If you have an old dug or bored well on your property that is no longer used, it is now clearly a permitted job to seal it, and at your own home there is no permit fee. If a well is being replaced, the old one is usually sealed as a condition of the new well’s permit. Day-to-day repairs to pumps, tanks and controls carry on as before.
For questions about a specific well, call (757) 919-1972.