Well pump service areas around Suffolk
Wellborne repairs and replaces well pumps, tanks and controls, drills and seals wells, and tests and treats well water for homes, farms and businesses in Suffolk and the communities within about 30 miles. Well rules come from the Virginia Department of Health office that covers each locality, and the wells themselves differ from place to place.
Suffolk and its villages
Well permits: VDH Western Tidewater Health District
Suffolk covers about 400 square miles, from the Nansemond and James rivers in the north to the North Carolina line, with the Great Dismal Swamp on its eastern side. Many rural homes in Whaleyville, Holland, Chuckatuck and the other villages rely on private wells, while much of downtown and North Suffolk is on public water.
Most Suffolk house wells are deep. In a Virginia Cooperative Extension clinic of 204 Suffolk households, 59% of owners reported wells over 300 feet and the average was 371 feet, with 17% under 50 feet. USGS mapping shows the Yorktown-Eastover aquifer absent in the southwestern part of the city, so wells there reach deeper units. Clinic samples showed fluoride above the federal limit in 19% and coliform in 21%.
- Whaleyville
- Holland
- Chuckatuck
- Driver
- Crittenden
- Eclipse
- Hobson
- downtown and North Suffolk
Isle of Wight County: Smithfield, Windsor and Carrollton
Well permits: VDH Western Tidewater Health District
Isle of Wight shares Suffolk's Coastal Plain aquifers and its health district. A Virginia Household Water Quality Program summary for the county recorded reported well depths from 35 to 700 feet, total coliform in 62% of samples, first-draw lead above 0.015 mg/L in 24%, and sodium and fluoride among the most common findings.
Whether a property near a county water main must connect, and on what terms, is a county question confirmed per address. The well rules themselves, permits, setbacks and disinfection, are the same state rules as in Suffolk.
- Smithfield
- Windsor
- Carrollton
- Rushmere
- Zuni
Virginia Beach
Well permits: VDH Virginia Beach Health Department
Most private wells in northern Virginia Beach are shallow irrigation wells. USGS reports that water below roughly 150 to 200 feet under the city is too salty to use, so deeper is not automatically better. The Health Department offers a Class IV Express Well Application for non-drinking wells on properties without an active septic system.
- Pungo
- Blackwater
- Creeds
- Sandbridge
- Kempsville
Southern Chesapeake
Well permits: VDH Chesapeake Health District
Rural southern Chesapeake has private wells on larger lots and farms. Well permits there come from the Chesapeake Health District rather than Western Tidewater, and Chesapeake is one of the localities Virginia law allows to require well water testing before a building permit. Whether a particular ordinance applies is confirmed per address.
- Deep Creek
- Hickory
- St. Brides
- Fentress
Southampton County and Franklin
Well permits: VDH Western Tidewater Health District
Southampton County and the City of Franklin draw from the same Coastal Plain aquifer system. Reports on Virginia DEQ's recent groundwater analysis describe long-standing water-level declines around large industrial withdrawals near Franklin. A pump set with little margin above the pumping level is the first to feel a falling water level, so the level is checked whenever a pump is pulled.
- Franklin
- Courtland
- Boykins
- Ivor
Portsmouth, Norfolk, the Peninsula and Surry
Well permits: Local VDH office for each locality
These areas are mostly on public water, so well work here is usually irrigation wells, outlying homes and farms. Permits for any new or deepened well come from the local VDH office for each locality.
- Portsmouth
- Norfolk
- Hampton
- Newport News
- Surry County
North Carolina
Gates County, North Carolina, sits within 30 miles of Suffolk, but North Carolina licenses well contractors separately: a certified well contractor must be present for pump installation, repair and disinfection. Ask on the call whether a North Carolina property can be served.