Proper construction of new wells and proper reconstruction or abandonment of existing wells is critical to the priority to protect the quality of ground water in Santa Cruz County. A Santa Cruz County Environmental Health Permit for construction, reconstruction or destruction of a well is required throughout the county. New regulations for well permitting are now in effect. To learn more, check out the Well Ordinance Update page.
To construct or abandon a well, you must first contact a well driller with a State Contractor C-57 license to prepare your application for submittal. Environmental Health (EH) maintains a list of qualified well drillers that operate in Santa Cruz County.
Water Wells include:
- Domestic wells – These include individual domestic wells (serving 1-4 primary dwellings) and public wells (serving 5 or more primary dwellings). Drinking water wells serving 1-4 dwellings are required to be permitted by the county as an Individual Water System.
- Water System Well - Public wells (serving 5 or more primary dwellings and less than 199 dwellings) are required to obtain a county permit as a State Small Water System (5-14 connections) or a Small Water System Permit (15-199 connections). Well owners seeking assistance or information about their well should look at the County's Drought Preparedness page.
- Agricultural and Irrigation wells– These wells are used for irrigation purposes only and not for drinking. Along with the application for a permit, a Water Conservation Questionnaire must be completed. Metering is now required for these wells.
Updated Well Permitting Requirements:
Recent amendments to the well permitting process include various measures for improved protection of groundwater and other resources and improved water supply reliability, including requirements for: various measures to reduce impact of wells on groundwater resources, streams and associated public trust resources, karst areas, nearby wells, and designated groundwater extraction concern areas;
The new permitting process relys on a tiered well permitting approach with increasing requirements and review for higher tiers. Wells using over 2 acre-feet and/or supporting non-domestic uses will be required to install a meter and report use.
Tier 1 - De minimis domestic wells and wells using less that 2 acre-feet per year.
Tier 2 - Replacement and Supplemental wells over 2 acre-feet per year
Tier 3 - New wells using between 2-49.9 acre-feet per year
Tier 4 - New wells using over 50 acre-feet per year
All well permits require an application and a water use efficiency questionnaire, higher tiers have additional requirements based on compliance with the code and the Resource Protection Policy. The table below is from the Policy and outlines some basic requirements.
To schedule an in-person or online appointment, use our appointment scheduler: