Iowa Admin. Code r. 567-49.6 - Private well construction permit issuance, conditions, expiration, and denial

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(1) Issuance. Upon receipt of a complete application, the department or contracting county shall issue a private well construction permit to the landowner or landowner's agent, except as provided in 49.6(6).

(2) Not a water withdrawal permit. Each permit shall include notification that a private well construction permit is not a water withdrawal permit and does not eliminate the necessity of obtaining any water withdrawal permits required in 567-Chapters 50 and 53 through 55 for water withdrawal in excess of 25,000 gallons of water per day from any source or combination of sources in the state of Iowa.

(3) Construction by certified well contractor. Each well construction permit shall require that each well be constructed by a certified well contractor in compliance with this chapter and 567-Chapter 82.

(4) Transferability. A private well construction permit is not transferable.

(5) Expiration. A private well construction permit shall expire one calendar year from the date of issuance. If the well construction is not started prior to the permit expiration date, a new application plus a new nonrefundable fee must be filed with the department or the county pursuant to 49.5(2).

(6) Permit denial. The department or contracting county may deny a private well construction permit in the following circumstances:

a. If granting the permit would lead to the violation of state law, could result in groundwater contamination, or would lead to withdrawal from a protected source;

b. If the well could threaten public health or the environment; or

c. If the well would be an underground agricultural drainage injection well.

(7) Appeal of permit denial. Any applicant aggrieved by a decision issued under the provisions of this chapter may file a notice of appeal with the director. The notice of appeal must be filed within 30 days of the date of the permit decision. The form of the notice of appeal and appeal procedures are governed by 561-Chapter 7. Appeal of a permit denied by a county that has been delegated authority to issue private well construction permits shall be administered by the county in accordance with its appeal or judiciary review process. Appeal to the department is possible only when the appeal involves well design or construction variances or if delegation to the county is suspended, rescinded, or revoked.

Notes

Iowa Admin. Code r. 567-49.6

Adopted by IAB May 14, 2025/Volume XLVII, Number 23, effective 6/18/2025

State regulations are updated quarterly; we currently have two versions available. Below is a comparison between our most recent version and the prior quarterly release. More comparison features will be added as we have more versions to compare.

Wells shall be located with consideration given to the lot size, contour, porosity and absorbency of the soil, local groundwater conditions, flooding, and other factors necessary to implement the rules. The lack of specific distances to other possible sources of contamination, such as refuse disposal sites and high-pressure gas lines, does not minimize their potential hazard. These must be evaluated in each particular situation and a distance arrived at that is based on pertinent facts. The well contractor shall consult the administrative authority for assistance in determining a proper distance in such cases.

(1) Minimum distances. The following minimum lateral distances from all private wells shall apply for the common structures or sources of contamination listed in the following table.

Table 49.6(1) Minimum Lateral Distances, Private Wells

Structure or Source of Contamination	Minimum Lateral Distance (feet)
	Shallow Well¹	Deep Well¹
Public water supply well	400	200
Formed manure storage structure, confinement building, feedlot solids settling facility, open feedlot	200	100
Transmission pipelines (including, but not limited to, fertilizer, liquid petroleum, or anhydrous ammonia) if a more restrictive setback is not set by the pipeline owner	200	100
	All Private Wells
Earthen manure storage basin, runoff control basins and anaerobic lagoons (see subrule 49.6(2) below)	1000
Drainage wells	1000
Solid waste landfills and disposal sites²	1000
Domestic wastewater lagoon	400
Preparation or storage area for spray materials, commercial fertilizers or chemicals that may result in groundwater contamination	150
Existing wells that do not conform to this chapter	100
Liquid hydrocarbon storage tanks, except for liquid propane gas (LPG)	100
Private sewage disposal systems - open portion of treatment system³	100
Private sewage disposal systems - closed portion of treatment system³	50
Flowing streams or other surface water bodies	25
LPG storage tanks	15
Roadside ditch and road rights-of-way	15
Existing wells that conform to this chapter	10
Sewer of cast iron with leaded or mechanical joints, sewer of plastic pipe with glued or compression joints, independent clear water drains, cisterns, well pits, or pump house floor drains	10
Yard hydrants	10
Frost pit	10
Property lines (unless a mutual easement is signed and recorded by both parties)	4

¹"Deep well" and "shallow well" are defined in 567-49.2 (455B).

²Solid waste means garbage, refuse, rubbish, and other similar discarded solid or semisolid materials, including but not limited to such materials resulting from industrial, commercial, agricultural, and domestic activities.

³Private sewage disposal system is defined in 567-subrule 69.1(2). Open portions of treatment systems include subsurface absorption systems, mound systems, intermittent sand filters, constructed wetlands, open bottom media filters, and waste stabilization ponds. Closed portions of treatment systems include septic tanks, aerobic treatment units, fully contained media filters, and impervious vault toilets. These separation distances also apply to septic systems that are not considered privately owned.

(2) Exception to minimum lateral distances. The minimum separation distance between a well and an anaerobic lagoon, earthen manure slurry storage basin, earthen manure storage basin, or runoff control basin shall be 400 feet if the lagoon or basin was permitted by the department after January 1, 1989, or if the applicant demonstrates through percolation testing that the seepage loss through the lagoon or basin does not exceed 1/16 inch per day (0.0625 inch/day). The percolation test shall meet the requirements of ASTM-1587 and 567-subrule 65.15(11).

(3) Frost pits. Wells are not permitted to be located within frost pits. Frost pits that do not contain wells are permitted for the purpose of housing pressure tanks and valves, for example, provided the frost pits are not located closer than ten feet from any well.

(4) Relation to buildings. The well shall be located so that no building interferes with reasonable access for cleaning, treatment, repair, testing, inspection and other maintenance. Wells shall not be located in basements.

(5) Easements. No well shall be located on a property not owned by the well owner unless an easement allowing such placement is reviewed and approved by the administrative authority and the easement is legally recorded.

Notes

Iowa Admin. Code r. 567-49.6

Amended by IAB February 9, 2022/Volume XLIV, Number 16, effective 3/16/2022