Pennsylvania Act 1955-610 — WATER WELL DRILLERS LICENSE ACT

Act text

WATER WELL DRILLERS LICENSE ACT
              Act of May 29, (1956) 1955, P.L. 1840, No. 610          Cl. 32
                                  AN ACT

     Defining and providing for the licensing of water well drillers;
        prevention of pollution of underground waters; conferring
        powers and imposing duties on the Bureau of Topographic and
        Geologic Survey; and prescribing penalties and fees. (Title
        amended June 22, 1970, P.L.388, No.123)

        Compiler's Note:  Section 305(b) of Act 18 of 1995, which
            created the Department of Conservation and Natural
            Resources and renamed the Department of Environmental
            Resources as the Department of Environmental Protection,
            provided that the Department of Conservation and Natural
            Resources shall exercise and is vested with the powers
            and duties established by Act 610 of 1955.

        The General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
     hereby enacts as follows:

        Section 1.  Whereas, underground water in the Commonwealth of
     Pennsylvania is a renewable natural resource with a great
     potential for further development; and whereas, it is imperative
     that this resource be developed, in an orderly and reasonable
     manner, without waste, in order to assure sufficient supplies
     for continued population growth and industrial development of
     the Commonwealth.
        Therefore, it is the policy of the General Assembly of the
     Commonwealth of Pennsylvania to take such steps as shall be
     necessary to encourage the orderly development of this resource
     and, to this end, it is imperative that persons engaged in water
     well drilling and the Commonwealth closely cooperate to procure
     detailed information on the ground water resources for the use
     of State officials and the general public in the direction of
     ground water development.
        Section 2.  Short Title.--This act shall be known and may be
     cited as the "Water Well Drillers License Act."
        Section 3.  Definitions.--The following words and phrases,
     when used in this act, shall have the meaning ascribed to them
     in this section, except where the context clearly indicates a
     different meaning:
        (1)  "Water well" shall mean any excavation that is drilled,
     bored, cored, washed, driven, dug, jetted or otherwise
     constructed, when the intended use of such excavation is for the
     location, diversion or acquisition of ground water: Provided,
     however, That no excavation for the purposes of (a) obtaining or
     prospecting for oil, natural gas, minerals or products of mining
     or quarrying, (b) inserting media to repressure oil or natural
     gas bearing formation, storing petroleum or other materials
     shall be deemed a "water well" for the purpose of this act.
        (2)  "Ground waters" shall mean waters of underground
     streams, channels, artesian basins, reservoirs, lakes and other
     occurrences of water in and under the ground, whether
     percolating or otherwise.
        (3)  "Drilling" shall mean all acts necessary to the
     construction of wells, such as drilling, boring, coring,
     washing, jetting, driving and digging.
        (4)  "Department" shall mean the Bureau of Topographic and
     Geologic Survey in the State Planning Board of the Commonwealth
     of Pennsylvania. ((4) amended June 22, 1970, P.L.388, No.123)
        (5)  "Water well driller" shall mean any water well
     contractor who has contracted for the drilling, digging,
     driving, boring, coring, washing, jetting, constructing,
     altering or repairing any water well.
        (6)  "Person" shall mean any natural person, association,
     partnership or corporation. Whenever used in any section
     prescribing and imposing a penalty or imposing a fine or
     imprisonment or both, the term "person," as applied to an
     association, shall include the members thereof and, as applied
     to a corporation, the officers thereof. The provisions of this
     act restricting or regulating the actions of any person shall be
     construed as regulating or restricting the actions of the
     employes and agents of such person.
        (7)  "Well Owner" shall mean any person who owns land used
     for any purpose on which a well has been drilled.
        Section 4.  License Required to Drill Water Wells.--(a)
     After the effective date of this act, no person shall drill a
     water well within the Commonwealth, unless he has first secured
     from the department a license issued in such form and subject to
     such reasonable rules and regulations as the department shall
     prescribe, or unless he is drilling such well within the scope
     of his employment by a licensed well driller.
        (b)  The provisions of this section shall not be applicable
     to--
        (1)  Any farmer performing any function on any land owned or
     leased by him for farming purposes.
        (2)  Any natural person drilling a well on land owned by him
     or of which he is a lessee and used by him as his residence.
        Section 5.  The department may require the well owner to seal
     effectively or fill any abandoned well on his property in
     accordance with the rules and regulations of the department.
        Section 6.  Application.--(a)  Before any water well
     driller's license is issued, application shall be made, in
     writing, to the department on a form prepared and furnished by
     the department. Such application shall contain a statement
     showing (1) the name of the applicant, (2) the business address
     of the applicant, (3) the residence of the applicant, (4) the
     number of drilling rigs the applicant intends to operate during
     the license year and a short description of each rig, (5) such
     additional information as the department may require.
        (b)  An annual license fee of eight dollars ($8.00) shall be
     paid by the applicant at the time he makes application for an
     initial license or renewal thereof. This license fee shall
     permit the licensee to operate one drilling rig. The applicant
     shall also pay an additional fee of five dollars ($5.00) for
     each additional water well drilling rig he operates during the
     license year.
        (c)  The department may, upon payment of a two dollar ($2.00)
     fee, issue a duplicate license or permit to replace a lost or
     destroyed, license or permit.
        (d)  Every licensee shall, prior to acquiring or activating a
     drilling rig with respect to which he has not paid a fee for the
     license year, notify the department, and the department shall
     upon payment of the five dollar ($5.00) fee issue to him a
     permit for such rig.
        Compiler's Note:  Section 6(a) of Act 48 of 1981, which
            provided for the fixing of fees charged by administrative
            agencies, provided that section 6(a) and (b) is repealed
            insofar as it establishes a set fee for any activity
            inconsistent with the fees set forth in Act 48.
        Section 7.  Every license and rig permit issued under the
     provisions of this act shall expire on the last day of May next
     following the date of issue of such license or permit.
        Section 8.  The department shall have the power to suspend or
     revoke the license of any water well driller, if the same was
     obtained through error or fraud, for failure to file the reports
     or maintain the records required by the provisions of this act
     for fraudulent operations or for any other violation of this
     act. Proceedings shall be conducted in accordance with the
     provisions of the Administrative Agency Law, the act approved
     the fourth day of June, one thousand nine hundred forty-five
     (Pamphlet Laws 1388). The department shall have the authority to
     grant new licenses to persons whose licenses have been revoked.
        Section 9.  Every person licensed as a water well driller
     shall write his usual signature with pen and ink in the space
     provided for that purpose on the license issued to him
     immediately upon receipt of such license. The licensee shall
     conspicuously display his license at his principal place of
     business. The person in charge of each drilling rig shall, at
     all times, have in his possession, when engaged in drilling, the
     drilling rig permit issued under the provisions of this act.
        Section 10.  Records and Reports.--(a)  Every licensee shall
     be required to keep a record of each well upon a form to be
     prescribed by the department, setting forth the exact geographic
     location and log of the well containing a description of
     materials penetrated, the size and depth, the diameters and
     lengths of casing and screen installed, the static and pumping
     levels, and the yield and such other information pertaining to
     the construction or operation of the well or wells as the
     department may require, but no water well driller shall be
     required to furnish information as to coal deposits or other
     valuable minerals. This record shall be available to the
     department upon request.
        The department or any authorized representative shall have
     the power to make such inspection and require the taking of such
     samples as may be deemed necessary by the department. Such
     inspections and samples shall not materially increase the
     drilling costs.
        (b)  The department may, when in its discretion it deems it
     proper, require licensees to file, with the department, reports
     containing such data from the records maintained pursuant to
     subsection (a) of this section as the department reasonably
     deems necessary to effectuate the purpose of this act. In no
     case, may the department require such report to be filed prior
     to the elapse of twenty-one (21) days after the completion of
     the well.
        (c)  In addition to the reports and records provided for in
     subsections (a) and (b) of this section, every water well
     driller shall file, with the department within twenty-four (24)
     hours of making a contract to drill a water well, a report in
     the nature of a statement of intention to drill, which shall
     include the name and address of the owner of the well, the
     township and county in which the well is to be located, and the
     approximate date on which the drilling is to commence.
        Section 11.  Penalties.--(a)  Summary offense. Any person who
     shall drill a well in violation of section four of this act
     shall, upon conviction thereof in a summary proceeding, be
     sentenced to pay a fine not to exceed one hundred dollars
     ($100.00) and, in default thereof, to suffer imprisonment not to
     exceed ten (10) days.
        (b)  Misdemeanor. Any person previously convicted of a
     summary offense under the provisions of subsection (a) of this
     section, who shall drill any well or cause any well to be
     drilled in violation of section four of this act, shall be
     guilty of a misdemeanor and, upon conviction thereof, shall be
     sentenced to pay a fine not to exceed five hundred dollars
     ($500,00) or, in default of such fine, to suffer imprisonment
     not to exceed three (3) months.
        (c)  Failure to keep records or file reports. Any licensee
     who shall fail to keep the records or file the reports required
     by this act shall, upon conviction in a summary proceeding, be
     sentenced to pay a fine not to exceed two hundred dollars
     ($200.00) or, in default of payment thereof, suffer imprisonment
     not to exceed ten (10) days.
        (d)  Failure to have drilling rig permit in possession. Every
     person in charge of a drilling rig, who shall fail to have in
     his possession a current permit issued with respect to such
     drilling rig in violation of section nine of this act, shall,
     upon summary conviction, be sentenced to pay a fine not to
     exceed ten dollars ($10.00) or, in default thereof, to suffer
     five (5) days' imprisonment. Every licensee who shall,
     knowingly, permit an employe to be in charge of the operation of
     a drilling rig without having in his possession a current permit
     issued with respect to such rig shall, upon summary conviction,
     be sentenced to pay a fine not to exceed one hundred dollars
     ($100.00) or, in default of such fine, to suffer imprisonment
     not to exceed ten (10) days.
        (e)  Every person to whom a license has previously been
     issued under the provisions of this act, who shall drill a water
     well or permit an employe to drill a water well while such
     person's license is under suspension or after such person's
     license has been revoked and not restored, shall be guilty of a
     misdemeanor, and, upon conviction, shall be sentenced to pay a
     fine not to exceed five hundred dollars ($500.00) or to suffer
     imprisonment for three (3) months, or both.
        (f)  Any water well owner who shall abandon any existing well
     without effectively sealing or filling such well when requested
     to do so by the department shall be guilty of a misdemeanor,
     and, upon conviction, shall be sentenced to pay a fine not to
     exceed five hundred dollars ($500.00) and, in default of such
     fine, to suffer imprisonment not to exceed thirty (30) days.
        Section 12.  The department is hereby authorized, empowered
     and directed to effectuate the provisions of this act and to
     adopt, amend and rescind such reasonable rules and regulations
     as may be necessary to accomplish the purposes of this act.
        Section 13.  All fees payable under this act and all other
     moneys received in connection with the administration thereof,
     together with all fines and penalties collected under the
     provisions of this act for violation of the same and all bail
     forfeited, shall be paid into the State Treasury, and shall be
     credited to the general appropriation of the Bureau of
     Topographic and Geologic Survey in the State Planning Board for
     the purpose of administration of this act. The expenditure of
     these funds for the administration and enforcement of this act
     is hereby authorized and, for these purposes, such funds are
     hereby appropriated.
        (13 amended June 22, 1970, P.L.388, No.123)
        Compiler's Note:  Section 6(a) of Act 48 of 1981, which
            provided for the fixing of fees charged by administrative
            agencies, provided that section 13 is repealed insofar as
            it establishes a set fee for any activity inconsistent
            with the fees set forth in Act 48.
        Section 14.  If any part, section, subsection, sentence,
     clause or phrase in this act shall be held unconstitutional or
     invalid for any reason, such invalidity shall not affect the
     validity of the remaining portions of the act.
        Section 15.  The provisions of this act shall become
     effective June 1, 1956.