[HISTORY: Adopted by the Borough Council of the Borough of Riverside as indicated in article histories. Amendments noted where applicable.]
GENERAL REFERENCES
Sewers — See Ch. 225.
[Adopted 2-4-2013 by Ord. No. 02-04-13]
This article applies to all water extraction wells that are installed or altered in the Borough of Riverside after the effective date of the article. This article requires licensed well drillers to submit information to the Borough of Riverside both prior to and after drilling or altering a water extraction well.
Water extraction wells must be installed or altered by a water well driller that is licensed by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.
At least 15 days prior to commencing a well drilling or alteration activity, the water well driller must submit a notification letter to the Borough of Riverside, which includes the following information:
A. 
Name of the person or firm who will perform the work on the well, and their Commonwealth of Pennsylvania water well driller license number;
B. 
Name and address of the property owner;
C. 
The location of the new or altered well within the Borough of Riverside, including a written description or a map;
D. 
Proposed use of the well water (drinking water, heating/cooling, irrigation, public water supply, etc.); and
E. 
Number of households using the well (single-family home, duplex, apartment building, etc.).
The water well driller must provide a report to the Borough within 30 days of the completion of any well construction or alteration. This report must be either:
A. 
A copy of the information the well driller is required to submit to the Pennsylvania Bureau of Topographic and Geologic Survey; or
B. 
A copy of the owner's report that the well driller is required to provide to the owner of the well; or
C. 
A report that includes at a minimum the following information: date well drilled or altered, well location, well depth, well open or screened interval, and well yield.
As used in this article, the following terms shall have the meanings indicated:
CLOSED-LOOP GEOTHERMAL SYSTEM
A type of geothermal heating and/or cooling system that utilizes a pressurized heat exchanger consisting of pipe, a circulating pump, and a water-source heat pump in which the heat transfer fluid is not exposed to the atmosphere. The heat transfer fluid is potable or beneficial reuse water and may have approved antifreeze added.
OPEN-LOOP GEOTHERMAL SYSTEM
A type of geothermal heating and/or cooling system that utilizes a water-supply well and a water pump to deliver groundwater to a water-source heat pump. The discharge water from the water-source heat pump may be returned to the subsurface through a recharge well or infiltration bed, or may be discharged into a pond, lake, or stream. A spring may also be the source of the groundwater supply.
WATER EXTRACTION WELL
A. 
A well constructed by any method for the purpose of extracting water from the ground for any purpose, including, but not limited to:
(1) 
Drinking water wells;
(2) 
Wells used to provide water for irrigation;
(3) 
Open loop geothermal heat exchange wells which extract groundwater from one location and discharge it to another; and/or
(4) 
Pumping wells used for groundwater remediation purposes.
B. 
For the purposes of this article, water extraction wells do not include the following:
(1) 
Closed loop geothermal heat exchange wells; and/or
(2) 
Groundwater monitoring wells.
WATER EXTRACTION WELL ALTERATION
Any action which necessitates entering a well with drilling tools, treating a well to increase yield, altering the physical structure or depth of a well, blasting a well, or removing or replacing a well casing.
This article will be superior to all other ordinances or parts of ordinances in conflict herewith; the same are hereby repealed.
If any section, subsection, sentence, clause or phrase of this article is, for any reason, held to be unconstitutional, such decision shall not affect the validity of the remaining portions of this article. The Borough of Riverside hereby declares that it would have passed this article, and each section, subsection, clause or phrase thereof, irrespective of the fact that any one or more sections, subsections, sentences, clauses and phrases be declared unconstitutional.
Nothing in this article hereby adopted shall be construed to affect any suit or proceeding pending in any court, or any rights acquired, or liability incurred, or any cause or causes of action acquired or existing, under any act or ordinance hereby repealed, nor shall any just or legal right or remedy of any character be lost, impaired or affected by this article.
This article and the rules, regulations, provisions, requirements, orders and matters established and adopted hereby shall take effect and be in full force and effect on February 4, 2013, from and after the date of its final passage and adoption.