[Adopted 5-24-1988 by Ord. No. 173]
The Township does hereby determine and state
that within the area of Doylestown Township demands upon available
groundwater supplies have developed or threaten to develop to such
a degree as to create a water shortage. Accordingly, no person, firm,
corporation or other entity within the Township shall withdraw groundwater
for any purpose by use of a well, except as permitted by this article
and the regulations herein set forth.
The following words or phrases, when used in
this article, shall have the meanings ascribed to them in this article,
except where the context clearly indicates a different meaning:
Except in the case of the free-flowing wells, capacity is
construed to mean the daily capacity of the pumps installed and not
the contemplated draft.
All acts necessary to the construction of wells, such as
drilling, boring, coring, washing, digging, driving or jetting.
A corporation, partnership, municipal authority or association,
as well as a natural person.
The Township of Doylestown.
Waters of underground streams, channels, artesian basins
and other bodies of water in and under the ground, whether percolating
or otherwise.
Any excavation that is drilled, cored, washed, driven, dug
or otherwise constructed for the location, diversion or acquisition
of underground waters or charging of water into underground strata.
Any water well contractor, his employee or representative
in charge of drilling or otherwise constructing a well.
A.
Where a person proposes to locate and drill or have
redrilled any well with a capacity of less than 1,000 gallons per
day, he or she shall make written application to the Township Manager
on forms supplied by the Township. The written application shall be
executed by the applicant, which application shall set forth but not
be limited to the following information:
B.
Where a person proposes to locate and drill or have
redrilled any well with a capacity of 1,000 gallons or more per day
or proposes a building and/or development project involving multiple
wells upon the same development site or subdivision, he or she shall
make written application to the Board of Supervisors on forms supplied
by the Township.
C.
All applications for subdivisions and/or land development
which involve a groundwater withdrawal of 1,000 gallons per day or
more shall be required to submit a hydrogeological report which shall
contain the following:
(1)
General report requirements.
(b)
Reports shall keep statements concerning regional
hydrogeologic conditions to a minimum. Reports shall place an emphasis
on site-specific and Township specific hydrogeologic conditions.
(c)
The text of reports shall contain only pertinent
data, analyses and methods used to arrive at significant conclusions.
Appendices may contain raw and summary data.
(d)
All figures contained within reports shall contain
complete legends, titles and scales.
(e)
All numerical parameters within reports shall
be presented with appropriate units, and all data shall be referenced
by source, date, location and time, where appropriate.
(f)
Every report shall contain a topographic site
map at a minimum scale of one inch equals 2,000 feet, clearly showing
the location of the proposed site relative to the entire Township
boundary.
(g)
All maps contained within reports, used to describe
site-specific features and impacts of the site, shall include, as
a minimum:
(h)
The report shall be expanded to provide a conclusive
assessment of expected conditions and impacts of the proposed development
if these general report requirements are insufficient to do so.
(2)
Water quality analysis.
(a)
The report shall contain a water quality analysis which shall include all of the parameters required by the “Standards for Water Quality and Quantity of Private Wells." The water quality analysis shall be conducted on a pumped water sample collected just prior to the completion of a forty-eight-hour pumping test [see Subsection C(3) below]. Water samples shall be required from each geologic unit from which a withdrawal is proposed and for every required pumping test.
(b)
The test report shall contain the data from
the above analyses, along with interpolated (for the site) values,
range of values and drinking water standard values. All laboratory
analyses shall be included in the appendix to the report.
(c)
The report shall contain existing water quality
data obtained from nearby adjacent groundwater sources.
(d)
The report shall contain anticipated water quality
impacts on areas downgrade and along geologic strike, assuming conservatively
large loadings and low natural recharge rates equal to a one-year-in-ten
frequency.
(3)
Water quantity analysis.
(a)
The report shall contain a water quantity analysis which shall include locations and design of proposed wells and wells servicing each adjacent land parcel if the well(s) is located within the area defined under Subsection C(1)(g) above.
(b)
The report shall contain a current water table
contour map (feet above mean sea level) based on available groundwater
and surface water monitoring points. For sites greater than 100 acres,
there shall be at least one site for each 33 acres of the site.
(c)
The report shall contain existing geologic and
soils maps, updated with site-specific refinements.
(d)
The report shall contain the result of a minimum
forty-eight-hour pumping test with the following features:
[1]
The test shall be conducted during a period
of no recharge, unless the influence of recharge can be factored out.
[2]
The test shall include one pumping well (roughly
centered on-site) and at least three observation wells, all completed
in the same geologic unit with their positions surveyed and distributed
along and across geologic strike.
[3]
Analyses shall include all pumping and recovery
calculations of hydraulic conductivities (directions) and storativity,
specific capacity and long-term pumping well yield (tabulated).
[4]
The test shall be conducted with a pumping rate
equal to or greater than the proposed peak groundwater use.
[5]
One pumping test (done separately) shall be
required for each 160 acres of development.
(e)
The report shall contain projected equilibrium
(steady-state) piezometric surface (contour map) of the proposed pumping
scheme, at the end of a sixty-day pumping period without precipitation
recharge.
(f)
The report shall contain an estimate of expected
septic system groundwater recharge, assuming 20% operational and evaporative
losses.
(g)
Where separate wells are proposed for individual
lots, the report shall demonstrate that each well is likely to provide
sufficient (equal to or greater than six gallons per minute) yield.
D.
Upon receipt of the above-required information and
documentation, the Board of Supervisors, after conference and hearing,
if requested by applicant, shall determine if the permit should issue
or not issue.
E.
Before the Board of Supervisors may issue a permit,
however, the applicant or the sponsor of the proposed withdrawal shall
demonstrate to Board of Supervisors that:
(1)
The proposed withdrawal, in conjunction with other
existing withdrawals in the Township, will not exceed safe withdrawal
limits of the groundwater basin, aquifer or aquifer system.
(2)
The proposed withdrawal will not significantly impair
or reduce the flow of perennial streams in the Doylestown area.
(3)
Existing groundwater withdrawals will not be adversely
impacted or will be otherwise assured of adequate supplies in accordance
with the following mitigation measures which the Township may impose:
(a)
Providing an alternative water supply of adequate
quantity and quality to the affected well owner(s);
(b)
Providing financial compensation to the affected
well owner(s) sufficient to cover the costs of acquiring an alternative
water supply of adequate quantity or quality; or
(c)
Such other measures as the Township shall determine
to be just and equitable under the circumstances present in the case
of any individual application.
A.
Private water supply. Where no public water is accessible,
water shall be furnished by the owner on an individual lot basis.
If a well is installed on a lot which contains sewage disposal facilities,
the well shall be of the drilled type, cased and grout-sealed into
the bedrock. The wells shall have a production of not less than six
gallons per minute as established by bailor tests certified by the
well driller or an equivalent test satisfactory to the Township Manager.
Prior to the issuance of a building permit and upon completion of
the installation of any private well, the owner of the premises upon
which the well has been installed shall produce a certificate of potability
(zero colonies per 100 milliliters of total coliform and less than
500 total plate count per milliliter of total bacteria] for water
within the well, a certificate setting forth the rate of flow of water
from the well and information stating the depth to water and the geologic
description. In addition, the quality of the water produced by the
well shall be tested to determine compliance with the following maximum
contaminant limits by a water quality laboratory certified by the
Department of Environmental Resources of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.
(1)
Physical characteristics.
|
Turbidity
|
5 units
| |
|
Color
|
15 units
| |
|
Threshold odor number
|
3 units
| |
|
pH
|
6.5 - 8.5
|
(2)
Chemical characteristics.
|
Chloride
|
250.00 milligrams/liter (parts per million)
| |
|
Nitrate/nitrite nitrogen
|
10.00 milligrams/liter (parts per million)
| |
|
Iron
|
0.30 milligrams/liter (parts per million)
| |
|
Sodium
|
20.00 milligrams liter (parts per million)
| |
|
Manganese
|
0.05 milligrams/liter (parts per million)
| |
|
Copper
|
1.00 milligrams liter (parts per million)
| |
|
Hardness
|
250 milligrams/liter (parts per million)
| |
|
Detergent (MBAS)
|
0.50 milligrams/liter (parts per million)
| |
|
Total dissolved solids
|
500.00 milligrams/liter (parts per million)
| |
|
TCE (trichloroethylene)
|
4.5 micrograms/liter (parts per million)
| |
|
Phenols
|
5.0 micrograms/liter (parts per million)
|
B.
A certificate indicating a representative sample of
the well water was taken by the testing laboratory and compliance
or lack of compliance of the well water, specifying each contaminate
which does not comply, shall be supplied to the Township Manager,
together with the application for an occupancy permit not more than
30 days prior to occupancy.
C.
No occupancy permit will be issued for any lot unless
the lot contains a well which has a production of not less than six
gallons per minute as established by the bailor test or an equivalent
test satisfactory to the Township Engineer and unless the water quality
of the well meets the aforementioned standards or unless the plans
for the building include detailed plans for a treatment system which
is certified by a professional engineer to bring the water into compliance
with the aforementioned standards. In the event that an occupancy
permit is requested, which said application includes a notation that
the buildings plans include a treatment system, it shall be an express
condition to the issuance of any final certificate of occupancy that
the treatment system has been installed and that the water quality
after its treatment is satisfactory according to this article. No
occupancy permit will be issued until such time as water is provided
to the home that meets the conditions of this article.
D.
In addition, the applicant for an occupancy permit
must agree that, in the event that the water is not in compliance
with the aforementioned standards, he will give the purchasers of
the property (if different than the applicant) a copy of the water
certification specifying each contaminant which does not comply with
the standards and a written description, including plans, of the system
which will be installed to bring the water quality into compliance,
together with instructions as to how the system must be maintained.
Fees required pursuant to this article shall
be fixed from time to time by resolution of the Board of Supervisors
of Doylestown Township, which fees shall relate to permit fees, application
costs, etc.[1]
A.
It shall be unlawful for any person to locate, drill,
reactivate or have redrilled any well or to install or have installed
any related pumping equipment until a permit pursuant to this article
shall have been issued hereunder.
B.
Any person who or which shall fail to comply with any of the provisions of this article or shall violate any of the duly approved rules and regulations adopted pursuant to this article shall be guilty of a summary offense and, upon conviction, shall be punishable as provided in § 1-13 of Chapter 1, General Provisions. It is understood and agreed that every day shall be a separate and distinct violation.
[Amended 11-4-1991 by Ord. No. 208]
