This chapter shall be known and may be cited as the "Salem Township, Wayne County, Well Site Location Ordinance."
[HISTORY: Adopted by the Board of Supervisors of the Township of Salem as indicated in article histories. Amendments noted where applicable.]
[Adopted 4-14-2015]
The intention of this chapter is to require well site locations to assure minimum isolation distances between water wells and sewage disposal systems to insure and protect the quality of domestic water supplies for occupied structures within the Township.
These provisions shall apply to all water wells which are not yet in operation or otherwise in operable condition at the time of adoption of this chapter.
Any water well drilled within the Township after the adoption of this chapter shall be constructed at a minimum distance of 100 feet from any existing subsurface sewage disposal drain field or from any proposed location as depicted upon an approved subdivision map and/or lot improvement map, including any such map depictions upon adjacent properties.
Before any construction, drilling, digging, reconstruction, or redrilling for any water well shall commence, the well driller, contractor who is to actually perform the work, or his duly authorized agent, or the record owner of land upon which drilling, construction, digging or redrilling or reconstruction is to occur, shall apply for and receive a permit for said purpose from Salem Township. Application for such a well permit shall be made upon a form supplied by the Township and shall be submitted to the Township or a duly authorized officer of the Township.
The application submitted to the Township shall set forth the following information before said application shall be deemed properly submitted and a permit may be issued:
A.
Name and address of the applicant and an identification of the relationship of said applicant to the owner of lands for which the water well is to be constructed;
B.
Name and address of the property owner(s);
C.
The address and location of the property within the Township;
D.
A depiction of all existing or proposed buildings, septic tanks, sewage drain fields on the property, and a site location of the proposed well;
E.
A depiction of the boundary lines of the property where the proposed water well is to be located and identification of adjoining lands nearest to the proposed water well; and
F.
A copy of any approved subdivision map or land improvement map which depicts the location or proposed location of septic tanks and sewage drain fields upon the property for which a water well is proposed and any adjoining lot or lands for which a septic tank and sewage drain field are located or proposed to be located.
Upon submission of an application for a well permit, the Township, through its duly authorized permit officer, shall perform an inspection of the proposed well site to assure compliance with the provisions of this chapter. Inspection shall occur within 10 days of receipt of the application by the Township. Upon completion of the inspection, the permit officer shall:
A.
Upon completion of construction and upon request to verify the location of the construction of the water well, the Township, by and through its permit officer, shall perform a final inspection of the well site to verify compliance with the permit issued.
B.
In the event that a request to inspect is not made by the Township, the well permit officer may, at such later time as he or she deems appropriate, conduct an inspection to verify compliance with the permit issued.
Any person, firm, corporation, partnership or limited-liability company that violates the provisions of this chapter by failing to obtain a well permit prior to construction or reconstruction of a water well, or failing to comply with the approved water well site location, shall be brought before a magisterial district judge in accordance with the enforcement of summary offenses and, upon conviction, shall be sentenced to pay a fine of not less than $100 nor more than $300, together with costs of prosecution. In default of payment of such fine, the defendant shall be sentenced to imprisonment for a period of time not to exceed 10 days. The Township's Solicitor may assume charge of the prosecution without the consent of the District Attorney as required under the applicable Pennsylvania Rules of Criminal Procedure relating to trial in summary cases.
Applications for a water well permit shall be accompanied by a fee determined by the Salem Township Board of Supervisors by a resolution establishing a fee schedule.