The governing body has determined that it is in the best interests of the health, safety, and welfare of the community that all drilling of new private domestic wells and new private commercial wells is specifically prohibited when a water user’s property line is within three hundred feet (300') of a serviceable water line unless the water user is excepted from this requirement.
A. 
New domestic wells within town limits prohibited.
After the effective date hereof, no person within town limits may drill a new domestic well if the property line of the place of use of the water is within three hundred feet (300') of a serviceable water distribution line, and the town has the capability and capacity to provide water service to the subject property. For the purpose of this section, “capability” means the town has sufficient water rights to provide water to the property; “capacity” shall mean the ability of the town’s wells and other points of diversion have sufficient capacity to produce the water and sufficient space in the storage distribution system to provide water to the property.
If the property line is located more than three hundred feet (300') from a serviceable water line and the property owner drills a new domestic well, the well shall be drilled and completed to comply with the well construction standards set forth in article V of this chapter and the total amount of water diverted from the well shall not exceed 0.33 acre-foot per year. The well shall be equipped with a totalizing flow meter installed on the discharge line and meter readings shall be submitted to the planning department in January of each year.
This section is subject to appeal to the town council for hardship determination. “Hardship” for the purpose of this section shall mean that the town does not have the capability of capacity to provide water to service to properties within three hundred feet (300') of a water line; or if the cost of connecting to the town’s service is greater than the cost of drilling a new domestic well as required by section 3-53-1.1 New Mexico Statutes Annotated.
B. 
Existing water wells within town limits; requirements.
Any well in existence within the town limits on or before the effective date hereof is exempted from the well construction requirements set forth in article V of this chapter, until such time as such well needs to be replaced.
(Ordinance 03-04, sec. 1, adopted 2003)
A. 
Permit fees for any newly constructed or installed private domestic well shall be as set forth in the fee schedule in appendix A of this code.
B. 
Fees for each additional inspection for approval and evaluation purposes shall be as set forth in the fee schedule.
(Ordinance 03-04, sec. 1, adopted 2003; Ordinance adopting 2023 Code)