It is the purpose of this chapter to protect the health, safety and general welfare of the people of the City of Roseville by ensuring that the ground waters of the city will not be polluted or contaminated. It is also the purpose of this chapter that all ground waters be used to the benefit of the people of the City of Roseville. To this end, minimum requirements are contained in this chapter for construction, reconstruction, repair, use and destruction of water wells, cathodic protection wells, monitoring wells, and soil boring activities undertaken to investigate the environmental condition or waterbearing capacities of a property.
(Ord. 2895 § 1, 1995)
Except as otherwise required by the context of this chapter, the terms used in this chapter shall have the same meaning as in Chapter 10 of Division 7 of the California Water Code and the Department of Water Resources Bulletin 74-90 (Bulletin 74-90) and subsequent supplements or revisions.
The meaning of terms used in this chapter shall be as follows:
"Abandoned well"
means a well that has not been used for one year or more unless the owner demonstrates an intent to use the well again pursuant to Bulletin 74-90.
"Permittee"
means any person granted a well permit pursuant to this chapter.
"Person"
means any individual, partnership, copartnership, firm, company, corporation, association, joint stock company, trust, estate, governmental entity or any other legal entity, or their legal representatives, agents or assigns. The masculine gender shall include the feminine and the singular shall include the plural where indicated by the context.
"Well" or "water well"
means any artificial excavation constructed by any method for the purpose of extracting water from, or injecting water into, the underground, and further including agricultural wells, monitoring wells and wells excavated to investigate the environmental condition of a property, but exclusive of wells used solely for the purpose of dewatering excavations during construction or stabilizing hillsides or embankments.
"Well permit" or "permit"
means a permit for a well issued pursuant to this chapter.
(Ord. 2895 § 1, 1995)
No person shall dig, bore, drill, deepen, modify, repair or destroy a water well, cathodic protection well, observation well, monitoring well or any other excavation that may intersect ground water without first applying for and receiving a well permit as provided in this chapter unless exempted by law.
(Ord. 2895 § 1, 1995)
A. 
Applications for well permits shall be made to the environmental utilities director on forms provided by the city and shall contain all information as required by the city to accomplish the purposes of this chapter. Each application shall be accompanied by a site assessment work plan.
B. 
The city manager, or designee, shall determine if the applicant shall be required to obtain consideration and/or approval of the Regional Water Quality Control Board prior to the issuance of the well permit by the environmental utilities director or designee.
(Ord. 2895 § 1, 1995; Ord. 6500 § 18, 2022)
A. 
Applicable fees as established by resolution adopted by the city council, as amended from time to time, shall be paid prior to issuance of a well permit.
B. 
All construction, reconstruction or destruction of wells shall be by a person who possesses an active class C-57 contractors' license issued in accordance with the provisions of the Contractors' State License Law, Business and Professions Code, Section 7000 et seq.
C. 
As a condition of each well permit, the permittee shall be responsible for the safe and appropriate handling and disposal of drilling fluids and all other drilling materials used in connection with the permitted work.
D. 
It shall be the responsibility of the permittee to maintain a copy of the permit as issued at the drilling site during all stages of well construction or destruction.
(Ord. 2895 § 1, 1995; Ord. 5800 § 37, 2017)
The permittee shall complete the work authorized by the permit within the time and before the date set out in the permit. If there are or have been exceptional circumstances, the environmental utilities director may grant the permittee an extension of no more than 60 days. Upon the expiration of the permit by the environmental utilities director, no further work shall be done unless and until the permittee has received a new permit.
(Ord. 2895 § 1, 1995)
A. 
The environmental utilities director may suspend or revoke any well permit issued pursuant to this chapter, upon a finding that the permittee has violated any of the provisions of this chapter or has misrepresented any material fact in his application or any supporting documents. The environmental utilities director shall give the permittee written notice and an opportunity for a hearing thereon before the city council. If the permittee does not request a hearing within 20 days of the mailing of the notice, the suspension or revocation will take effect.
If in the judgment of the environmental utilities director there is an immediate threat to the public health, safety and welfare, the city shall not be required to give the permittee notice and an opportunity to be heard prior to ordering suspension or revocation. The city shall notify permittee in writing at the earliest possible time, and permittee shall be granted a city council hearing upon written request within 20 days after notice of the suspension or revocation.
B. 
No permittee whose permit has been suspended or revoked shall continue to perform the work for which the permit was granted unless and until, such permit has been reinstated.
C. 
Upon suspending or revoking any permit, the environmental utilities director may order the permittee to perform any work reasonably necessary to protect the underground waters from pollution or contamination, if any work already done by the permittee has left a well in such condition as to constitute a hazard to the quality of the underground waters. No permittee or person who has held any permit issued pursuant to the chapter shall fail to comply with any such order.
(Ord. 2895 § 1, 1995)
Except as otherwise specified, the standards for the construction, repair, reconstruction or abandonment of wells shall be as set forth in Department of Water Resources Bulletin 74-90, the Tri-Regional Water Quality Control Guidelines and supplements or revisions thereto and as set forth in this chapter.
(Ord. 2895 § 1, 1995)
The environmental utilities director may designate areas where ground water quality problems are known to exist and where a well will penetrate more than one aquifer. The environmental utilities director may require in these designated areas special well seal(s) to prevent mixing of water from several aquifers. Where an applicant proposes well construction, reconstruction or destruction work in such an area, the environmental utilities director may require the applicant to provide a report prepared by a registered geologist or registered civil engineer (California Business and Professions Code Sections 6750 and 6762 respectively) that identifies all strata containing poor quality water and recommends the location and specifications of the seal or seals needed to prevent the entrance of poor-quality water or its migration into other aquifers.
(Ord. 2895 § 1, 1995)
The environmental utilities director shall make an inspection of the annular seal construction work. The environmental utilities director may make an initial inspection of each proposed drilling site, an inspection at the completion of the work, and inspections at such other times as it deems appropriate.
A. 
Initial Inspection. Upon receipt of an application, the environmental utilities director may make an inspection of the drilling site prior to the issuance of a well permit. The purpose of this inspection is to determine whether there are any site conditions requiring:
1. 
Relocation of the drilling site should the location shown on the permit application be too close to potential sources of pollution, or
2. 
Additional conditions if needed to remediate any previously unknown ground water quality protection problems.
B. 
Inspection of Well Seal. The environmental utilities director shall inspect the annular space grout depth prior to the sealing.
1. 
The environmental utilities director shall be notified by the permittee a minimum of 24 hours prior to sealing the annular space. Permittees who anticipate completing a well in less than one day shall notify the environmental utilities director 24 hours prior to commencement of drilling and provide the anticipated time to commence the sealing of the annular space.
2. 
If the environmental utilities director wishes to allow a seal to be poured without inspection, the permittee shall seal the well in accordance with the standards of this chapter and any permit conditions. No seal shall be poured until permission to proceed is given. If the environmental utilities director fails to be present at the agreed upon inspection time, the contractor shall contact the environmental utilities director for direction.
C. 
Final Inspection. If requested by the environmental utilities director, the permittee shall notify the environmental utilities director within seven days of the completion of their work at each drilling site. The environmental utilities director may make a final inspection after completion of the work to determine whether the well was completed in accordance with this chapter.
D. 
Waiver of Inspections. The environmental utilities director may waive inspections should any of the following conditions exist:
1. 
The work will be inspected by the staff of the California Regional Water Quality Resources Control Board or the California Department of Health Services if these designated agencies will inspect and report to the city on all drilling features required by the standards.
2. 
The wells are monitoring wells that will penetrate only formations that normally contain no water.
3. 
The drilling site is well known to the city staff and it is known that no significant threats to ground water quality exist in the area.
(Ord. 2895 § 1, 1995)
The permittee shall provide the environmental utilities director a completion report within 30 days of the completion of any well construction, reconstruction or destruction job.
A. 
A copy of the "Report of Completion" (driller's well log) required by California Water Code Section 13751 shall be submitted by the permittee to the city within 30 days of construction or destruction of any well. This report shall document that the work was completed in accordance with the standards and all additional permit conditions.
This section shall not be deemed to release any person from the requirement to file said report with the State Department of Water Resources.
B. 
With the exception of the well driller's name, the date the well was drilled and the well yield, all information contained in this report shall remain confidential.
C. 
Nothing in this chapter shall be deemed to excuse any person from compliance with the provisions of California Water Code Section 13752 relating to notices and reports of completion or any other federal, state or local reporting regulations.
(Ord. 2895 § 1, 1995)
Representatives of the city shall have the right to enter upon any premises at all reasonable times to make inspections and tests for the purpose of such enforcement and administration. If any such premises are occupied, city's representative shall first present proper credentials and demand entry. If the same is unoccupied, a reasonable effort shall be made to locate the owner or other person having charge or control of same and demand entry. If entry is refused, city shall have recourse to such remedies as are provided by law to secure entry.
(Ord. 2895 § 1, 1995)
A. 
Any violation of this chapter, or the orders, rules, regulations or permits issued under this chapter, is unlawful and shall be an infraction or misdemeanor as determined by the city attorney.
B. 
The violation of any of the provisions of this chapter, or the orders, rules, regulations or permits issued under this chapter, or the doing of any act prohibited or the failure or omission to do any act required by this chapter, or the orders, rules, regulations and permits issued under this chapter, is a public nuisance and may be enjoined by the city attorney.
C. 
Remedies Cumulative. The remedies available to the city to enforce this chapter are in addition to any other remedies available under chapter or statute, and do not replace or supplant any other remedy but are cumulative thereto.
(Ord. 2895 § 1, 1995)
Pursuant to California Water Code Section 13225(c), the city shall submit a report, not less than annually, to the California Regional Water Quality Control Board(s) having jurisdiction in their area. This report shall contain the following data, unless the Regional Board determines a lesser amount of information is necessary:
A. 
The number of wells constructed or destroyed;
B. 
Descriptions of all well destructions undertaken by the city using their regulatory authority under nuisance abatement powers;
C. 
A description of each specific case where variances were granted and the circumstances that made a variance necessary;
D. 
A description of each specific case where an inspection was waived and the circumstances that made the waiver necessary.
(Ord. 2895 § 1, 1995)