Our office strongly recommends a minimum 100-foot setback distance. This is consistent with standards practiced by agricultural industries (e.g., California Dairy Farm Water Protection Handbook) and model well ordinances within multiple states within the USA (e.g., California, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Washington, Nevada).
Further reading
- USA CA, 1999. Dairy Farm Water Protection Handbook. Stanislaus County Department of Environmental Resources, 22p. http://www.stancounty.com/er/milkdairy/pdf/mdbook.pdf
- USA NH, 2019. Site Selection for Private Drinking Water Wells. New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services, WD-DWGB-21-1, 2p. https://www.des.nh.gov/organization/commissioner/pip/factsheets/dwgb/documents/dwgb-21-1.pdf
- USA SC, 2015. Private Wells Frequently Asked Questions. North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services, 2p. https://ehs.ncpublichealth.com/oswp/docs/PrivateWellsFrequentlyAskedQuestions.pdf
- USA WA, 2015. Homeowner’s Guide to Well Construction. Washington State Department of Ecology, 7p. https://fortress.wa.gov/ecy/publications/documents/swr9690.pdf