§ 13.04.230. Location of city-owned water wells.

A.

Wells shall be located so that there will be no danger of pollution from flooding or from unsanitary surroundings, such as privies, sewage, sewage treatment plants, livestock and animal pens, solid waste disposal sites or underground petroleum and chemical storage tanks and liquid transmission pipelines, or abandoned and improperly sealed wells.

B.

No well site which is within 50 feet of a tile or concrete sanitary sewer, sewerage appurtenance, septic tank, storm sewer, or cemetery; or which is within 150 feet of a septic tank perforated drainfield, areas irrigated by low dosage, low angle spray on-site sewage facilities, absorption bed, evapotranspiration bed, improperly constructed water well, or underground petroleum and chemical storage tank or liquid transmission pipeline will be acceptable for use as a public drinking water supply. Sanitary or storm sewers constructed of ductile iron or polyvinyl chloride (PVC) pipe meeting American Water Works Association (AWWA) standards, having a minimum working pressure of 150 pounds per square inch (psi) or greater, and equipped with pressure type joints may be located at distances of less than 50 feet from a proposed well site, but in no case shall the distance be less than ten feet.

C.

No well site shall be located within 500 feet of a sewage treatment plant or within 300 feet of a sewage wet well, sewage pumping station, or a drainage ditch which contains industrial waste discharges or the wastes from sewage treatment systems.

D.

No well shall be located within 500 feet of animal feed lots, solid waste disposal sites, lands on which sewage plant or septic tank sludge is applied, or lands irrigated by sewage plant effluent.

E.

Livestock in pastures shall not be allowed within 50 feet of water supply wells.

F.

All known abandoned or inoperative wells (unused wells that have not been plugged) within one-quarter-mile of a proposed well site shall be reported to the city and to the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) along with existing or potential pollution hazards. These reports are required for community and nontransient, noncommunity groundwater sources. Examples of existing or potential pollution hazards which may affect groundwater quality include, but are not limited to: landfill and dump sites, animal feedlots, military facilities, industrial facilities, wood-treatment facilities, liquid petroleum and petrochemical production, storage, and transmission facilities, class 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 injection wells, and pesticide storage and mixing facilities. This information must be submitted prior to construction or as otherwise required by the TCEQ executive director.

( Ord. No. 2016-01 , § 1, 1-12-2016)

Editor's note

Ord. No. 2016-01 , § 1, adopted Jan. 12, 2016, has been included herein as superseding former §§ 13.04.230 and 13.04.240, at the editor's discretion. Former §§ 13.04.230 and 13.04.240 pertained to prohibited location of city-owned water wells and sanitary easements—prohibited activities near wells, and derived from Ord. 2001-11 § 1(e), (h).