Merced County received more than 400 applications for well permits in seven months after passing its groundwater ordinance in March.
The ordinance was passed during California’s fourth year of drought in order to protect groundwater resources from being moved outside the county’s basins, to protect water rights and to decrease the rate of subsidence. The ordinance also placed stricter constraints around who would be given a permit for a new well.
From April through October, 465 applications for well permits were submitted to the county. More than 65 percent, or 304 applications, were approved. Out of those approved, 222 were for domestic wells and 82 were for irrigation wells.
“For the most part, the ordinance is working the way it was meant to,” said Mike North, a county spokesman.
Applications for well permits aren’t cheap. For a domestic well permit, applicants pay $765. For an irrigation well permit, the cost is $259.
More than 80 people were approved for the county’s Emergency Water Distribution Program. The relief program, funded through the California Disaster Assistance Act and the governor’s office of environmental services, was developed to help those who are waiting either to have their wells fixed or to gain access to another water supply, such as through a municipal system. The county began accepting applications Aug. 1.
County residents without well water are eligible to receive water deliveries to their houses: 1 gallon of drinking water per person per day; and up to 50 gallons per person per day for bathing, cleaning and other non-potable use.
Many who apply for a permit to drill a domestic well meet an exemption in the county ordinance, North said, so their application is approved.
A small number of applicants require further review before being approved for a permit. Five applicants require review under the California Environmental Quality Act, meaning they must undergo an initial study to determine whether they will need to undergo a complete environmental impact report. These applicants are seeking to drill irrigation wells in areas that may be subject to subsidence, water quality issues or other issues, North said.