Which jobs need the county permit
The county's well rules, effective August 17, 2024, make it unlawful to install or modify a well without an approved permit. They define an alteration as entering the well with drilling tools, increasing its yield, changing its structure or depth, blasting, removing or replacing casing, or changing its grouting, curbing or abandonment. The program covers drinking water, geothermal, monitoring and agricultural wells, since the county took over wells that the state Department of Environmental Protection does not regulate in 2007.
The gray area is pump work. The rules' definition of construction excludes installing pumps and pumping equipment, yet the 2026 fee schedule lists pitless adapter installation or replacement as a permitted job, and that fitting is often swapped during a pump repair. Ask your contractor for a written scope and check it with the county's well program at 215-345-3318 before work begins.
What it costs in 2026
The county's 2026 fee schedule (form ADM-71) lists these non-refundable fees:
- New well certification, including three field inspections: $420.
- Each additional field inspection: $270.
- Deepening, casing extension, hydrofracturing, pitless adapter installation or replacement, or abandoning a well: $280.
- Geothermal well permit, up to three holes: $435.
- Homeowner bacteria test of the water supply: $25.
Once the application and fee are complete, the rules give the county seven working days to approve or deny it, and staff field-check the well location first. An approved permit expires if the well isn't drilled within three years.
Where a new well can go
The application (form SA-130) asks for four copies of a plot plan at a scale of at least 1 inch to 50 feet, and every sewage component within 125 feet of the proposed well, on your lot or a neighbor's, should be staked out before approval. The rules set these minimum distances from a drinking water well:
- 100 feet from septic absorption areas, cesspools and seepage pits.
- 50 feet from septic, holding and sewage pump tanks, ponds and streams, and most gravity sewer lines. That drops to 10 feet for cast iron pipe with sealed joints or Schedule 40 PVC with solvent-welded joints.
- 25 feet from storm drains, wetlands and the 100-year floodplain.
- 10 feet from foundations, driveways, property lines and swimming pools.
If the septic system is also being replaced, the county requires a valid septic permit before it will issue the well permit. Our guide to septic repair permits in Bucks County covers that side. Your township may have its own zoning or grading rules on top of this, which is why permit rules differ from one Bucks County township to the next.
Who is allowed to do the work
A new drinking water well must be drilled by a driller licensed by the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, using a rig the state has permitted. Alterations other than abandonment can be done by a licensed driller or a licensed plumber. You can search the state's licensed driller database by name, county served and type of service. DCNR itself warns that a license does not mean a driller knows proper construction practice, and Pennsylvania has no statewide construction or siting standards for private wells. The county rules fill that gap, so ask any bidder how many Bucks County well permits they've pulled.
Inspections to plan for
The driller has to notify the county at least two working days before drilling or modifying the well, and a county inspector must be on site for the casing installation, grouting, pitless adapter work and every permitted alteration. Skipping that notice can get the work stopped and the permit revoked. New drinking water wells need watertight steel casing at least 30 feet deep and 5 feet into bedrock, grouted in place. Before you sign, get in writing who files the application, who pays the fees and who schedules each inspection.
Before anyone drinks the water
The application says the Residential Well Worksheet (form SA-131) must be filed and approved before the water is used for drinking. The rules require disinfection after every alteration and recommend a bacteria test afterward, which becomes required if the home is a rental. The driller must also give you a printed well completion report under state law; keep it with your deed and permit papers, because the next buyer's inspector will ask. To set up a lab test, see how Bucks County homeowners can test private well water.
Don't open the well cap or pull the pump yourself to see what's wrong. Besides the safety risk, an opened well can let surface water and bacteria in, and anything below the cap may need the permit and inspector described above.