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Drilling a new water well
Site assessment, drilling, sealing, and the report the Province requires.
A new water well is drilled by a registered well driller under the Groundwater Protection Regulation, sealed with a surface seal at least 5 m long, and finished with casing standing at least 0.3 m above ground. The well identification plate goes on at completion, and the construction report reaches the Province of British Columbia within 90 days, where the record becomes public in GWELLS.
Drilling is the visible part of a new well and the smallest part of the decision. What settles the outcome is where the hole goes, how deep the ground makes it, and whether the paperwork exists afterwards — because that paperwork is what a buyer, a lender or a rezoning application will ask for.
Well drilling on Vancouver Island is priced per foot, and no Island driller publishes a rate, because the number of feet is not knowable in advance. What moves the total is depth to bedrock, how far past it the water is, casing length, whether a screen is needed in sand and gravel, and access for the rig. The surface seal, the plate and the report are constants; the hole is not.
Siting comes before drilling
Two published setbacks decide most of it. A sewerage system must sit 30 m from a domestic water well, and a new water supply well must sit 15 m from an existing one. On a small rural lot with a septic field already in the ground, those two distances can leave a surprisingly narrow window, and the window is found before the rig is booked rather than after.
What "finished" actually means
The Groundwater Protection Regulation sets the construction standard, and it is specific. A water supply well needs a surface seal at least 5 m long and at least 2.54 cm thick in the annular space. The production casing must stand at least 0.3 m above ground. A secure cap must keep out surface water, foreign matter, animals and people. The well must be disinfected after drilling. None of that is optional and none of it is invisible — it is what separates a well from a hole.
The record outlives the driller
On completing drilling, a well identification plate obtained from the comptroller is attached to the well, positioned so the number is plainly visible. The construction report goes to the Province within 90 days and lands in GWELLS, the public Groundwater Wells and Aquifers database. A well with no record is not illegal if it predates the requirement, but it is a gap that shows up at the worst moment — usually during a sale.
What a new well includes
Bedrock well
Cased through overburden and drilled into fractured rock, the common result across most of the region.
Sand-and-gravel well
Screened in unconsolidated deposits where they exist, usually shallower and higher yielding.
Wellhead completion
Surface seal, casing stick-up, secure cap, disinfection, identification plate and the filed report.
How a new well gets drilled
- 1
Records and site walk — existing GWELLS records for the aquifer reviewed, and every setback measured on the ground.
- 2
Drilling — cased through the overburden, then into bedrock or screened in sand and gravel, depending on what is beneath the site.
- 3
Surface seal and wellhead — seal placed, casing left standing above grade, cap fitted.
- 4
Development and disinfection — the well cleaned up and disinfected before it is handed over.
- 5
Plate and report — identification plate attached on completion, construction report filed within 90 days.
What is under this part of the Island
Depth here is a consequence, not a target. Aquifer 162 under Cedar and Yellow Point is fractured DeCourcy Formation sandstone with a median well depth around 50 m and a median yield near 2 US gallons a minute. Immediately west at Cassidy, sand and gravel sits at a median 13 m and gives roughly twenty — about a quarter of the depth for ten times the water. At Errington, Haslam Formation shale runs to a median 60 m for about 3 gallons a minute. On Gabriola Island the median is near 105 feet into Nanaimo Group rock. A quote given before anyone knows which of those a property sits on is a guess.
In practice
- Situation
- A 2-hectare lot at Errington, new build, no existing well.
- Complication
- The neighbouring well record showed 3 gallons a minute at 61 m, and the only building envelope sat inside 30 m of the planned septic field.
- Resolution
- The well moved to the far side of the driveway to clear both setbacks, and the design accepted a lower yield with storage rather than chasing depth for water the formation does not hold.
People also ask
Can a homeowner drill their own well in British Columbia?
Not a drilled well. Under the Groundwater Protection Regulation a drilled well must be constructed by a registered well driller or under one's supervision. An excavated well 15 m deep or less may be constructed by anyone, provided every requirement in the regulation is still met.
Does a household well need a water licence?
No. Domestic groundwater use is exempt from licensing and from provincial water fees and rentals. Non-domestic use — irrigation, commercial, industrial, waterworks — does require a licence, and the registration window for existing non-domestic users closed on 1 March 2022.
How deep will the well have to be?
Nobody knows before drilling. Published medians for the aquifer give a realistic expectation — around 50 m at Cedar, 60 m at Errington — but a median is not a promise, and records in the same aquifer include dry holes past 90 m.
What happens to the well record?
The construction report is filed with the Province within 90 days and becomes part of GWELLS, the public Groundwater Wells and Aquifers database. Anyone can look up a well record afterwards.
Two things usually settle before a rig is booked — the pump that will go in it, what the Province requires, what moves the price and drilling at Errington.
Find out what is under the property.
Free site assessments across Electoral Areas A, B, E and F.