Reporting GPS locations for wells?

[Rexles]

A friend of mine told me that the guy drilling his well in NW Ohio has to report the GPS coordinates to the EPA and that the Dept of Homeland Security also has access to this info. Any body out there know why??

 

[Ballvalve]

He probably has a bunker with gunports too. For years, when I do septic percolation tests, the health dept logs in the location on GPS. Fantastic information! Let homeland security come find my old turds, I dont mind. [even though they do not get it]

Wells on GPS worry me a bit about privacy, but then as population grows, that map could be important to big brothers sewerage plans.

Our cell phones already pinpoint us personally, so why care about your well?

 

[Sponsor]

 

[Waterwelldude]

All wells in the state of Texas have to be plotted on a gps map. Its the law.
If it is not done, the driller faces very big fines and the possible loss of his or her license.

 

[jimtum]

As water well dude said in Texas all wells must be reported to TDLR as gps coordinates. They are a matter of public record if you know how to find them. I beleive they are trying to keep licensed drillers doing the right kind of drilling so as to protect the aquafers as well as knowing how much ground water is being tapped into. For instance if you want to put in a subdivision you must drill a test well and ensure that the draw down over a 24 hour period will allow for the other homes to be built in the area to have a sufficient amount of water. I would imagine that homeland security would want to know so if they needed acces to ground water for whatever reason they would know where they were even though each house has a well head that can be seen. The homeland security deal, perhaps it is just a story. You can google rules for water well drillers in your state and read up on it if you like or ask another well driller in your area.

 

[Valveman]

I have no problem with GPS coordinates being required to help protect the aquifer. However, once big brother gets this information, they will use it to extract more money from the public. Some states are now saying that the water from a well on your property belongs to the state. So they make you put on a flow meter and pay the state for every gallon of water you pump from YOUR well. “I am with the government and am here to help you”, use to be a good joke, but it is not funny anymore.

 

[Masterpumpman]

State Well reports are a public record and available online in many states. Their accuracy isn't always 100% but it can be helpful. GPS addresses are great because they can pinpoint the well location for the home owner and service people. As far as Homeland Security goes, that's just a scare tactic. Anyone can place their travel GPS over their well, septic tank or whatever and document it's longitude and latitude. Don't be concerned, it's a better file record than triangulation measurements from known base points because base points can be removed and all measurements are lost. I'm not concerned. . . it's just new technology. Some good and some bad. Deal with it!