Wells and Sounding Safety Tips

Well and borehole safety is a obligation of the owners and / or owners of the same, but moral responsibility rests with all citizens . Above all, common sense must be applied and, by means of signs and barriers , access to them and an accident may occur, both for the users themselves like any other person.

All wells and probes must be capped and fenced , primarily to protect people and animals from accidental falls, as well as to preserve the aquifer water from contamination. This obligation applies to those that are in use and those that are out of use. In the latter case, a final seal must be carried out.

IMPORTANT : in the event that abandoned wells or boreholes are located, whose assignment to an owner or owner It is complicated, it is necessary to proceed first and immediately to signal it and install a barrier that prevents possible accidents .

This is a task in which all citizens and public administrations can collaborate, especially those with personnel on the ground: Hydrographic Confederations, Environment Councils, Mining Services, the Civil Guard and, of course, the City Councils; These are the closest to the problem and have a large deployment and rapid capacity on the territory. Once the security measures have been adopted, you can proceed to the ownership / title investigation and report if applicable. In any case, you first act physically and then Administratively . An intervention should not be postponed to avoid accidents to carry out complex administrative procedures that take time.

SUITABLE COVER PREVENTS PEOPLE, ANIMALS OR OBJECTS FROM FALLING IN THE WELL.

SIf you find a well or borehole uncovered by the countryside or your city, report it to the Segura Hydrographic Confederation! For this, a phone with WhatsApp and an email account have been enabled so that you can send us:

• Location
• Photos
• Authorization for the Confederation to contact you if necessary.

In the event that the well or borehole be found in the Demarcation of the Segura can send the information before this phone with whatsApp or the following e-mail:

679 448 050

pozos@chsegura.es

Once the probe has been protected, you will be notified by this means.

If the well drilling or borehole be found in another Hydrographic Demarcation, you must contact the Demarcation:

If on your property you observe the existence of a well that lacks visible security measures or that it is abandoned, here are some measures to follow:

• Clearly mark the perforation. Use some fenced system that prevents animals and people from accessing it.
• Proceed to plug the hole inlet . The most suitable way is through an iron cap with a padlock.
• You must close the well :

  The operations to be carried out in the closing and sealing processes are basically the removal of foreign elements, the disinfection and the filling of the open space with materials that have no interaction with the medium. A closure project must be carried out that contains the name of the owner of the plot, geographic and hydrogeological characteristics of the collection, technical characteristics of the collection and the type of closure proposed.

Regarding the opening of new groundwater catchments, the following legislation must be taken into account:

• The construction of a survey may not be started without having an administrative concession (article 59 of the Consolidated Text of the Water Law) or authorization, in the case of the uses included in article 54.
• The works of prospecting and exploitation of groundwater (...) will require prior approval (art.108 of the General Regulation of Basic Mining Safety Standards, approved by RD 863/1985 of April 2) of the Mining Section of the Autonomous Community in which the works are located.
• The opening of wells and the installation in them of instruments for the extraction of groundwater without previously having a concession or authorization from the Basin Agency for the extraction of water is considered administrative offense ( Article 116.3.h of the Consolidated Text of the Water Law) indicating as responsible the owner of the land , the promoter of the catchment , the businessman executing the work and the technical director of it.

Therefore, for the execution of a well / borehole for the extraction of groundwater, at least one authorization / concession must be requested from the Segura Hydrographic Confederation, an authorization from the Autonomous Community (Mining Section) and, according to the cases, works license to the City Council in which the works are located. If there is any environmental protection figure, you must also have the authorization of the competent Body in each case.