To manage and protect the valley's water resources, the Santa Clara Valley Water District requires permits for all well construction and destruction work, most exploratory boring, and for projects or activities that occur on District fee title property or within District easement right of way or may have potential impacts to District facilities in Santa Clara county.
Permits are required under two Santa Clara Valley Water District Ordinances: Water Resources Protection Ordinance and 90-1 (the District Well Ordinance).
District Water Resources Protection Ordinance
In an effort to clarify and streamline local permitting for streamside activities, representatives from the water district, cities, the county and business, agriculture, streamside property owner and environmental interests created a partnership known as the Water Resources Protection Collaborative. Among its many accomplishments is a manual of model guidelines and standards for land-use near streams.
For more information regarding obtaining permits for construction on and adjacent to district facilities, and encroachments on district property or easements, please contact the Community Projects Review Unit at (408) 265-2607, extension 2650.
Well permits
Groundwater is an important water resource for Santa Clara County. Nearly 50 percent of the county's water needs are met by pumping water directly from our underground aquifers. To protect this important resource, District Ordinance 90-1 requires permitting for any person digging, boring, drilling, deepening, refurbishing, or destroying a water well, cathodic protection well, observation well, monitoring well, exploratory boring (45 feet or deeper), or other deep excavation that intersects the groundwater aquifers of Santa Clara County. Anyone who plans such a project must first obtain a permit from the district's Wells and Water Measurement Unit.
If a well is proposed on district property or easement, a district encroachment permit is also required. (Download at right.)
For more information regarding well permits, see the Wells section in the list at left, or please call the Wells and Water Measurement Unit at (408) 265-2607, ext. 2660.