Old wells and abandoned wells

If a well on your land counts as abandoned or deteriorated under Texas law, you have 180 days from learning of its condition to have it plugged or capped. You may hire a licensed driller or pump installer, or plug it yourself under the state's rule, and then report it.

11-1 Old places carry old holes

Chapter 10 was about the well you use. This one is about the one you did not know you owned, and it matters on old farmsteads, where the house may be long gone or falling in, as in Figure 11-2. A pitcher pump like the one in Figure 11-1 is an easy clue. A pipe stub in tall grass or a square of old concrete is harder to read. Old water works, like the tank house in Figure 11-3, tell you someone drew water near there. That last point is ordinary observation, and it is worth a slow walk.

Do not lean over an open shaft to look. Keep children and stock back, and never climb into a well or a pit. Texas's own well regulator pictures a horse that fell into an uncovered hand-dug well.¹

11-2 When an old well counts as abandoned

Texas law defines the term. An "abandoned well" is "a well that is not in use", and then it lists the ways out. A well is not abandoned if it is not deteriorated and has casing, pump and column in good condition, or is not deteriorated and capped. Nor is it abandoned if it is put to authorized beneficial use, used in the normal course, or the owner is in the Conservation Reserve Program or a similar one. A "deteriorated well" is one that "will cause or is likely to cause pollution of any water in this state."²

TDLR publishes a checklist that asks three questions: is the well in use, does it meet minimum standards, and is it in good condition. A "No" to any of them means abandoned or deteriorated in its reading.³ It is worth printing and walking out with.

11-3 The clock, and who is on it

The statute reads: "Not later than the 180th day after the date a landowner or other person who possesses an abandoned or deteriorated well learns of its condition, the landowner or other person shall have the well plugged or capped under standards and procedures adopted by the commission."²

The clock runs from when you learn of the condition, so finding a shaft on the back of the place may start it. When exactly someone has learned is a legal question. A buyer is in the same spot, which is why Chapter 1 has you walking the land before closing. TCEQ's landowner guide adds that the landowner is held responsible for injury or pollution related to the well.⁴

An old well is also one of the likely paths for bacteria to reach the well you drink from, in AgriLife's list that Chapter 8 went through.⁵

11-4 Plugging: what the rule asks

You have two routes, in TDLR's words: a landowner may hire a licensed driller or pump installer, or plug a well on their own property under 16 TAC 76.104 and submit a State of Texas Plugging Report.¹ The table below gives the outline. Read the rule itself before anyone starts.

The specifications are in the rule; the note gives the copy used.⁶ TDLR's page adds the plow depth point.¹ The disinfecting figure is from TCEQ's guide RG-347.⁴ Do not swap it with the chlorination table in Chapter 8, which is for a working well you mean to drink from.

TDLR allows self-plugging, but the methods above call for equipment such as tremie pipe, and the hazard of an open shaft stays yours throughout. If you are unsure, a licensed driller or pump installer is the safer call. Chapter 6 showed how to check a license.

11-5 Capping, reporting and help with the cost

A cover must keep out surface pollutants, carry at least 400 pounds, and not be easy to remove by hand. TDLR's wording about large-diameter wells needs reading on its own page, so read it if yours is a wide hand-dug well.¹ A Texas A&M publication calls capping temporary and allows it only for a well in good condition.⁷ A loose sheet of plywood does not meet that.

Then comes the paperwork. "Not later than the 30th day after the date the well is plugged, a driller, licensed pump installer, or well owner who plugs" the well must report it to the groundwater conservation district, if there is one, and to the executive director.² TDLR takes the report online with GPS coordinates, and the online route needs a TDLR log-in.¹⁸

Whether a district is in the picture depends on the county. Fannin is in Red River Groundwater Conservation District, along with Grayson.⁹ A Texas Water Development Board report labels Lamar, Red River and Delta "No District".¹⁰ A 2019 Board map shows none for Hopkins, Franklin, Titus, Bowie and Morris, and that may have changed. Where no district exists, complaints go through TDLR, which also keeps an abandoned well reporting system.¹¹

As for money, the Texas Groundwater Protection Committee says some areas have plugging assistance, and points to districts, the State Soil and Water Conservation Board and its own map.⁸ A 2023 index of district programs names none for Red River GCD, Lamar or Fannin.¹² This book could not confirm any program in Lamar County, and could not rule one out. Ask before paying.