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Permitting of Subsurface Drilling Activities

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NOTE: All drilling in City of Daly City is permitted by Daly City personnel with appropriate notification to GPP 0.0 Conditions Requiring a Permit Prior to any drilling/soil penetration activity for the purpose of soil or groundwater sampling, including geotechnical drilling, the following conditions apply which require a fee for permit from San Mateo County. The fee schedule for drilling activities is updated annually. 1.1 Soil borings are anticipated to encounter groundwater. 1.2 Soil borings extend deeper than ten (10) feet. 1.3 Installation of all groundwater monitoring wells, including geotechnical wells (wells must be installed in accordance with California Well Standards, established by the California Department of Water Resources) 1.4 Destruction of all groundwater monitoring wells (destruction must be performed in accordance with California Well Standards; also see Section 6.0) 1.0 Conditions Not Requiring a Permit When depth of soil borings are less than ten (10) feet and groundwater is not expected to be encountered, no permit or fee is required from San Mateo County; however, notification to GPP must be made 72 hours in advance of any work. Drilling performed in the City of Daly City do not require a San Mateo County permit, but do require a City permit for drilling, with notification to GPP for GPP lead sites. 2.0 Geotechnical Drilling Permits Geotechnical drilling should be permitted for each mobilization using the general subsurface drilling permit application (Appendix H). All general conditions apply, including the need for a site map. Alternatively, San Mateo County offers an annual blanket geotechnical drilling permit (Appendix H). Once issued, the annual permit allows a consultant to perform any number of geotechnical drilling investigations under the following conditions. Annual permit related drilling is limited solely to geotechnical borings. Construction of wells for geotechnical investigations must be permitted separately using the general subsurface drilling permit application. An annual geotechnical permit does not include environmental related drilling of any kind. At least seventy-two (72) hours prior to drilling, written notification, including a map, must be submitted to GPP on the annual permit notification form supplied at the time the permit is issued. All general conditions of the standard drilling permit apply, including verbal and written notification in subsurface contamination is discovered during drilling operations. Destruction of all subsurface installations must conform to California Well Standards and the San Mateo County Ordinance Code. 3.0 Payment of Fees and Issuance of Permits A permit will be issued only after full payment of the appropriate fee has been received by SMCo. Fee amounts are established by the San Mateo County Environmental Health Division Fee Ordinance. Payments should be made by check, payable to San Mateo County Environmental Health. Alternatively, payment can be made by VISA or MasterCard by calling (650) 363-4305. Please allow a minimum of five (5) working days for processing of permits (after all permits, attachments, and payments have been received). 4.0 Pertinent Permits and Agreements The RP is responsible for securing all necessary pertinent permits and agreements from other regulatory agencies and property owners (e.g., local building department, Bay Conservation and Development Commission, CalTrans, City encroachment permits, access agreements with property owners). Drilling in Daly City is permitted by the City, not the County. 5.0 San Mateo County Subsurface Drilling Application 5.1 A copy of the most recent Subsurface Drilling Application is included in Appendix H. 5.2 A minimum of five (5) working days should be allowed for processing. 5.3 All permit applications must be accompanied by a workplan and well/boring location map. 5.4 The application must be accurate and complete; any omissions will result in rejection or delay of the application. 5.5 A number of general conditions apply to the issuance of the permit. These conditions are listed on the back of the application and should be read and understood prior to signing and submitting the application. The conditions must be followed and documented in the drilling report. Additional special conditions may be required and appended to the permit. 5.6 If contamination is discovered during drilling activities, verbal notification to the County is required within forty-eight (48) hours and an activity report must be submitted to GPP within thirty (30) days. Proposition 65 reporting requirements should also be followed. 5.7 Wells installed in the City of Daly City require a Daly City permit. A copy of this permit is required to be submitted to GPP to waive additional permit fees or requirements from the County. Appropriate notification must still be made to GPP for drilling in Daly City. 6.0 Well Destruction Well destruction can be performed either by pressure grouting or by drilling out the well. Pressure grouting may be performed if all the following criteria are met: the sand pack extends less than 3 feet above the top of the screen; the well contains less than 25 feet of screen; there is less than 2 feet of boring (open, slough, or emplaced materials) below the bottom of the screened interval; the screens are not blocked in any way. For pressure grouting, type I/II cement grout must be tremmied into the well, followed by application of 25 psi pressure maintained for 5 minutes. If the well does not meet pressure grouting criteria, it must be destroyed by drilling out to the total depth of the original boring. The well casing and all annular material must be removed, and the boring then tremmie grouted to the surface using Type I/II cement grout.