ORS 537.762: Submitting start card before beginning work on well; rules; fees.

(1) As used in this section: (a) “Licensed or permitted person” means a person licensed under ORS 537.747 or permitted under ORS 537.753 (4). (b) “Start card” means a form containing all information required by the Water Resources Department as a notification that a licensed or permitted person will commence work on a well. (2) Each licensed or permitted person who has entered into a contract to construct, alter, abandon or convert a well or cause a well to be constructed, altered, abandoned or converted shall, not earlier than 60 days and not later than 72 hours before beginning work on the well, submit a start card to the department containing: (a) The name, telephone number, electronic mail address and post-office address of the owner of the well. (b) The approximate location of the well by county tax lot number, township, range, section and nearest quarter-quarter section. (c) The street address nearest to the proposed well. (d) The latitude and longitude of the well as established by a global positioning system. (e) The proposed depth and diameter of the well. (f) The proposed purpose or use of the ground water from the proposed well. (g) The time frame proposed for beginning and completing the construction, alteration, abandonment or conversion. (h) The time frame proposed for annular seal placement. (i) The well identification label number, if assigned. (j) The water right application, permit or certificate number, if applicable. (k) The original well log number, if applicable. (L) The type of work proposed. (m) Notification of any need for special standards. (n) The signature and license number, if applicable, of the bonded and licensed or permitted person who would undertake the work. (o) For an existing well, the current purpose or use of the well and the existing depth and diameter of the well. (3) The department shall furnish a convenient means for licensed or permitted persons to submit start card information under this section. (4) A separate start card is required for each well that is constructed, altered, abandoned or converted. (5) A start card submitted under this section shall be confidential and maintained as such for one year or until the well log required under ORS 537.765 is received by the department, whichever is earlier. Nothing in this subsection prohibits the department from using a start card for enforcement actions during the period the start card is confidential. (6) On the date that work on the well commences, the licensed or permitted person shall, before commencing work, notify the department that the work is about to commence. If the proposed date of seal placement is not the date proposed on the start card required by this section, the licensed or permitted person shall notify the department of the change at least four hours before placing the seal. (7) The Water Resources Commission may adopt rules establishing precision requirements and standards for global positioning system equipment used to obtain information submitted under subsection (2) of this section. (8) Unless the licensed or permitted person submitting a start card under this section has requested and received an extension, a start card expires if construction, alteration, abandonment or conversion of a well does not begin on or before 60 days after submission of the start card. If a start card expires, a new start card and fee must be submitted in compliance with this section before construction, alteration, abandonment or conversion of the well may occur. If a start card is withdrawn before expiring, the licensed or permitted person that submitted the start card may request that the fee paid for the withdrawn start card be transferred to a new start card. (9) The commission may establish by rule an exception to any time frame established in this section for areas requiring special standards and for any other purpose identified by the commission. (10) The requirement in subsection (2) of this section that a licensed or permitted person must submit a start card not earlier than 60 days and not later than 72 hours before beginning work on a well does not apply: (a) To a second or additional water well drilled on the same or a contiguous tax lot for the same landowner and for which a valid unexpired start card has been submitted pursuant to this section, if a start card for the second or additional water well is filed not later than the day the work on the water well begins. (b) During water emergencies or casing height adjustments, if a start card is submitted before work begins. (11) The Water Resources Director may, for good cause in exigent circumstances, waive any time frame established by this section. (12) Each start card submitted under this section for the construction of a new well, deepening of an existing well or conversion of a well shall be accompanied by a fee of $490. A start card shall be submitted to the department by electronic means, unless the department authorizes a different means of submission. (13) The moneys paid to the department under subsection (12) of this section shall be paid into the Water Resources Department Operating Fund. All interest, if any, from moneys received under subsection (12) of this section shall inure to the benefit of the department. Such moneys and interest earned on such moneys are continuously appropriated to the department to be used to pay the costs of the department to employ personnel to inspect wells and well construction. [Formerly 537.632; 1981 c.416 §5; 1985 c.615 §7; 1985 c.673 §69; 1987 c.109 §2; 1989 c.129 §1; 1999 c.293 §4; 2003 c.594 §3; 2005 c.156 §2; 2009 c.766 §1; 2021 c.610 §§8,9,10; 2025 c.491 §1]