State well standards, last updated in 1991, get a public comment window starting November 5

By The Downspout · Posted Oct 31, 2026 · 3 min read

California's Department of Water Resources, or DWR, schedules its updated well standards, called Bulletin 74, for public comment from November 5, 2026 through January 7, 2027. The standards are the statewide minimum rules for building, repairing and destroying wells. They were last updated in 1991. The draft is a proposal, and nothing changes for your well on November 5.

What the well standards are

The California Department of Water Resources, or DWR, is a state agency. It publishes the state's well standards in a document called Bulletin 74. The standards are the statewide minimum rules for building, changing, maintaining and destroying wells. They exist to keep pollution out of groundwater.

They cover four kinds of wells. Water wells are the kind most homes and farms use. The other three kinds are monitoring wells, cathodic protection wells and geothermal heat exchange wells.

DWR says the rules cover:

How far a well must sit from pollution sources.
Casing, the pipe that lines the well.
The seal around the casing.
Pads, locks and covers at the surface.
Repair and deepening.
Destroying a well, also called decommissioning.

The standards were last updated in 1991. This update also covers drywells. DWR says they count as water wells under state law. A drywell is a stormwater injection well.

The state rules do not reach your well directly. DWR describes five steps:

DWR writes the standards.
The State Water Resources Control Board, the state's water quality agency, publishes a Statewide Model Well Ordinance. That is a sample local rule.
Cities, counties or water districts adopt local rules at least as strict.
A local agency, such as a county environmental health department, issues well permits and enforces the local rules.
That agency may inspect wells during and after work.

What happened

DWR schedules the public review draft of the updated standards for release on November 5, 2026. Public comment, meaning written feedback to the state, runs from November 5, 2026 through January 7, 2027.

DWR will hold two online public comment meetings. The first is Wednesday, December 9, 2026, from noon to 3 p.m. The second is Friday, December 11, 2026, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Before this, an advisory committee of 81 representatives from a range of sectors and regions of the state met from March 2021 to February 2022. It advised DWR on topics such as sealing materials and well destruction. DWR is revising the standards with that input.

Permit Sonoma, a Sonoma County agency, told readers about the comment period in its October 30, 2026 newsletter. It said the draft, comment form and meeting links will be posted on DWR's project page.

What it means for you

If you own a well, nothing changes for your well on November 5. The draft is a proposal. Under DWR's process, the state board publishes a model ordinance and local agencies then adopt local rules.
If you want to comment, open DWR's well standards page on or after November 5. The draft, the comment form and the meeting links are to be posted there. Comments close January 7, 2027.
If you want to talk it through, put December 9 or December 11 on your calendar. Both meetings are online.
If you plan to drill, repair, deepen or destroy a well, ask the local agency that issues well permits where you live which rules apply today. DWR says well standards are administered and enforced locally.
To keep up, DWR's page offers an email sign-up for Bulletin 74 updates.

Our view: clean groundwater matters to every well owner. Good well seals and distance from pollution sources are what keep surface pollution out of it. That is our view, not DWR's. DWR states the purpose as protecting groundwater quality.

For background, read Rural water systems: wells, tanks, pumps and pressure, Well water testing in Sonoma County and what a dry well is.

What happens next

The comment period opens November 5, 2026. DWR plans final revisions in winter and spring 2027. It then plans to send the standards to the State Water Resources Control Board for adoption into the model ordinance. DWR lists that step as tentative, October 2027, so the date is not firm.

Where this came from

The California Department of Water Resources Well Standards project page, with its project timeline. The Permit Sonoma Latest News newsletter for October 2026, published October 30, 2026.

Sources

Checked 2026-10-31. Rules and programs change. If something here is out of date, the source above wins. Spot an error? See our corrections policy.