Skip to main content

View more from News & Articles or Primerus Weekly

By: Paul Yagelski, Esq.
Rothman Gordon, Pittsburgh
Pennsylvania

What You, the Landowner, Should Know about Marking a Plugged Well

If there is an abandoned well on your property, which is going to be plugged, one of the things that you should know is that the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection regulations require that the location of the plugged well be marked. This can be done in one of two ways. A marker can be placed above ground or it can be placed below ground. If the marker is above ground, the marker must extend at least four feet above the ground surface and enough below the surface to make the marker permanent. If the marker is below ground, the marker must be buried below plow depth with enough material to be detected at the surface by conventional metal detectors.

You may not want to have a marker sticking out of the ground four feet above the surface of your property. This can be unsightly. If so, there is an alternative, and that is to place the marker below the ground surface with enough material to be detected at the surface by conventional metal detectors.

Read More