Certain drilling operations are covered by statutory regulations and companies and individuals are required by law to provide information and samples to BGS, as part of the Natural Environment Research Council. The Government’s construction playbook also mandates that ground investigation data collected for public works must be deposited with NGDC.
The regulations cover both boreholes drilled for water and those drilled for mineral exploration.
Current legislation for mineral exploration
The Mining Industry Act 1926 s.23 (includes petroleum) requires notification of drilling operations that are 30 m or more in depth before drilling commences and deposit of the resulting data on completion of the borehole.
Current legislation for water boreholes
The Water Resources Act 1991 (England and Wales) requires notification of any drilling operations 15m or more in depth before drilling commences and deposit of the resulting data on completion of the borehole. This includes boreholes drilled for abstraction, trial, monitoring and observation purposes, as well as open-loop ground source heat pump BH’s and deep soakaway boreholes.
- Summary of our role with regards to the Water Resources Act
- There is separate but similar legislation for the Water Scotland Act 1980
Who must comply?
Mineral boreholes
Any person sinking a borehole to a depth of more than 30 m for the purpose of searching for or getting minerals must comply with legislation.
Water boreholes
Any person sinking a new well or borehole (or deepening an existing well) to a depth of more than 15 m for the purpose of searching for or abstracting water must comply with the legislation.
Ground investigations
Those conducting ground investigations for public work projects must deposit their data to NGDC using the AGS data format.
How do I notify of my intention to drill a well or borehole?
Companies must notify BGS before a well or borehole is sunk via the notification form. Notification of other borings, sinkings and work not specified in the legislation that may be expected to yield results of interest to NGDC is also welcome.
When should data be submitted?
Drilling records should be supplied to BGS on completion of the sinking of a well or borehole. Following the notification, BGS may contact you for more information, including specimens of materials extracted as set out in the legislation.
If drilling has already commenced or been completed, please proceed directly with the data deposit.
What should be submitted?
For water wells, a daily record (journal) of the operations should be kept. Such a journal should include, where practicable:
- measurements of water levels during test pumping at recorded time intervals
- a drawing or tracing preferably from a six-inch or 1:10 000 Ordnance Survey map, showing the precise site of the well
- a copy of any analysis of the water
The NGDC water borehole form is a template for capturing all the information required.
A copy of the borehole log should be submitted for mineral boreholes. Deposited data should include, where possible, a geological description, the borehole construction and any groundwater information.
BGS encourages the deposit of machine-readable data for all deposits, so we prefer data in CSV format with a PDF copy of the log.
How is data submitted?
Drilling records must be deposited through the NGDC Digital Data Deposit Application.
- Prepare your data according to the guidance about depositing data and good data guidelines
- Access the NGDC Digital Data Deposit Application
- Complete the submission portal steps to deposit your data, making sure your data is complete and it is the final version
Data cannot be edited once it has been deposited.
Whilst not under legislation, we can offer advice on the general practice of borehole drilling and have specific guidance for those depositing data in the Association of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Specialists’ AGS data format.
Drilling new boreholes and related notifications
BGS is named in several legal statutes and Acts of Parliament (both in England and Wales, and Scotland). Under the legislation, BGS must be provided with notification of drilling before drilling commences for any borehole more than 15 m deep and the subsequent records of the drilling must be deposited through the NGDC Digital Data Deposit Application using the NGDC water borehole form.
If you are intending to abstract more than 20 m3/d in England and Wales, you will need to apply for an abstraction licence from the Environment Agency or Natural Resources Wales. In Scotland, please consult the Scottish Environmental Protection Agency (SEPA) website to make the appropriate application.
Your local council’s environmental health department can advise on appropriate water quality testing. The Drinking Water Inspectorate website provides more information on private water supplies in England and Wales. In Scotland, this function is carried out by the Drinking Water Quality Regulator.
Note: BGS is not the statutory authority with regard to groundwater resources, protection and abstraction in the UK, therefore BGS cannot give permission to drill. Additionally, BGS cannot provide information regarding the necessary planning permission. These enquiries should be directed to the relevant local authority.
Please submit your notification to drill prior to the commencement of drilling using the notification of intention to drill form. The subsequent records of the drilling must be deposited through the NGDC Digital Data Deposit Application.
Please see the relevant section of the Water Resources Act. In summary, if a drilling contractor is used, it is the contractor’s responsibility to deposit the record via the NGDC Digital Data Deposit application. Otherwise, the responsibility lies with whoever owns the land, any tenant or occupier.
BGS offers a site-specific water borehole prognosis report service.
To obtain a groundwater supply, there needs to be an aquifer present, which is a superficial deposit or bedrock formation that can yield water. The best aquifers are generally sandstones, limestones and well-fractured rocks. Mudstones do not typically yield useful supplies of groundwater. You can find out if you are likely to be able to abstract water by ordering a water borehole prognosis report for your site.
Interpreting all the information is complicated and BGS offers a site-specific water borehole prognosis report service. This gives an evaluation of the geological formations beneath the site in terms of aquifer potential, including yields, water levels and groundwater quality. It also contains recommendations on the design of the proposed water borehole and information on the legal requirements.
Your local environmental health department will be able to advise on what tests need to be carried out and laboratories that can undertake the work.
The Drinking Water Inspectorate website provides more information on private water supplies in England and Wales, and the Drinking Water Quality Regulator does the same for Scotland.
The GeoIndex and BGS Geology Viewer show the uppermost superficial and bedrock geology present. However, there may be different (and unmapped) types of rocks present between and beneath them. The scanned 1:50 000 geological maps include diagrams that indicate the relationship between the different formations and their thicknesses.
The GeoIndex and deposited data search also provide access to scans of nearby borehole records that contain information on the underlying geology; some also contain details of water levels, yields and water quality, although the level of detail will vary.
BGS has also published hydrogeological maps covering some of the main aquifers in the UK, which provide information on water levels, yields and water quality.
Old wells, boreholes and springs
You can view scans of the records of wells, boreholes and springs that BGS holds using the GeoIndex. Please bear in mind that, because many historic wells have not been recorded, the records are not comprehensive. This means that you may not find the well you are looking for in our records.
More recent borehole records may be in our deposited data search and offshore wells can be found in the offshore GeoIndex.
If we do not hold a record of your well, we would be keen to receive the details. You can deposit your driller’s log via the NGDC Digital Data Deposit Application.
Other sources of information
Old wells and pumps are often shown on the historic, large-scale Ordnance Survey maps. These may be marked with W (well), P (pump) or Spr (spring) although, depending on the age of the map, these symbols may have been used for other features.
You can access a selection of these maps on the National Library of Scotland website. As with BGS records, these may not be complete.
County water supply memoirs are available for parts of England.
The Environment Agency holds records of licensed boreholes and local authorities’ records of private water supplies, but this information may not be in the public domain.
We would advise contacting a member of the Well Drillers Association for advice on recommissioning an old well. You will need to apply for an abstraction licence from the Environment Agency or Natural Resources Wales if you intend to abstract more than 20 m3/d of water in England or Wales. In Scotland, please consult the Scottish Environmental Protection Agency (SEPA) to make the appropriate application.
The Scottish Environmental Protection Agency (SEPA) provides guidance on decommissioning a well or borehole.
Some members of the Well Drillers Association can provide well-decommissioning services.
You should also advise BGS when decommissioning a well or borehole (and include brief details of the methodology used) so that we can update our records.