4. Related Statutes or Rules:
Chapter NR 812, Wis. Adm. Code – Well Construction and Pump Installation, establishes uniform standards and methods for extracting groundwater for any purpose, protecting groundwater and aquifers from contamination through adequate construction and reconstruction of water systems, and property transfer inspections. Subchapter III of ch. NR 812, “Requirements for New Pump Installations and Water Treatment,” is being revised concurrently with this rule under Board Order DG-03-23. 5. Plain Language Analysis:
Attrition in individuals authorized to carry out drilling and pump installing activities for private well owners throughout the state of Wisconsin was a major consideration in development of the proposed rule. In the period from 2013 to 2023, the well drilling industry experienced a 23% drop in licensed pump installers, a 26% drop in licensed water well drillers and a 32% drop in licensed heat exchange drillers. Advisory Committee members attributed to the decline to age of the workforce, lack of interest on the part of potential applicants, need for competitive pay, and start-up costs. Other factors included dissatisfaction with current continuing education venues, a lack of knowledge of successful business practices, and the general public’s perceptions of the industry.
An Advisory Committee with members representing well drillers, heat exchange drillers, pump installers, the Wisconsin Water Well Association and the Wisconsin Geothermal Association met on 5 occasions from December of 2023 through August of 2024 to discuss proposed revisions for the rule. The Advisory Committee strongly advised the department not to lower driller education and experience prerequisite license requirements in an attempt to reverse this trend by making it easier for an applicant to obtain a driller license.
The proposed rule would address driller license prerequisite requirements that became effective on January 1, 2020, and have made attainment of the driller license more difficult for some applicants. The overall health of the well drilling industry would benefit from the department’s approval of a wider scope of topics for continuing education, including sessions that provide training in business practice. More successful drilling businesses will result in more licensed individuals who are authorized to provide private water well services to Wisconsinites. Providing a grace period for fulfilling continuing education attendance requirements outside of the current calendar year would assist those who fail to complete attendance on time due to personal hardship and extenuating circumstances. Outside of these benefits to the regulated community, the department would experience savings in administrative costs by requiring applicants to use available online resources to process annual renewals. This would reduce the number of applications that are submitted by U.S. mail and processed manually by department staff.
Continuing Education:
— Currently, continuing education must be completed within the calendar year for an applicant to obtain eligibility to renew a credential for the following year. If not completed within the calendar year, a licensee must pass an examination to have the license reinstated. No provision exists within current rule language for waivers or extensions in cases of personal hardship, pandemic or other extenuating circumstances. The proposed rule would include a one-year grace period for completing continuing education attendance that is required for renewal eligibility. The license will still expire on December 31 of each year for all credentials, but the licensee will continue to be eligible for renewal if continuing education attendance is completed within one year of license expiration.
— The proposed rule includes the following topics for continuing education credit:
— Six credits of continuing education attendance are required each year for renewal eligibility.
— For all license types:
— Annual attendance must include 3 hours of training in a topic specific to the credential held.
— Up to 2 credits will be accepted for training related to business practice.
— Up to 2 credits will be accepted for training specific to safety & first aid.
— One credit of compliance related training will be required each year.
— The following cross-training will be accepted:
— Training specific to water well drilling will be accepted for pump installer credit.
— Training specific to pump installing and heat exchange drilling will be accepted for water well driller credit.
— Training specific to water well drilling will be accepted for heat exchange driller credit.
Mandatory Online Renewal: Online renewal processing has been available to the Private Water regulated community since late 2019, when renewals began to be processed online for the 2020 calendar year. With the exception of renewals processed for 2023, the number of applications processed online has increased year to year as shown in Figure 1. A survey was conducted following the decrease in online renewals for 2023 to solicit comments on the renewal process overall and to gain insight into why there might be resistance to adopting the online renewal option. Results of the survey indicated that the convenience fee charged for online payment using a credit card was a deterrent to the use of the online renewal portal. There is now a second payment option available at the portal that allows payment by electronic transfer from a bank account that does not require an additional fee to process payment online. Renewals processed online thus far for 2025 have increased by 36% over online renewals processed at the same time last year.
The rule proposes mandatory online processing of renewal applications. The proposed rule also creates a waiver of the mandatory online renewal to allow for paper renewal applications by U.S. mail for those who cannot renew online for reasons beyond their control. Those granted a waiver from the online renewal requirement must adhere to an accelerated continuing education completion deadline to facilitate department processing of applications submitted by mail. Individuals who have opted to renew by mail will be required to renew online if continuing education attendance is not completed by the October 15 occurring before the December 31 expiration date. It is estimated that the proposed requirement will ultimately result in 85% of all renewals being processed online with an estimated savings of 272 staff-hours in processing time each year for the department.
Figure 1: Percentage of Renewals Processed Online vs Calendar Year
Exception for a welder in the pump installer license requirements: The proposed rule defines “qualified welder” and replaces the term “welder” with “qualified welder” in the exceptions to pump installer license requirements.
Driller licensing prerequisites:
— The proposed rule includes the following for Water Well Driller license prerequisite training requirements:
— Well Filling and Sealing has been combined with Grouting training, with 6 hours required.
— Training in Drilling Fluids has been reduced from 6 hours of training to 3 hours.
— Training in Wisconsin Well Codes has been reduced from 6 hours to 4 hours.
— A waiver is provided that will accept successful completion of a 2G vertical fixed pipe welding performance qualification test administered by a certified instructor in lieu of completing required coursework in welding.
— The proposed rule includes the following for new Heat Exchange Driller license prerequisite training requirements:
— Grouting, Filling & Sealing Wells – 6 hours
— Drilling Fluids – 3 hours
— Geology of Wisconsin – 3 hours
— Safety and First Aid – 3 hours
Supervisory Responsibilities: The proposed rule includes definitions for supervisory pump installers, supervisory water well drillers, and supervisory heat exchange drillers, and designates responsibility in contractual relationships to the supervisory individual.
Consistency in terminology and clarification of rule language:
— The proposed rule uses the terms drilling, pump installing and heat exchange drilling to refer to business and rig operator registration credentials. The terms driller, pump installer and heat exchange driller are used to refer to individual license credentials.
Drillhole filling and sealing: The proposed rule requires heat exchange drillholes to be filled and sealed by a licensed heat exchange driller.
6. Summary of, and Comparison with, Existing or Proposed Federal Statutes and Regulations:
No federal regulations apply to private water supply wells with regard to licensing, well inspections, well filling and sealing, or citations for code violations.
7. If Held, Summary of Comments Received During Preliminary Comment Period
and at Public Hearing on the Statement of Scope:
A preliminary hearing was not required for this scope statement.
8. Comparison with Similar Rules in Adjacent States:
A review of licensing and registration requirements for drillers and pump installers in Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota and Michigan revealed that each state processes renewal applications by mail on forms provided by the states’ regulating agency. It appears that Wisconsin and Illinois are the only states that offer an online renewal option to their driller and pump installer regulated community. Other aspects of licensing and registration vary by state, including the following:
— Regulating agency:
— Illinois - Illinois Department of Health
— Iowa - Iowa Department of Natural Resources
— Minnesota - Minnesota Department of Health
— Michigan - Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy
— Renewal and continuing education attendance cycle: Wisconsin requires annual renewal and continuing education attendance with license and expiration date of December 31.
— Illinois - One year renewal cycle, 2-year continuing education cycle
— Iowa – Two-year renewal cycle, 2-year continuing education cycle
— Minnesota - One year renewal cycle, One-year continuing education cycle
— Michigan - One year renewal cycle, no continuing education cycle
— Continuing education attendance & renewal eligibility requirements:
— Illinois - One continuing education session attended within the past 2 years. One session consists of 6 contact hours
— Iowa - Sixteen contact hours each 2-year cycle.
— Minnesota - Two hours for pump installing, heat exchange drilling and filling & sealing licenses, 6 hours for Full Environmental Well license.
— Michigan – Continuing education attendance is not required for renewal eligibility.
— Prerequisite license/registration requirements:
— Wisconsin
— Water Well Driller License
— Two years of experience as a registered Water Well Drilling Rig Operator working under the supervision of licensed water well driller or heat exchange driller.
— Drill 30 potable wells in the 2-year experience period or 1,500 hours of drilling large-diameter potable community wells.
