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Keeping your well water safe

If you own a well, or use water from one, you want to know that the well was built by a licensed well contractor and is being maintained according to provincial requirements.

A well that is properly constructed and maintained protects your water from contaminants, both above and below the ground. This, in turn, protects you and your family from potentially serious health and safety hazards.

Your well is your legal responsibility

If there is a well on your property, you are legally responsible for it, so you should be familiar with the laws that govern well construction, maintenance and abandonment.

Ontario’s Wells Regulation (Regulation 903) and the Ontario Water Resources Act cover all wells, including:

• public and private
• municipal and rural
• agricultural, commercial, and industrial
• test holes and dewatering wells

The regulation and act set out minimum requirements for siting (choosing a location), constructing, maintaining, and abandoning (shutting down) wells. They also set out licensing requirements for well contractors and technicians.

Ontario’s Wells Regulation aims to protect the health and safety of well owners and users, as well as our shared groundwater resource.

Explanations of the Wells Regulation requirements, including fact sheets and technical bulletins, can be found on the Resources webpage. 

This webpage is for information only. Please go to regulation 903 for the details of the legal requirements.