The Water Supply Section of the Environmental Protection Division of the Department of Natural Resources oversees the regulation of the construction and renovation of private wells and the plugging of abandoned wells by Certified Water Well Contractors in the State of Iowa. The Administrative Authority for the regulation of private wells is the local county board of health. These boards are contracted to issue the state well construction permits.

The purpose of the private well data management system is to collect and disseminate information about private wells in Iowa. This includes:

• The recording of new well construction permits issued by county environmental health officials
• The recording of well construction logs by well drillers or county officials
• The recording of the plugging of abandoned well and renovation of existing wells by certified well contractors or county officials
• The recording of well water test results from private wells by county officials
• The dissemination of well hole geologic information to the Iowa Geological Survey Bureau for use by well drillers, county officials and the public
• The dissemination of well water test information to the University Hygienic Laboratory for use by the county officials and the public

The system uses an Internet access portal for the entry of information by county officials and well contractors. All public information is accessible at the same site.

The state regulations that are involved with this system are:

• IAC 567 Chapter 38 'Private Water Well Construction Permits'
• IAC 567 Chapter 39 'Requirements For Properly Plugging Abandoned Wells'
• IAC 567 Chapter 49 'Nonpublic Water Supply Wells'
• IAC 567 Chapter 82 'Well Contractor Certification'