Kansas Well Driller Compliance Reference

KOLAR (Kansas Online Automated Reporting)

KOLAR is the official electronic system for filing well reports and license applications/renewals. Use it to:

• Submit WWC-5 (construction) and WWC-5P (plugging) reports
• Apply for your license (WWC-1) and renew it (WWC-1R), paying fees online
• Search historical well logs by location
• Track your submitted reports and license status

Kansas requires licensed water well contractors per K.S.A. 82a-1201 et seq. and K.A.R. 28-30.

How to Get Licensed

1. Register for an exam with KDHE at least 30 days before the exam date (KDHE and KGWA post the schedule; the next one listed in November 2026 is January 13, 2027). A corporation also shows good standing with the Secretary of State (K.S.A. 82a-1206(d))
2. Pass the state-approved exam (Kansas water laws, drilling/construction standards, hydrogeology). After a failed exam you cannot reapply for one month
3. After you pass, KDHE has you register in KOLAR; you have 90 days to finish the WWC-1 application there with the $10 application fee
4. Pay $100 license fee plus $25 per drill rig
5. When KOLAR shows the application approved, print your license from the License tab (Certificate of License)

A contractor can instead employ a designated person. K.A.R. 28-30-3(a)(3)(A) (KDHE) requires each applicant to "Pass the water well contractor examination conducted by the department or employ a designated person who has passed the water well contractor examination", and 28-30-3(d) states: "If the designated person who has passed the water well contractor examination under paragraph (a)(3)(A) leaves the contractor's employment, the contractor shall employ a designated person who shall take, within 90 days, and be required to pass the water well contractor examination."

License Fees

Continuing Education (CE)

WWC-5 Requirements

The well construction report (drilling log) must include:

• Landowner name and address, and the legal description of the well location
• Character and depth of each formation encountered
• Depth where water is encountered, and the static water level of the completed well
• Construction details: casing lengths and sizes, screen or perforation length and size, and gravel pack
• For plugging: the amount, type and placement of plug materials
• The record of any pumping test (K.A.R. 28-30-4(c))
• Polluted or noncompliant conditions you found, and whether you corrected them (K.A.R. 28-30-4(a)(2))
• A water sample, if KDHE asks for one: due within 30 days of the request (K.A.R. 28-30-4(d))

Also record:

• GPS coordinates of the well location
• Casing sizes, materials, and depths
• Grouting/sealing information (depth, material)
• Contamination sources within setback distances

Record Retention

Keep copies of all well logs, WWC-5 reports, and CE certificates indefinitely. KDHE/KGS archives submitted logs for public access. You must provide outstanding records at renewal.

Casing Materials

• PVC: Must be NSF/ANSI-certified (marked "NSF-pw") and durable
• Steel: New ASTM-A53 pipe (minimum Schedule 10)
• Fiberglass: Must meet NSF-61 drinking water standards

Annular Seal (Grouting)

• Grout from ground level to minimum 20 ft depth or 5 ft into clay/shale (whichever is deeper)
• With a pitless adapter or unit, grouting starts below the point where it attaches to the casing and runs at least 20 ft below that point or 5 ft into the first clay or shale layer, whichever is greater
• Multiple aquifers must be isolated by sealing between them
• Use cement grout or bentonite clay (must be impervious). K.A.R. 28-30-6(o) (KDHE): "Natural organic or nutrient-producing material shall not be added to a grout mix used in the annulus to grout the water well."
• Only the secretary can change the minimum grouting depth. K.A.R. 28-30-6(c) (KDHE): "If groundwater is encountered at a depth less than the minimum grouting requirement, the grouting requirement may be modified by the secretary to meet local conditions." Until the secretary modifies it, the minimum above applies.

Disinfection (K.A.R. 28-30-10)

All new or rehabilitated wells for drinking/food use must be disinfected:

• Flood well with ≥100 mg/L chlorine and circulate. K.A.R. 28-30-10(b) (KDHE): "Constructed or reconstructed wells shall be disinfected by adding sufficient hypochlorite solution to them to produce a concentration of not less than 100 mg/l of available chlorine when mixed with the water in the well."
• Rinse pump casing, column, and parts with ≥200 mg/L chlorine solution
• Gravel-packed wells: disinfect gravel in ≥200 mg/L chlorine bath before placement
• Contractor is responsible for adequate disinfection whenever equipment is installed or disturbed

Setback Requirements (K.A.R. 28-30-8)

Under K.A.R. 28-30-8, municipal and county governments approve the well location. Minimum standards: at least 50 ft from sewer lines, septic tanks, lateral fields, pit privies, seepage pits, fuel, fertilizer and pesticide storage, feed lots and barn yards; 10 ft from sewer lines of cast iron, plastic or equally tight material; and 25 ft from the nearest property line (public right-of-way counts). The property-line distance has one exception, in K.A.R. 28-30-8(d) (KDHE): "All wells shall be 25 feet or more from the nearest property line, allowing public right-of-ways to be counted; however, a well used only for irrigation or cooling purposes may be located closer than 25 feet to an adjoining property where: (1) such adjoining property is served by a sanitary sewer and does not contain a septic tank system, disposal well or other source of contamination or pollution; and (2) the property to be provided with the proposed well is served by both a sanitary sewer and a public water supply." Both conditions must be met. Surface water must not pond within 50 ft of the well, and the well cannot sit in a ravine or drainage area.

Local Permits

Some Kansas counties require local well permits before drilling. For example, Sedgwick County requires a $50 water well permit obtained before drilling. The KDHE January 2026 county table also lists Johnson ($65) and Shawnee ($75). Many counties require household well permits. Check the county even when there is no separate city permit. Check with local county environmental/sanitation offices.

High-Capacity Wells (Water Rights)

A well for irrigation or industrial/commercial use requires a water-right application with DWR. Wells for personal domestic use generally do not. Approval comes as an appropriation permit from KDA Division of Water Resources (K.S.A. 82a-701 et seq.).

• Contact KDA-DWR before drilling high-capacity wells: 785-564-6640
• Application processing can take several weeks
• Groundwater Management Districts (GMDs) may have additional requirements

Special Wells

• Geothermal (heat pump) holes: Treated as water wells under K.A.R. 28-30. Must be constructed and plugged to KDHE standards. No extra license needed. Closed-loop holes, K.A.R. 28-30-7(d)(3) (KDHE): "The entire hole shall be plugged with an approved grouting material from bottom of the hole, to the bottom of the horizontal trench, using a grout tremie pipe or similar method approved by the department."
• Monitoring/test wells: Same construction standards apply. Cap the casing watertight whenever the well is unattended or in use as a cased test hole or monitoring well (K.A.R. 28-30-6(g)). K.A.R. 28-30-6(s) (KDHE): "Each monitoring well shall be an above-grade surface completion, unless the monitoring well is located on a roadway, sidewalk, driveway, parking lot, or other heavily trafficked area that requires an at-grade surface completion monitoring well." An at-grade (flush-mount) completion needs a scaled map with latitude and longitude filed with the WWC-5, and construction to KDHE's "flushmount well construction detail" document (28-30-6(s)(1), (2)). File the WWC-5 within 30 days of completion.

Plugging Abandoned Wells (K.A.R. 28-30-7)

• K.A.R. 28-30-7(a) (KDHE): "All water wells abandoned by the landowner on or after July 1, 1979, and all water wells that were abandoned prior to July 1, 1979 which pose a threat to groundwater supplies, shall be plugged or caused to be plugged by the landowner."
• Minimum steps for every well (28-30-7(a)): "The casing shall be cut off three feet below ground surface and removed"; "All wells shall be plugged from bottom to top using volumes of material equaling at least the inside volume of the well"; on cased wells "a grout plug shall be placed from six to three feet below ground surface"; "Compacted clays or grout shall be used to plug all wells from the static water level to six feet below surface"; and the top 3 ft is covered "with compacted surface silts or clays." Dug wells (28-30-7(a)(3)(B)): "For dug wells, the lining material shall be removed to at least five feet below ground surface, and then sealed at five feet with a minimum of six inches of concrete or other materials approved by the department. Compacted surface silts and clays shall be placed over the concrete seal to ground surface."
• Remove groundwater displaced up the casing before adding more plugging material, and chlorinate sand and gravel used in domestic or public supply wells before it goes in.
• Unconfined-aquifer wells also get "washed sand, and gravel or other material approved by the department placed from the bottom of the well to the static water level" (28-30-7(b)).
• Wells in confined aquifers (or confined and unconfined) follow 28-30-7(a) plus one of two procedures (28-30-7(c)): (1) "The entire well column shall be filled with grout, or other material approved by the department, by use of a grout tremie pipe"; or (2) "A 10 foot grout plug shall be placed opposite the impervious formation or confining layer above each confined aquifer or aquifers by use of a grout tremie pipe" and all of the following: "The space between plugs shall be filled with clays, silts, sand and gravel or grout and shall be placed inside the well so as to prevent bridging" (28-30-7(c)(2)(A)); "A grout plug at least 20 feet in length shall be placed with a grout pipe so at least 10 feet of the plug extends below the base of the well casing and at least 10 feet of the plug extends upward inside the bottom of the well casing"; and "A grout plug at least 10 feet in length shall be placed from at least 13 feet below ground level to the top of the cut off casing." Where the casing was never grouted and there is open bore hole below it, "the top 20 feet of well casing shall be removed or perforated" before plugging, and "If the well is plugged according to part (2) of this subsection, the screened or perforated intervals below the well casing shall be grouted the entire length by use of a grout tremie pipe." (28-30-7(c)(3)).
• Abandoned test holes and bore holes must be plugged within three calendar days after testing ends (28-30-7(d)(2)). First, 28-30-7(d): "If the hole penetrates an aquifer containing water with more than 1,000 milligrams per liter, mg/l, total dissolved solids or is in an area determined by the department to be contaminated, the entire hole shall be plugged with an approved grouting material from the bottom of the hole, up to within three feet of the ground surface using a grout tremie pipe or similar method." Otherwise, 28-30-7(d)(2)(C): "For bore holes of 25 feet or less, drill cuttings from the original hole may be used to plug the hole in lieu of grouting material, provided that an aquifer is not penetrated or the bore hole is not drilled in an area determined by the department to be a contaminated area."
• Report the plugging on the WWC-5P (30 days after completion, K.S.A. 82a-1212).

Regulatory References

• K.S.A. 82a-1201 et seq. – Kansas Groundwater Exploration and Protection Act
• K.A.R. 28-30-3 – Licensing requirements
• K.A.R. 28-30-4 – General operating requirements
• K.A.R. 28-30-6 – Well construction standards
• K.A.R. 28-30-10 – Well disinfection requirements