Water wells · Northeast Florida
Water well services
Pumps, pressure and bladder tanks, water testing, inspections for a sale, and the permits behind all of it. If your property runs on a private well, nobody is checking it but you.
Crews with 20+ years in the tradeLicensed & insuredOne-year warranty
No water? Call and we will tell you what it sounds like.
A well that has stopped delivering, pressure that has dropped away, or a pump that will not shut off. Call and you will get a person and a straight answer about when we can be there.
Why well questions get answered on a septic company’s site
Northeast Florida has good well contractors, some of them drilling here for generations, and it has septic companies. Very few explain how the two interact. We read every page of the septic companies competing for the same customers and found no water-well coverage at all — which leaves a lot of owners of well-and-septic properties with nowhere to get a straight answer.
That gap matters, because wells and septic on the same lot are not independent. The required separation between them governs where a drain field can go, and a failing drain field is a contamination pathway to the well beside it. These pages exist to answer those questions properly. On the well side we service what is already in the ground — the pump, the pressure and bladder tank, the switch — we test the water, and we inspect a well for a sale. We do not drill, and we do not sell or fit water treatment equipment. If that is what you need, call and we will point you at the right trade.
Where the water comes from
Most private wells in this part of Florida draw from the surficial or the Floridan aquifer, and which one you are on affects depth, yield and water chemistry. Iron and sulfur are common here and are usually a taste, smell and staining issue rather than a health one.
What is worth understanding is that a well is a system, not a single object: the well itself, the pump down it, the pressure tank that stops the pump running constantly, and whatever treatment sits between all that and your tap. A fault in any one of them shows up at the tap looking much the same.
Well and septic on the same property
A great many properties out here have both, and they are not independent. Florida sets minimum separation distances between an onsite sewage system and a private potable well, in Rule 62-6.005 of the Florida Administrative Code, in the version that took effect on 8 June 2026, which puts a septic system no closer than 75 feet to a private potable well, precisely because a failing drain field is a contamination pathway to a well on the same lot.
On a tight lot that setback decides where the drain field can legally go, so the well constrains the septic design. We plan the septic layout around the well that is already there, and check the separation before the design is set rather than after the permit comes back.
Who permits a well in Northeast Florida
It depends on the county, and it catches people out. Well construction across most of our area falls under the St. Johns River Water Management District, under Chapters 40C-3 and 62-532 of the Florida Administrative Code — but the District delegates the permitting rather than doing it. It holds sixteen delegation agreements with local health departments and one with the City of Jacksonville, together covering every well in the District that the District does not permit itself, so the office you apply to is the county health department. The District still permits wells six inches or greater in outside diameter at land surface.
Duval County is one exception. Wells under six inches in diameter are permitted by the City of Jacksonville Environmental Quality Division under Chapter 366 of the city Ordinance Code and Environmental Protection Board Rule 8, and that covers construction, repair, modification and abandonment. Duval, St. Johns and Putnam also contain delineated areas — areas Florida law treats as having known groundwater contamination, or as vulnerable — where additional construction requirements apply. Union County is an exception in the other direction. It sits in the Suwannee River Water Management District, not the St. Johns River district. That district issues the well permit itself, under Chapter 40B-3 of the Florida Administrative Code. A well permit there does not go through a county health department. Baker County is a third case. The line between the two districts runs through it rather than around it: section 373.069 of the Florida Statutes traces that line along a range line and a township line. On the St. Johns side the Florida Department of Health in Baker County issues the permit under the delegation. Which side of that line a property sits on is a question for the two districts.
What we do and do not do on wells
We service existing wells. We do not drill new ones. Pumps, pressure tanks, the switches and wiring that go with them, water testing and inspections for a sale — that is our work, and it sits under the same licence as the septic side. We do not sell or fit water treatment equipment.
Drilling a new well is a different trade with a different licence, and we will say so rather than take the job and subcontract it. If that is what you need, call anyway and we will tell you what you are looking at before you start ringing round.
Well services
Wells
Well inspections
A well inspection is usually bought against a closing date, and a closing date does not move because the well turned out to have a problem. Book it early enough that a repair is still an option.
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Well pump repair
No water at all, or pressure that comes and goes. Before anything gets replaced, the job is working out which component failed, because the wrong guess is an expensive one.
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Well pump replacement
A replacement pump is not a like-for-like part swap. Sizing it to the well and the household is what decides whether you get fifteen years out of it or three.
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Pressure tanks
The least understood component on a well system, and the one whose failure quietly destroys the most expensive one.
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Well water testing
A private well is not covered by the testing a public utility does. Nobody is checking your water except you, and there is no notification when something changes.
Read more →How our estimates work
Some jobs we can price on the phone. The big ones nobody can, and we would rather tell you why than invent a number.
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A ballpark on the first call
A range for a property like yours, and a straight answer on what would move it. Not a commitment, and we will say so.
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A written estimate for the part we can price
On permitted work that means the site evaluation, the soil testing and the permit. You get it in writing, so the job can start.
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A crew out to the site
The evaluation happens on site. The results are what the county needs and what your final number depends on.
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The firm number, once it is knowable
With the soil results and the permit in hand, the price for the actual work is real rather than a guess with a margin built in.
Well questions Northeast Florida homeowners ask
Do I need a permit to drill or repair a well in Northeast Florida?
For a new well, yes, and which office issues it depends on the county. Well construction across most of the area falls under the St. Johns River Water Management District, under Chapters 40C-3 and 62-532 of the Florida Administrative Code. The District delegates that permitting to local health departments. So in Nassau County you apply to the Nassau County health department. The District still permits wells six inches or greater in outside diameter at land surface. Duval County is one exception. There, wells under six inches in diameter go to the City of Jacksonville Environmental Quality Division. It permits them under Chapter 366 of the city Ordinance Code and Environmental Protection Board Rule 8. That covers construction, repair, modification and abandonment. Union County goes the other way. It is in the Suwannee River Water Management District, not the St. Johns district. That district issues the well permit itself, under Chapter 40B-3 of the Florida Administrative Code. That chapter covers the same work, apart from the jobs its Rule 40B-3.051 exempts. Baker County is the third case. Section 373.069 of the Florida Statutes puts the district line inside the county, not around it. So the answer depends on where a property sits. On the St. Johns side the Baker County health department issues the permit under the delegation. Which of the two districts an address falls in is a question for the districts.
How do I know whether my pump or my pressure tank has failed?
A failed pump usually means no water at all, or water that runs briefly then stops. A failed pressure tank usually means water still arrives but in bursts, with the pump switching on and off rapidly each time you open a tap. Check the breaker and pressure switch first either way, because both produce a no-water symptom and cost far less to put right.
How often should private well water be tested?
Annually for bacteria and nitrates, and sooner if the taste, smell or colour changes, after flooding, after nearby construction, or if a septic system nearby has failed. Nobody tests a private well but its owner, and there is no notification when something changes.
Can a septic system contaminate a well on the same property?
It can, which is why Florida sets minimum separation distances between an onsite sewage system and a private potable well in Rule 62-6.005 of the Florida Administrative Code, in the version that took effect on 8 June 2026, which puts a septic system no closer than 75 feet to a private potable well. On properties with both, bacteria in a water test should always put the septic system into the investigation rather than treating the well in isolation.
Why does my well water smell like rotten eggs?
That is hydrogen sulfide, usually produced by sulfur bacteria in the well, the plumbing or the water heater. It is generally unpleasant rather than dangerous. If the smell is only on the hot water, the water heater is the likely source, which is a different fix from treating the whole supply.
Tell us what the system is doing.
Call and talk to someone who works on these every day, or send the details and we will come back to you.