How to declare a well or domestic drilling project?

Verified 13 December 2024 - Directorate for Legal and Administrative Information (Prime Minister)

You want to make a well, also called a borehole, to take groundwater for domestic use in a volume of less than 1,000 m3 per year. You must declare the creation of this book. The information contained in the declaration allows the drinking water service to limit the risks of contamination of public drinking water systems or groundwater. We guide you through the steps you need to take.

Step-by-step approach

You must respect distance rules.

Your well or borehole must be more than:

  • 35 meters of your property limits, because you must control the drainage of run-off water and prevent any accumulation of runoff within a perimeter of 35 meters around the drill head,
  • 200 meters of landfills and waste storage facilities household or industrial,
  • 35 meters of drainage works collective or non-collective means waste water pipes or pipes carrying materials which could adversely affect the quality of groundwater,
  • 35 meters of storage of hydrocarbons, of products chemical, of products plant health or other products could adversely affect the quality of groundwater,
  • 35 meters of livestock buildings and their annexes,
  • 50 meters of parcels potentially affected by the spreading of animal waste and livestock manure from classified installations,
  • 35 meters if the slope of land is less than 7% parcels concerned by sludge spreading from urban or industrial wastewater treatment plants and from the application of waste from installations classified for the protection of the environment,
  • 100 meters if the slope of land is greater than 7% parcels concerned by sludge spreading from urban or industrial wastewater treatment plants and from the application of waste from installations classified for the protection of the environment.

The creation of a groundwater abstraction works intended for domestic use must be mandatory declared at least 1 month before work starts.

You must declare the work on the DUPLOS online service. For works less than 10 meters deep, you can also use a form.

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Declare a work of more than 10 m

DUPLOS allows you to declare the creation of a well or borehole under the mining code and obtain a code in the subsurface database (BSS) managed by the BRGMBRGM : Bureau of Geological and Mining Research. This database holds all data on underground structures in the territory.

The declaration is made by the owner of the land, the drilling company, the developer or the prime contractor.

Unified declaration for underground works (DUPLOS)

The declaration is sent by email to the owner of the land and to the following administrations:

  • Town Hall
  • Departmental Directorate for Territories and the Sea (DDTM)
  • Regional Directorate for the Environment, Planning and Housing (DREAL)

Declare a work of less than 10 m

You can declare the work on DUPLOS or by using a form

Teledeclaration on DUPLOS

Reporting on DUPLOS allows you to get a code in the subsurface database (BSS) managed by the BRGMBRGM : Bureau of Geological and Mining Research. This database holds all data on underground structures in the territory.

Unified declaration for underground works (DUPLOS)

The declaration shall be made by the owner of the land, the drilling company, the contracting authority or the supervisor.

It is sent by email to the owner of the land and to the following administrations:

  • Town Hall
  • Departmental Directorate for Territories and the Sea (DDTM)
  • Regional Directorate for the Environment, Planning and Housing (DREAL).
Declaration on form

The declaration shall be made by the company on behalf of its client. It must use the following form:

Declaration of work: sampling, drilling and boreholes for domestic use

One cadastre extract (or a site plan for the 1/25,000 scale) must be attached. It can be obtained online:

Search, consultation and order of sheets of the cadastral plan

Your tax return must be sent to the City Hall by letter RARRAR : Recommended with notification of receipt (or, in Paris, at the Basu).

Who shall I contact
Who shall I contact

Before you begin your work, you must obligatory report your project to underground network operators, through the online service:

Online service Networks and Pipelines

In the declaration of work you indicated that the water from your well or your borehole is taken for human consumption.

This means that the water is intended for the following uses:

  • Drink
  • Food preparation and cooking
  • Washing dishes
  • Watering of vegetable gardens
  • Body hygiene, general hygiene and cleanliness
  • Other household uses, including those that could pose a risk of ingestion.

You have to get the water tested by an approved laboratory. The control costs are at your expense.

Search approved laboratories for water control

No later than 1 month after completion of the work, you must declare them and attach the results of the water analyzes.

If you have declared the construction of your well or borehole on DUPLOS, you must complete your declaration by declaring the completion of your work:

Unified declaration for underground works (DUPLOS)

If you have declared the construction of your well or borehole on the form, you must declare the completion of your work to the city hall by letter RARRAR : Recommended with notification of receipt .

Who shall I contact

To prevent the risk of water pollution, a drinking water service agent can access your property and proceed to control your well based on the information contained in your declaration of work.

The inspection service shall inform you of the date of the inspection at the latest 7 working days before this one.

The check shall be carried out in your presence or that of your representative.

The monitoring shall include in particular the following:

  • Examination of visible parts of the water, well or borehole sampling device, including protection and metering systems for measuring the volume of water withdrawn
  • Observation of the water uses made or possible from this work
  • Verification of the absence of connection between the public drinking water supply system and another source.

The service will notify the inspection report.

In case of risk of contamination of the water of the public distribution network, the service asks you to implement the necessary protection measures. If these measures are not implemented, the service may close the water connection.

Alone water service subscribers which use a water resource alternative to that supplied by the public water network may be monitored. The alternative resources are rainwater or water of underground or surface origin.

The control costs are at your expense.

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