What you need to know about permits, pump specifications, fees, and well problems in a Howard County house.
We've dated every figure we found. If we know when a number expires, we've said so.
Who permits a well here
You need the Health Department's Bureau of Environmental Health for a well permit. The permits department does not handle these. The Bureau also handles septic. You'll find it at 8930 Stanford Blvd, Columbia. You can reach it on 410-313-1771.
Under COMAR 26.04.04.05, only a licensed master well driller can get a well construction permit. It lasts 12 months from issue. Check the driller's licence first. The permit goes to them, not to you.
What it costs
| Fee | |
|---|---|
| Well permit, inspection and sampling | $160 |
State law caps that fee. That's why it has stayed put while the rest of the schedule has changed. Most Bureau of Environmental Health fees include a 10% technology surcharge, rounded to the nearest dollar. The published figures already include it. You do not pay that surcharge on the well permit.
(Fee schedule revision 07-2024, read 21 September 2026.)
A long supply line run may need a piping permit. The county charges $100 for the first 200 feet of storm, gas, water and sanitary piping. You pay $25 per additional 100 feet or part of it.
Reinspection fees climb quickly. A second failure of the same inspection costs $100. A third costs $125. A fourth or more costs $175. An inspection outside business hours costs $125 for the first hour.
(Plumbing fees adopted by County Council Resolution #83-2026 under Howard County Code §§ 3.304(c) and 3.305(j), effective 1 July 2026.)
- 1The cap is the only part of the well most homeowners have ever seen.
- 2The pitless adapter goes at least 36 inches down, which is what puts the connection below the frost line.
- 3Piping to the house must be rated to at least 160 psi, and must run at least ten feet from the septic tank, the pump chamber, the sewage piping, the distribution box, the drain fields and the reserve area.
- 4A submersible pump installed with a house built in the 1970s or 1980s is well past a typical service life. 58.4% of the county's housing went up between 1970 and 1999, so the stock is clustered in the decade where original equipment fails rather than scattered across a range.
- 5The pressure tank is the part people forget. It came with the pump and it fails on the same timetable.
Howard County well construction requirements and COMAR 26.04.04, read 21 September 2026.
The specifications the county inspects against
The inspector checks these figures from Howard County's pump installation form:
- Supply line depth: 36 inches minimum
- Pitless adapter depth: 36 inches minimum
- Piping to the house rated 160 psi minimum
Distance from the septic system
Keep your water supply line at least ten feet from each of these: the septic tank, pump chamber, sewage piping, distribution box, drain fields and sewage reserve area. If you cannot leave that gap, the county requires a specific way to accommodate it. It does not simply waive the rule. Settle what the county requires before you dig the trench.
This gap is what most often turns a straightforward pump replacement into a redesign. The well and septic system were put in decades apart, under different rules.
Do you need a groundwater appropriation permit?
Almost certainly not. Individual domestic use is exempt from Maryland's groundwater appropriation requirement. There is one exception that catches people: withdrawals for heating and cooling are not exempt. An open-loop geothermal system is a different application from a drinking-water well.
If you do need a permit, MDE says it takes 90 days under 10,000 gallons per day. At or above that amount, MDE says 18 months.
(MDE guidance as published by Howard County, 24 October 2018 — the oldest figure we found. You should confirm it.)
What goes wrong here
Most Howard County homes were built in the same period. 58.4% of units — 73,212 of them — were built between 1970 and 1999. Only 12.2% predate 1970.
That matters for your well. A submersible pump fitted when a house was built in the 1970s or 1980s is well past a typical service life. So is the pressure tank that came with it. The county's homes are therefore clustered in the decade when original equipment fails. Their ages are not spread out, with some houses still new.
The electrical permit is the part people forget. You need a separate permit for any electrical component of a well or septic system. The plumbing permit does not cover it. Howard County also reset its electrical fees through Resolution #83-2026 effective 1 July 2026. You pay a non-refundable $50 application fee.
We've included a source and the date we read it for every figure above.