If you are seeing this message, you are likely using an older browser to view this site. This website's content is fully accessible to all browsers, however the web site will look much better and your experience will be much more enjoyable if you upgrade your browser to a more current version. Please visit this web site to upgrade your browser.
| UIC Home | UIC Rules | Other Rules | UIC Newsletter | UIC Contacts | UIC Glossary |
| Class I Wells | Class II Wells | Class III Wells | Class IV Wells | Class V Wells |
| UIC Forms & Applications | Compliance Assistance | Links to Useful Resources |
Class V injection wells include all injection wells not classified as Class I, II, III, or IV. Currently, there are more than 40 subclasses of Class V injection wells.
During the development of the National UIC Database, EPA revised its list of Class V subclasses or categories. Not all of these subclasses occur in Utah.
| EPA Well Code | Description of Category/Subclass |
|---|---|
| 5A | Industrial Wells - These wells are used to inject fluids generated at/by the following industrial/commercial facilities, services, or activities: |
5A1 |
Car Washes |
5A2 |
Car Washes - No Engine or Undercarriage Washing - used to inject washwater from facilities where only exterior washing of cars, vans, trucks, buses, boats on trailers, etc. occurs. Typically located at coin-operated, manual carwashes where people use hand-held hoses to wash vehicles. These facilities are also known as “wand washes.” <<more info>> |
5A3 |
Appliance Service and Repair |
5A4 |
Beauty / Barber Shops |
5A5 |
Nail Salons |
5A6 |
Dry Cleaners |
5A7 |
Laundromats - No Onsite Dry Cleaning - used to inject wastewater from laundromats where no on-site dry cleaning is performed or where no organic solvents are used for laundering. <<more info>> |
5A8 |
Funeral Services |
5A9 |
Wood / Furniture Finishing / Refinishing |
5A10 |
Machine and Welding Shops |
5A11 |
Medical Services |
5A12 |
Pesticide / Herbicide Application Services |
5A13 |
Photographic Processing |
5A14 |
Printing |
5A15 |
Veterinary, Kennel, Pet Grooming |
5A16 |
Metal Plating / Fabrication |
5A17 |
Equipment Manufacture / Repair |
5A18 |
Cooling Water - With Additives |
5A19 |
Cooling Water - No Additives - used to inject cooling water that contains no additives and has not been chemically altered. <<more info>> |
5A20 |
Food Processing - used to inject wastewater related to the preparation of food and washing of food-processing equipment or facilities. These wells are usually constructed as septic tanks and leachfields, although some are simply drywells that allow untreated wastewater to enter the soil. <<more info>> |
5A21
|
Small Engine Repair |
5A23
|
Drinking Water Treatment Residual <<more info>> |
5A24
|
Other Non-Hazardous Industrial, Commercial, Service Waste |
| 5B | Beneficial Use Wells |
5B1 |
Aquifer Recharge - used to replenish water in an aquifer. These injection wells may have secondary objectives, such as subsidence control and prevention of salt water intrusion into fresh water aquifers. <<more info>> |
5B2 |
Salt Water Intrusion Barrier - used to inject water of varying qualities (including untreated surface water, treated drinking water, and mixtures of treated municipal wastewater and groundwater or surface water) into a fresh water aquifer to prevent the intrusion of salt water. Control of salt water intrusion through the use of these wells may be achieved by creating and maintaining a "fresh water ridge." <<more info>> |
5B3 |
Subsidence Control - used to control land subsidence caused by groundwater withdrawal, oil and gas production, construction activities, etc. While the primary objective of these wells is to reduce or eliminate the loss of land surface elevation, they may have secondary purposes such as aquifer recharge. Land subsidence control is achieved by injecting water into an underground formation to maintain fluid pressure and avoid compaction. <<more info>> |
5B4 |
Aquifer Storage and Recovery - used to replenish (store) water in an aquifer for subsequent use (recovery from the same well). These injection wells may have secondary objectives, such as subsidence control and prevention of salt water intrusion into fresh water aquifers. <<more info>> |
5B6 |
Subsurface Environmental Remediation - used to clean up, treat, or prevent contamination of groundwater. These wells may be used for different specific purposes, including to: (1) introduce remediation agents (i.e., chemicals or microorganisms) into contaminated aquifers to neutralize the contamination; (2) increase ground water flow through the contaminant zone in an aquifer to aid in contaminant removal; (3) form hydraulic barriers to contain contaminant plumes; and (4) re-inject treated ground water for aquifer recharge after an onsite pump-and-treat system. <<more info>> |
5C |
Fluid Return Wells |
5C1 |
Spent Brine Return - used to inject spent brines that results from the extraction of minerals, halogens, and other compounds from fluids. These wells are commonly associated with manufacturing facilities that produce specialty chemicals such as boron, bromine, magnesia, or their derivatives. <<more info>> |
5C2 |
Groundwater Source Heat Pump Fluid Return - used to re-inject ground water that has passed through a heat exchanger to heat or cool buildings. In heating mode, a heat pump takes thermal energy from the groundwater and transfers it to the space being heated. In cooling mode, the heat pump removes heat from a building and transfers it to the groundwater. The UIC Program only regulates OPEN LOOP heat pump systems; NOT CLOSED LOOP SYSTEMS. <<more info>> |
5C3 |
Geothermal Direct Heat Fluid Return - used to inject spent geothermal fluids following the extraction of heat used directly (without conversion to electricity or passage through a heat exchanger) to heat homes, swimming pools, greenhouses, etc. <<more info>> |
5C4 |
Geothermal Electric Power Generation Fluid Return - used to re-inject spent geothermal fluids following the extraction of heat for the production of electricity. <<more info>> |
5C5 |
Groundwater Aquaculture Fluid Return - used to re-inject groundwater or geothermal fluids used for the cultivation of marine and freshwater animals and plants under controlled conditions. <<more info>> |
| 5D | Sewage Treatment Effluent Wells - used to inject treated effluent from Publicly Owned Treatment Works (POTWs), or privately owned treatment works receiving solely sanitary waste. <<more info>> |
| 5E | Large Capacity Cesspools - !! BANNED !! - used to inject untreated sanitary waste with a design capacity of greater than 5,000 gallons per day. <<more info>> |
| 5F | Large Onsite Underground Wastewater Disposal Systems - used to inject treated sanitary waste generated onsite from multiple family residential facilities or non-residential facilities where the onsite system has a design capacity of greater than 5,000 gallons per day. This category includes large capacity septic systems. <<more info>> |
| 5G | Experimental Technology Wells - used to inject fluids associated with experimental subsurface technologies including chemical tracers used for the study of groundwater and hydrogeologic parameters, fluids used in experimental aquifer thermal energy storage (ATES) systems, etc. Wells that can be classified under an existing Class V subclass will not be classified as "experimental technology" wells. <<more info>> |
| 5H | Drainage Wells |
5H1 |
Stormwater Drainage Wells - <<more info>> |
5H2 |
Agricultural Drainage Wells (ADWs) - used to drain excess surface and subsurface water from agricultural fields, including irrigation tailwaters and natural drainage resulting from precipitation, snowmelt, floodwaters, etc. ADWs may also receive animal yard runoff, feedlot runoff, dairy runoff, or runoff from any other agricultural operation. In some cases, these fluids are released into ADWs in order to recharge aquifers that are used as sources of irrigation water. <<more info>> |
5H3 |
Other Drainage Wells - used to inject drainage fluids that are not agricultural, industrial, or stormwater in origin. These wells include: pump control valve discharge and potable water tank overflow discharge wells, landslide control wells, swimming pool drainage wells, and dewatering wells. <<more info>> |
| 5I | Mine Backfill and Drainage - used to inject water, sand, mill tailings, or other mining byproducts in order to control subsidence caused by mining, to dispose of mining byproducts, or to fill sections of a mine. <<more info>> |
| 5J | Waste Discharge Wells |
| 5K | Motor Vehicle Waste Disposal Wells (MVWDWs) - !! BANNED !! - used to inject fluids from motor vehicle repair or maintenance activities such as may occur at auto body repair shops, automotive repair shops, car dealerships, specialty repair shops (for example: transmission, lubrication, muffler, paint shops) or any other facility that performs vehicular repair and maintenance involving vehicular fluids and assocated fluids. <<more info>> |
| 5L | In Situ and Solution Mining Wells - used to inject fluids to produce minerals or energy and that are not classified as Class II or Class III activities. |
5L1 |
Solution Mining - are used in the recovery of copper, uranium, and potentially other minerals, from mines that have already been conventionally mined, through the injection of solutions (lixiviants) of sodium bicarbonate or sulfuric acid in groundwater or recirculated mine water. <<more info>> |
5L2 |
In Situ Fossil Fuel Recovery - used for in situ recovery of coal, lignite, oil shale, and tar sands. The wells inject water, air, oxygen, solvents, combustibles, or explosives into underground or oil shale beds to free fossil fuels so they can be extracted. Injection wells used in the recovery of heavy oils from tar sands or in the production of methane from coal formations are part of “enhanced oil recovery operations” and, thus, are considered Class II injection wells. <<more info>> |
| 5X | Other Wells - used to inject fluids not otherwize described above in the other Class V subclasses. |
References for Class V Injection Wells
Report to Congress: Class V Injection Wells - Current Inventory; Effects on Ground Water; Technical Recommendations, September 1987. Report Number: EPA 570/9-87-006.
The Class V Underground Injection Control Study, September 1999. Report Number: EPA/816-R-99-014k. Available online at: http://www.epa.gov/safewater/uic/class5/classv_study.html
This page last updated on: 4 November 2009
You are here: Water Quality Home >