Water Features Surveys

Water Features Surveys (WFS) are a requirement for an abstraction license, they are issued by the Environment Agency after submitting a WR32 Section 32(3) when applying to drill, test pump and license a water borehole in the UK. From Open Loop Ground Source Heating to Agricultural water supply all abstraction license applications need a Water Features Survey to be completed.

The Water Features Survey itself conisists of collating a list of all surface water features (rivers, streams, etc) and subsurface features (boreholes, wells, etc) that may be affected by the planned abstraction. Each feature will need to be visited and reported upon, before submitting to the Regulator.

Aquifer energy can guide you through the process and complete the survey on your behalf, the radius of the survey will vary but is usually determined by the quantity of water you are abstracting, common guidelines for this are:

Up to 20m3/day - 100m search radius
20 to 100m3/day - 250m search radius
100 to 500m3/day - 500m search radius
500 to 1,000m3/day - 1km search radius
1,000 to 3,000m3/day - 1.5km search radius
3,000 to 5,000m3/day - 2km search radius
Over 5,000m3/day - 2km to 4km search radius

Once completed the Environment Agency, SEPA or NRW will issue your Ground Investigation Consent allowing you to drill your borehole. For more details on the full Abstraction License Process click here. If you’d like to find out more or get a quote to assist with your Water Features Survey, please get in touch at lawrence@Aquifer.Energy