Well Mapping

Fairfax County Health Department's
Well Mapping Project

The Division of Environmental Health of the Fairfax County Health Department is in the final stages of mapping the existing water wells within the County. The field data collection stage of the project is complete. The final stage consists of a quality assurance and quality control process to check for data accuracy and consistency.

In our ongoing efforts to improve our ability to protect groundwater sources and the public's health, the Fairfax County Health Department (FCHD) has initiated a countywide project to precisely locate all private drinking water wells in the county.

An informational notice was mailed to approximately 13,000 homes in Fairfax County that Health Department records indicated were being served by a water well. The purpose of the letter was to advise homeowners about the survey and what to expect during the survey.

The survey team has visited each property to precisely record the well location using a Global Positioning System (GPS) unit. The purpose of this project is to create a Geographic Information System (GIS) database. This GIS database will allow the Health Department to quickly and precisely identify groundwater wells that could be impacted by future road improvements, construction activities, sewer system installations, contamination incidents such as spills, etc. Ultimately, this GIS-enhanced ability will help the Health Department provide improved service and protect more than 50,000 county residents who derive their drinking water from a private well.

FCHD has contracted the services of Michael Baker, Jr., Inc. (Baker) to complete the countywide field data collection effort. Baker has been a national leader in the GIS\GPS field for over 20 years. During this time, Baker has mapped approximately 1.5 million square miles of the Earth's surface. Baker personnel visited each property identified as having a well and will spend approximately 90 seconds at each well location in order to collect precise GPS coordinates for the well. The well head was not be opened or impacted in any way during this process. The Fairfax County Police Department had been advised of this project and of the presence of the Baker Personnel in your neighborhood.

You may e-mail any questions about this project to the Fairfax County Health Department by using the web e-mail form below.

Thank you for your time, patience and consideration in this project.

Dr. Gloria Addo-Ayensu
Director of Health