The Department conducts a variety of functions critical to the long-term management of Oregon's groundwater resources for public and private benefits. In Oregon it is a priority of the Department to protect the groundwater resource through appropriate construction, education, and enforcement procedures.
The Well Construction and Compliance Section (WCC) is responsible for several program areas to ensure that wells are properly constructed, altered, maintained, and decommissioned so as to prevent contamination, loss of artesian pressure, and waste of Oregon's groundwater resources. These program areas include the licensing of well constructors, enforcement of well construction standards, recording of groundwater use, providing well ID labels to landowners during property transfers, issuing special standards, and keeping a repository of well reports. The construction of wells and the data provided on well reports affects anyone using groundwater for domestic, municipal, industrial, environmental monitoring, or agricultural purposes.