TL;DR
Well abandonment is the permanent decommissioning of an unused water well, removing the pump and drop pipe, then filling the borehole from the bottom up with bentonite, neat cement grout, or approved fill in the sequence the state prescribes, and filing the closure report. The regulation exists because an open abandoned well is both a fall hazard and a direct, unfiltered conduit from surface contamination into the aquifer that neighbors still drink from.
What it means
Well abandonment is the permanent decommissioning of an unused water well, removing the pump and drop pipe, then filling the borehole from the bottom up with bentonite, neat cement grout, or approved fill in the sequence the state prescribes, and filing the closure report. The regulation exists because an open abandoned well is both a fall hazard and a direct, unfiltered conduit from surface contamination into the aquifer that neighbors still drink from. Most states require a licensed well contractor to perform it and charge by depth and diameter, and discovering an unsealed legacy well during a property sale routinely becomes a negotiated repair item.
Where it sits in the glossary
Well abandonment is part of the Trade jargon group inside the ProFix Directory glossary. Browse every term in this category from the glossary index.
Why Ohio homeowners should know it
This is a term Ohio homeowners encounter when reading contractor quotes, hiring paperwork, or inspection reports. Understanding it well enough to ask one good follow-up question is usually all the protection a homeowner needs.
ProFix Directory keeps definitions short on the index page and saves the longer context — Ohio-specific rules, where the term comes from, and which ProFix tools touch it — for these per-term pages so the term is easy to cite and easy to share.
ProFix tools that touch this term
See also
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