One-Stop Well Construction Permitting
The District has expanded its online permitting services. The District began offering services online last year when water use permit (WUP) holders were allowed to submit required data conditions over the Internet. Now, well construction permitting may be done online.
The transition to allowing WUP users to submit data online has been very smooth, said Adeline Wood, well construction permit coordinator.
Online well construction permitting is the next phase, explained Wood. The original initiative was to provide online permitting for all disciplines (well construction, water use and environmental resource). We chose well construction permits because it wasnt as complicated as the other two disciplines.
Licensed well contractors can now complete their entire permitting process online, any time of the day or night. The permitting process includes submitting well construction applications, paying application fees and submitting completion reports online through the District Web site, WaterMatters.org. However, in order to submit the completion report online, the initial application must have been completed online.
Submitting completion reports online will be a timesaver for the contractors because of the detail that must be furnished, said Wood. With online completions, most information will automatically be filled in from the initial application. All that must be added can be found in a series of drop-down boxes. The only other information to be added by the contractor is the drill cuttings. The automation of completion reports makes for a very painless process which should make everyones life a lot easier!
The first step to online permitting is registration. The registration process is done through the District Web site using the One-Stop Permitting link. It only takes a few minutes and ensures that the well contractor is licensed and eligible to do business with the District. To complete the registration process, the contractor must provide his or her email address (which becomes the contractors user name) and a password. Once on the secure site, the contractor can complete the other business and financial information. The password will be required to ensure security for contractor information. Once registration is complete, the information can be saved and referenced at each application process.
Contractors who have used the online permitting process say it is convenient.
The online permitting helps my company maintain our workflow, said Gary Woodward, a licensed well construction contractor from Port Charlotte. It is a lot easier to do online permitting and it saves time, fuel and paperwork.
With online payment, I can process a permit without worrying that someone with check-signing authority is in the office, said Donna from Imperial Testing Labs. It helps us get our permits out faster.
Online well construction permitting is the first phase of a larger initiative that will allow applications for all well, water use (WUP) and environmental resource permits (ERP) to be submitted online.
We are always striving to find better ways to serve the Districts customers, says B.J. Jarvis, Director of Records and Data Department. We feel that by offering permitting over the Internet, we can increase productivity for our customers, as well as District staff. Our goal is to make this a very user-friendly process.