General Info:

• We do not provide any maps with water well locations because PaGWIS is updated on a weekly basis and we have insufficient staff to continually update the maps.  Data can be exported from PaGWIS for use in ArcMap as point files.
• Well record data in PaGWIS come from various sources (US Geological Survey, PA Dept. of Environmental Protection, Susquehanna River Basin Commission, PA Dept. of Agriculture), but the vast majority is from well records submitted to the Pennsylvania Geological Survey by water well drillers.  Well records submitted by drillers have been added to the database at various times over the years, starting in 1969.  The data entered varied somewhat with each generation of data entry.

1. Records originally entered into PaGWIS have latitude and longitude coordinates.  These coordinates were determined by Survey staff by plotting the best estimate of the location of the well, based on the written description of the well location and the sketch map included on the paper well record.  The goal was for the coordinates of each well to be within 1 mile of its actual location.  These records will be listed in the results of radial and polygonal searches.  These records do not include the well address nor the lithologic log.  There are no links to digital images of the paper records for these wells.
2. For years, no records were entered into PaGWIS because of insufficient staff, creating a backlog of 10 to 20 years, depending on the county.  In 2005, skeletal data only (owner name, well address, county, municipality, driller, and date drilled) for about 154,000 of those records were entered into PaGWIS.  These records have no latitude and longitude coordinates.  Therefore, they will not be listed in the results of either radial or polygonal searches. You must search by County and Municipality to locate these records.
   Because these 154,000 well records do not have data entry of all of the data included on the paper forms, we have provided in the database, links to the images of the paper records submitted to the Survey.
3. Up to 15,000 well records are currently submitted on paper records each year.  These data are entered into PaGWIS on an annual basis.  Almost all of the data on the paper well records are entered into the database.  However, latitude and longitude coordinates are not included on the paper records, and are not entered into the database.  Therefore, like the 154,000-record backlog mentioned above, they will not be listed in the results of either radial or polygonal searches. You must search by County and Municipality to locate these records.
   Because these well records do not have coordinates, we have provided in the database, a link to the image of the paper record submitted to the Survey, because the paper record includes a sketch map illustrating the well location.
   See below for information on obtaining well records submitted on paper forms that have not yet been added to PaGWIS.
4. Some drillers enter well records via the Internet using our WebDriller system.  Data in WebDriller are not available to the public.  On a weekly basis, data for completed wells are transferred into PaGWIS.  These records do include latitude and longitude coordinates, and will be identified in the results of radial or polygonal searches.  No paper well record forms were submitted for these wells, so there is no link to images of paper well records.