SD DENR Wells Completion Reports

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Commonly Asked Questions

There are several buttons in the search area. How are each used?
How do I perform a buffer search?
What are the Download and Send Email buttons that show up along with search results?
How do I use the range searches on the Depth and Date Completed parameters?
How do I change the basemap (background map)?
Why do some wells show up outside of the area that was searched (County searches for example)?
In the upper menu bar, there is a button labled TOOLS. How are the TOOLS used?
What do the letters and numbers under the Buffer search section mean?
Why doesn't the search find the well completion report I am looking for?
What if a mistake is found in a well completion report?
Why doesn’t the dot on the map match the actual well location?
I found the well completion report but I have a question.

Additional Resources

General Search Tips Back to top
There are several ways to find and locate wells within the application.

The primary search button is labeled SEARCH. It uses the information entered in the boxes to locate wells and display well details in a results table.
Leaving search options blank or at their default value will NOT affect the results of your search.
Using more than one search option helps narrow down your search results.
Clicking on a well indicator (yellow dot) shows a DETAIL POPUP for that particular well.
BUFFER SEARCH is used to find wells within the specified radius of a map click and displays well details in the results table.

A BUFFER SEARCH can be used alone, or in combination with existing search results.
A BUFFER SEARCH can refine existing parameter and buffer searches.

The ZOOM TO TRS button only locates the specified Township, Range and Section on the map.

a ZOOM TO TRS search uses only the Township, Range and Section boxes. All other parameters are disregarded.
a ZOOM TO TRS search does not display any well details in the results section.
a ZOOM TO TRS search does not affect the display of any well details already in the results section from an existing well search.
a ZOOM TO TRS search may or may not indicate wells in the area of the search, depending upon if wells exist in the area of the search.

The CLEAR SEARCH button clears all parameters and starts a fresh search
If you just cannot get the search to work, contact South Dakota Water Rights Program at (605) 773-3352 or email us.

How do I perform a buffer search? Back to top
A Buffer Search is used to find wells within the specified radius of a map click.

ENTER A RADIUS in miles (decimals are ok).
CLICK the SET BUFFER button.
CLICK on the MAP where you want the center of the search circle to be.
The map will zoom to the center of your search area and any wells found within the buffer circle will be show along with their details in the results table.

A buffer search can be used alone, or in combination with existing search results.
A buffer search can refine existing parameter and buffer searches.
Performing a parameter search when a buffer search already exists will disregard the buffer and clear the buffer results.

How do I use the range searches on the Depth and Date Completed parameters?

Four modes available are BETWEEN, EQUAL TO, LESS THAN and GREATER THAN.

The default mode is BETWEEN when values are entered in both boxes. The default switches to EQUAL TO When only one values is entered.
Only the BETWEEN search evaluates both boxes. If data is entered in both boxes on the other searches, only the left box is used in the search.

When using BETWEEN, the search will look for wells that are less than OR equal to the left box, AND greater than or equal to the value in the right box.
When using EQUAL TO (=), the search will look for values that exactly match the entry in either box.
Use the LESS THAN (<) the search will look for values that are less than the value entered.
Use the GREATER THAN (>) the search will look for values that are greater than the value entered.

To change modes, use the radio selectors, then enter your values.
Range searches work in combination with the other parameters.

How do I change the basemap (background map)?

The two basemaps available are Imagery with Labels and Streets.

To change the basemap, click the icon in the lower right hand part of the screen.
The basemap must be selected before you begin your search.
The default basemap is Imagery with Labels.

This basemap uses satellite and high-resolution aerial imagery and labels for cities and select landmarks.

The alternate basemap is Streets.

This basemap includes highways, major roads, minor roads, railways, water features, cities, parks, landmarks and building footprints overlaid on shaded relief.

Basemaps are licenced through ESRI Software and its partners and include use restrictions. Restrictions include, but are not limited to the following.

Systematically harvest map tiles.
Redistribute map tiles, geocodes, and routes.
Embed ArcGIS Online services into any turn navigation system or in other application.
A list of Street Map Contributors can be found at http://esriurl.com/WorldStreetMapContributors.

Why do some wells show up outside of the area that was searched (County searches for example)?

Either the data was incorrectly supplied, or an error was made when it was originally entered.

In the upper menu bar, there is a button labled TOOLS. How are the TOOLS used?

There are tools for Navigation, measuring, lat long locations and Twn-Rng-Sec Label toggling.

Clicking on the Tools icon toggles the visibility of the tools.
Navigation

GO BACK: Returns to the previous extent (works only when the extent has changed).
GO FORWARD: moves to the extent that was active prior to the currently viewed extent (works only when the GO BACK has been used).

Measuring Area

To activate, click the left tool with the ruler icon.
Select a unit of measure from the dropdown (default is acres).
Click the map at your starting point. Continue to click until you have a polygon (at least 3 points).
The measurement result can be read from the tools box under the Measurment Result Line.
The results are continually updated as you click to change the polygon.
To de-activate, click the left tool with the ruler icon again.

Measuring distance

To activate, click the right tool with the ruler icon.
Select a unit of measure from the dropdown (default is miles).
Click the map at your starting point. Click an ending point. (at least 2 points).
The measurement result can be read from the tools box under the Measurment Result Line.
You can continue to click points to extend your line.
The results are continually updated as you click to change the line length.
To de-activate, click the right tool with the ruler icon again.

Display GPS Location

To activate, click the third tool icon(labeled location if you hover the mouse).
Select a unit of measure from the dropdown (default is degrees).
Click the map at your point of interest.
The Latitude and Longitude can be read from the tools box under the Measurment Result Line.

T-R-S Label Display (Township-Range-Section labels are visible only when zoomed in on the map)

The T-R-S Labels checkbox toggles the labels off (when labels are visible).
The Labels Darkness checkbox toggles between darker and lighter labels to accommodate differences in background color on the map.

Why doesn't the search find the well completion report I am looking for?

There are several reason why this may occur.

It is possible the legal description of the well provided to DENR is either incorrect or difficult to read.
We may have never received a well completion report -- especially for older wells.

Prior to 1975 well drillers were not required to submit completion reports.
Even so, we do have many completion reports for wells much older than 1975.

An honest mistake was make while manually entering the log into our database.

What if a mistake is found in a well completion report?

If you find a mistake or some other correction is needed:

Contact South Dakota Water Rights Program at (605) 773-3352 or email us to have it corrected.

Why doesn’t the dot on the map match the actual well location?

The dot on the map is an approximation.

The dot on the map is an approximation of the actual well location based on the legal description of the well provided by the well driller. The actual well location may be several hundred feet away from the dot shown on the map.

I found the well completion report but I have a question.

The type of question will determine who to contact.

If you have a question about whether the well described on the completion report complies with the Well Construction Standards, then please contact South Dakota Water Rights Program at (605) 773-3352 or email us.
General questions about the well construction should be directed to the well driller listed on the report.

What do the letters and numbers under the Buffer search section mean?

They represent the map corner latitude and longitude of current viewable area.

What are the Download and Send Email buttons that show up along with search results?

These are used to save or share the details search results .

The DOWNLOAD SELECTED (Excel) button will create a comma separated value (.csv) file.

Additional well details can be seen from within the file.
When the .csv file is opened using Microsoft Excel, the well completion report can be called up by clicking the report column(when connected to internet).
Use the CHECKBOXES on the left side of the results to limit which wells to include in the download.
Use the CHECKBOX next to the SELECT label OR leave all checkboxes blank to include all results in the download.

The DOWNLOAD SELECTED PDFs button consolidates the well completion reports of the selected wells.

Use the CHECKBOXES on the left side of the results to limit which reports include in the download.
Use the CHECKBOX next to the SELECT label OR leave all checkboxes blank to include all the reports in the download.
The program limits the number of pdf pages that can be consolidated based on the number of pages, so reduce the number of completion reports as needed.

The EMAIL RESULTS button sends a .csv file to the email address entered in the EMAIL TO box.

Works exactly the same as the DOWNLOAD SELECTED (Excel) button, except that the results are emailed rather than downloaded to your computer.

	LOCATION	Mobile-Friendly Search
Twn-Rng-Sec:

County:
	OWNERSHIP
Last Name:
Business:
	WELL INFO
Depth:	between = < >
Date Completed:	between = < >
Well Type:
Driller:

	BUFFER SEARCH
	Radius in miles

Water Well Completion Reports

Commonly Asked Questions

Additional Resources