Spring
A spring is a place where underground water finds an opening to the land surface and flows out, because an aquifer has filled to the point of overflowing. Springs range from seeps that run only after heavy rain to continuous flows, and their water quality generally follows the local groundwater.
From a trickle after rain to a continuous flow
The U.S. Geological Survey describes a spring as underground water that finds an opening and emerges at the surface. The word promises no particular volume. The same name covers a seep that flows only after much rain and a spring that runs continuously.
They range in size from intermittent seeps, which flow only after much rain, to huge pools flowing hundreds of millions of gallons daily.
U.S. Geological Survey, Springs and the Water Cycle
A spring is the visible end of an aquifer that has filled until it overflows, so its behavior belongs to the groundwater behind it. USGS makes two points that matter to anyone counting on one. The quality of the local groundwater generally determines the quality of the spring water. And groundwater withdrawals in an area can lower the water level in the aquifer and reduce the spring's flow.
A spring's flow is also not the figure a well carries. Well yield is the private well regulations' term for the quantity of water, usually measured as volume per unit of time, that may flow or be pumped from a well or well field, so a yield figure describes a well and not a spring on the same ground.
Outside the private well regulations, inside the septic setback tables
A spring sits in an unusual spot in Virginia's water rules. The regulations that permit private wells exclude wells built to develop one, while the regulations that site septic systems measure distances to it.
The private well regulations list the wells they exclude, and one entry reads: "Wells constructed for the purpose of the modification or development of springs." That exclusion is about well construction. It says nothing about whether the water is fit to drink, and how an ordinary private well is permitted, built and recorded is a separate path, set out in wells explained, from the permit to the water test.
Springs do appear in the law on waterworks. Under Va. Code 32.1-167, the water supply of a waterworks includes water taken from wells, streams, springs, lakes and other bodies of surface water. That definition belongs to waterworks, the systems behind public water, not to a single private well.
| Part of the septic system | Minimum distance | Where it appears |
|---|---|---|
| Pretreatment units, conveyance lines and header lines | 100 feet | Table 4.1 |
| Bottom or sidewall of a subsurface soil absorption trench | 200 feet, with footnote e | Table 4.2 |
For alternative onsite systems designed under Va. Code 32.1-163.6, 12VAC5-613-200 applies the same 12VAC5-610 horizontal setbacks to drinking water sources of all types, springs included, with one exception: where an existing sewage system already sits closer to a private drinking water source, the AOSS may be no closer to that source than the existing system.
A spring on the parcel is a source to test, not a finding
On a listing, a spring usually shows up as one line in the water description. What that line can carry is narrower than it sounds.
The word tells a buyer that water reaches the surface somewhere on the ground. It does not say how much, whether the flow holds through a dry stretch, or what is in it. VDH describes the Virginia Household Water Quality Program, run through Virginia Cooperative Extension, as covering private water systems such as wells, springs and cisterns. Whether a particular spring is a safe or dependable drinking water source is settled by water testing and the local health department, never by the listing.
How spring water is gathered and covered at the source is under spring box. Who may use water from a spring or a creek, and what happens when owners disagree, belongs to springs, creeks and water rights, and whether a spring changes what a farm brings is taken up in does a spring or creek add value to a farm.
For a seller, the practical point is the order of the questions. A buyer who means to drink from the spring will want the water tested. A buyer who means to build will want to know where the septic distances from that spring fall before a house site is drawn, because the spring stays where it is and the drainfield has to move.
Selling land with a spring on it?
Send the parcel and where the spring comes up, and Lowell will sort what the record already shows about it from what only a water test can answer. No cost, no obligation.
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Questions about this term
Are springs common in Carroll County?
Carroll County's 2024 comprehensive plan describes ground that works against them. Igneous and metamorphic rocks underlie the county except for a small area along its northwestern boundary, and recharge is slow, except in aquifers near streams and below the elevation of their beds, because of the steep land surface and the low absorption rate of most soils. The plan's conclusion is "These conditions produce a few low springs." Whether a particular spring is a safe or dependable drinking water source is a question for water testing and the local health department.
Can pumping from nearby wells reduce a spring's flow?
It can. The U.S. Geological Survey explains that groundwater withdrawals in an area can cause water levels in the aquifer system to drop, which ultimately decreases the flow from a spring. Because a spring is an aquifer overflowing at the surface, anything that draws that aquifer down can show up at the spring.
Where this page's facts come from
Every rule, office and figure above traces to one of these. Rules change; check the office before you act on one.
- Springs and the Water Cycle U.S. Geological Survey
- 12VAC5-630-30: wells excluded from the Private Well Regulations Virginia Administrative Code
- 12VAC5-630-10: Private Well Regulations definitions, including yield Virginia Administrative Code
- Va. Code 32.1-167: definitions for waterworks, including water supply Code of Virginia
- 12VAC5-610-597: Tables 4.1 and 4.2, minimum separation distances Virginia Administrative Code
- 12VAC5-613-200: horizontal setbacks for AOSSs designed under Va. Code 32.1-163.6 Virginia Administrative Code
- Private Well Water Information Virginia Department of Health
- 2024 Comprehensive Plan Carroll County, Virginia