Maryland
Underground Injection Control Program
The Underground Injection Control Program (UIC) of the Maryland Department of the Environment (MDE) works to keep fluids discharged into subsurface disposal systems from contaminating underground sources of drinking water. MDE says the program is part of the federal Safe Drinking Water Act, that Maryland has carried it out since 1984, and that Maryland currently has only Class V shallow subsurface disposal systems. MDE's Groundwater Discharge Permits Division issues the program's permits and manages its inventory of wells.
In a Phase I ESA
ASTM E1527-21 does not name injection well records among its standard record sources. The general reading of an injection well listing is on the Underground Injection Wells page. MDE's UIC page is mostly about one situation: wastewater from vehicle service or industrial processes going into a subsurface disposal system at a business that is not on public sewer.
- What counts as an injection well. MDE says that where there is no public wastewater treatment, domestic wastewater usually goes to shallow subsurface disposal systems such as septic systems, dry wells, seepage pits and drainage holes, which federal rules call Class V injection wells.
- Why vehicle service matters. MDE says these systems are designed for domestic wastewater, that motor vehicle maintenance or service and industrial process wastewater may carry contaminants domestic wastewater does not, and that discharging it can make the system fail and contaminate underground sources of drinking water. MDE's page says EPA has banned, since 2000, putting wastewater from motor vehicle maintenance or service into subsurface disposal systems. MDE says it inspects businesses that may make these discharges, focusing on urban and suburban areas without public wastewater treatment.
- How to tell where it went. MDE says non-domestic wastewater at a workplace not on public sewer is either held in a tank for hauling offsite or discharged onsite, often through a pretreatment tank such as an oil/water separator. It says building plans, the tanks' pump-out records and a talk with the wastewater hauler may show which. At a service garage or industrial site, those are the documents to ask the owner or occupant for.
- Options MDE lists. MDE lists three options for managing this wastewater: close the drains permanently with concrete and institute pollution prevention practices, install a holding tank that a licensed hauler pumps regularly, or apply to MDE for a discharge permit for industrial process wastewater. It says that, depending on the installation and use history of a system, permit authorization may be possible. A drain sealed with concrete is a reason to ask when it was sealed and where it discharged before.
- Other classes. MDE says Maryland prohibits Class I hazardous wastewater injection wells and that Class IV wells are banned.
Permits and the inventory
MDE's Groundwater Discharge Permits page says the Division issues State groundwater discharge permits and combined State and federal UIC permits, and that its industrial groundwater discharge permits cover wastewater from processing vegetables and animals, from washing, servicing and maintaining vehicles, and from other industrial processes.
The same page says the Division identifies UIC wells throughout the State and manages an inventory of them, inspects unpermitted UIC wells, and issues Notices of Corrective Action (NOCA) for unregulated injection practices, with compliance follow-up. The pages read do not say whether the inventory or the notices can be searched. Ask for both by the property's address when requesting the file.
Where to look a site up
- MDE's Wastewater Permits Program page says its Wastewater Permits Interactive Search Portal finds permits by facility name, location, permit number or permit type, and that an entry's "More Info" button lists documents for download, among them permit applications, final permits and fact sheets, draft permits up for public comment, and general permit registration letters.
- The pages read link no search of the UIC well inventory.
- For the UIC Program, MDE gives 410-537-3778.
Getting the file
The pages read do not describe a records request route for UIC files. MDE's Public Information Act requests page covers requests for MDE records in general.
Sources
Maryland Department of the Environment pages, read October 15, 2026, no modified date shown: