Vermont
Underground Injection Control (UIC)
The Underground Injection Control (UIC) program of the Vermont Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) is managed by the Drinking Water and Groundwater Protection Division and regulates discharges to groundwater. DEC says floor drains by which businesses discharge fluid wastes to the soil or groundwater, through a leachfield, drywell or the like, are regulated as UIC wells. Under Rules, the UIC page lists the Final UIC Rule, effective October 29, 2014, and the Vermont Groundwater Protection Rule and Strategy.
In a Phase I ESA
ASTM E1527-21 does not name injection well records among its standard record sources. In Vermont they matter for a business whose floor drains discharge to the soil or groundwater, because of what the rule effective October 29, 2014 did to them.
- High risk floor drains are prohibited. DEC says floor drains that receive waste from the part of a facility where high risk activities occur, and that discharge to soil or groundwater, are prohibited and must be closed. The activities it lists include vehicular repair or maintenance, gas or diesel engine repair, vehicle salvage yards, hazardous material use and storage, dry cleaning and photofinishing. Floor drains in vehicle service bays that lead to an injection well, such as a leachfield, drywell or pit, or that discharge to the ground surface, a practice known as daylighting, are prohibited and must be closed.
- Closing a drain leaves a form. DEC lists the closure options as plugging with concrete, connecting to a holding tank, or connecting to municipal sewer service. The UIC program approves the closure plan, and once the drain is closed the owner submits a closure form: a Prohibited UIC Well Closure Form for high risk wells, a Permit Required form for moderate risk wells, or a Low Risk form for low risk or unregulated wells.
- The owner is asked to keep the form. DEC suggests keeping a copy of the closure form to provide in the event of any sale or transfer of the property. Ask the owner for it, and for the plan approval that came before it.
Where to look a site up
- The UIC page links the Underground Injection Control Documentation search as its public search site.
- The page links UIC permit application forms on ANR Online, and its public notice link goes to the Environmental Notice Bulletin.
- The UIC page names its program contact. The division's staff directory is linked from the Drinking Water and Groundwater Protection page.
Getting the file
DEC's pages link, in their footer, Request public information and Department of Environmental Conservation Records Liaisons, both on the Agency of Natural Resources' public records page, which this handbook did not read. The pages read for this program give no route of their own for a UIC file.
Sources
Vermont Department of Environmental Conservation pages, read October 13, 2026, no modified date shown: