Researching Water Wells for TREC Form 61-0

Start with the evidence

Keep seller knowledge and record research separate

The Form 61-0 review begins with the seller’s own knowledge, documents, and transaction history. A public search is a second track that may locate a report or raise a question, but it does not replace what the seller knows or decide how the seller should respond.

Write down the source of each statement. Label a seller recollection as seller-known information; label a state report as a candidate public record until identifiers, location evidence, and property documents support a stronger connection.

Before you begin

Information to collect before searching

• The seller’s description of each known well, its use, approximate location, and whether it is operating.
• Approximate drilling date, historical owner, driller, depth, county, address, legal description, and any tracking or state well number.
• Closing files, invoices, maintenance records, plugging records, surveys, photographs, and agreements that may describe the well.
• A separate note for facts the seller does not know and questions that require a district, title, survey, engineering, or legal review.

Step by step

A seller-knowledge and records workflow

1. 01

   Record the seller’s account first

   Before opening a database, note what the seller knows, how the seller knows it, and which details are uncertain. Do not revise that account merely because a map shows a nearby point.

2. 02

   Choose the likely report system

   Use the TWDB locating instructions to route a 2003-or-later search toward Submitted Drillers Reports and an older search toward the historical report pathway. Check both pathways when the date is uncertain or near the crossover years.

3. 03

   Search with the strongest identifiers

   Begin with a known tracking number or state well number. Otherwise use the address or map for orientation, then test owner-at-drilling, driller, county, date range, and partial text searches.

4. 04

   Compare instead of assuming

   Compare report date, historical owner, driller, depth, proposed use, address or legal description, mapped location, and physical or survey evidence. Record every mismatch as well as every agreement.

5. 05

   Assign a research status

   Use a bounded label such as likely record match, candidate record, no public record found, or conflicting records. Preserve the report and the search date without turning the status into a property conclusion.

6. 06

   Return to the assistant

   Enter the seller-known information, sources searched, records saved, and unresolved questions in the TREC research assistant. The seller remains responsible for reviewing the form and selecting any response.

Preserve the trail

Evidence to preserve

Final review

Before returning to Form 61-0

• Confirm that seller-known statements and public-record candidates remain visibly separate.
• Preserve direct official links, report identifiers, the search date, and comparison notes.
• Flag ownership, agreement, survey, jurisdiction, compliance, and legal-effect questions for the appropriate professional.
• Use the assistant to organize the record; do not use the assistant or this page to choose the seller’s answer.