Sec. 22a-358. (Formerly Sec. 25-7a). Sale of water by public water systems.
Sec. 22a-358. (Formerly Sec. 25-7a). Sale of water by public water systems.
(a) Whenever any public water system has water reserves in excess of those required
to maintain an abundant supply of water to inhabitants of its service area, such system
may sell such excess water to any other public water system upon approval of the Commissioner of Public Health. Such approval shall be given only after (1) the applicant
has clearly established to the satisfaction of the commissioner that such abundant supplies are in existence and will continue to be in existence for ten years, and (2) the
purchasing community water system being supplied has agreed to restrict water usage
in the same manner as the applicant when necessary in accordance with the emergency
contingency provisions of the applicant's water supply plan. The commissioner shall
make such determination on the basis of generally accepted engineering principles and
techniques. The commissioner shall make an appropriate investigation in making such
determination or shall have an investigation made by an independent person; in either
event the cost of such investigation shall be borne by the applicant. Permission granted
under this subsection shall be valid for such period up to ten years as the commissioner
shall approve, and may be renewed in the same manner as an original application. "Public
water system" includes a corporation, company, municipality, political subdivision,
association, joint stock association, partnership or person, or lessee thereof, owning,
maintaining, operating, managing or controlling any pond, lake, reservoir or distributing
plant employed for the purpose of supplying water for general domestic use in any town,
city or borough, or portion thereof, within this state. Permission granted under this
section shall be in addition to any approval or other authorization which a public water
system must by law receive from the Department of Public Utility Control, and nothing
in this section shall be construed to impair the jurisdiction of the Department of Public
Utility Control.
(b) Any company, town, city, borough, corporation or person may appeal from any
decision of said commissioner issued under the provisions of subsection (a) of this
section to the superior court as provided in section 4-183.
(1959, P.A. 652, S. 1, 2; 1971, P.A. 870, S. 77; 872, S. 56; P.A. 75-486, S. 57, 69; P.A. 76-436, S. 466, 681; P.A. 77-603, S. 106, 125; 77-614, S. 162, 610; P.A. 80-482, S. 181, 348; P.A. 85-142, S. 3; P.A. 93-381, S. 9, 39; P.A. 95-257, S.
12, 21, 58; P.A. 02-85, S. 22.)
History: 1971 acts replaced superior court with court of common pleas, effective September 1, 1971, except that
courts with cases pending retain jurisdiction unless pending matters deemed transferable, and replaced water resources
commission with environmental protection commissioner; P.A. 75-486 replaced public utilities commission with public
utilities control authority; P.A. 76-436 replaced court of common pleas with superior court, added reference to chapter 54
and updated section references under Subsec. (b), effective July 1, 1978; P.A. 77-603 required that appeals be made in
accordance with Sec. 4-183 rather than in accordance with Secs. 16-35, 16-36, 16-39 and chapter 54; P.A. 77-614 replaced
public utilities control authority with division of public utility control within the department of business regulation, effective
January 1, 1979; P.A. 80-482 made division of public utility control an independent department and deleted reference to
abolished department of business regulation; Sec. 25-7a transferred to Sec. 22a-358 in 1983; P.A. 85-142 required approval
of health services commissioner rather than of environmental protection commissioner for sales of excess water; P.A. 93-381 replaced commissioner of health services with commissioner of public health and addiction services, effective July
1, 1993; P.A. 95-257 replaced Commissioner and Department of Public Health and Addiction Services with Commissioner
and Department of Public Health, effective July 1, 1995; P.A. 02-85 amended Subsec. (a) to change requirement for
continuation of abundant supplies from 5 to 10 years, delete language re such longer period as the applicant seeks, add
requirement for purchasing system to agree to restrict water usage, make technical changes, and add "municipality" and
"political subdivision" to the list of entities included in a public water system, effective January 1, 2003.
See Sec. 52-192 re precedence of appeal.
Cited. 215 C. 616.