Sec. 7-246. Water pollution control authority; designation. Preparation of municipal plan. Successor to sewer authority; validation of sewer authority acts.
Sec. 7-246. Water pollution control authority; designation. Preparation of
municipal plan. Successor to sewer authority; validation of sewer authority acts.
(a) Any municipality may, by ordinance, designate its legislative body, except where
the legislative body is the town meeting, or any existing board or commission, or create
a new board or commission to be designated, as the water pollution control authority
for such municipality. Any municipality located within the district of a regional water
authority or regional sewer district established under an act of the General Assembly
may designate such water authority or sewer district as the water pollution control authority for such municipality, with all of the powers set forth in this chapter for water
pollution control authorities, provided such water authority or sewer district agrees to
such designation. If a new board or commission is created, the municipality shall, by
ordinance, determine the number of members thereof, their compensation, if any,
whether such members shall be elected or appointed, the method of their appointment,
if appointed, and removal and their terms of office, which shall be so arranged that not
more than one-half of such terms shall expire within any one year. The water pollution
control authority of the town within which there is a city or borough shall not exercise
any power within such city or borough without the express consent of such city or
borough, except that such consent shall not be required for any action taken to comply
with a pollution abatement order issued by the Commissioner of Environmental Protection.
(b) Each municipal water pollution control authority designated in accordance with
this section may prepare and periodically update a water pollution control plan for the
municipality. Such plan shall designate and delineate the boundary of: (1) Areas served
by any municipal sewerage system; (2) areas where municipal sewerage facilities are
planned and the schedule of design and construction anticipated or proposed; (3) areas
where sewers are to be avoided; (4) areas served by any community sewerage system
not owned by a municipality; (5) areas to be served by any proposed community sewerage system not owned by a municipality; and (6) areas to be designated as decentralized
wastewater management districts. Such plan shall also describe the means by which
municipal programs are being carried out to avoid community pollution problems and
describe any programs wherein the local director of health manages subsurface sewage
disposal systems. The authority shall file a copy of the plan and any periodic updates
of such plan with the Commissioner of Environmental Protection and shall manage or
ensure the effective supervision, management, control, operation and maintenance of
any community sewerage system or decentralized wastewater management district not
owned by a municipality.
(c) Any municipal sewer authority in existence prior to October 1, 1978, shall be
deemed to be the water pollution control authority of such municipality unless the legislative body of the municipality, by ordinance, determines otherwise, and such water
pollution control authority shall be deemed the successor to such sewer authority for
all of the purposes of this chapter. All acts of any such sewer authorities from October
1, 1978, to June 1, 1979, are validated. The provisions of this subsection shall not apply
to any action pending in any court or any right of appeal under this chapter existing on
June 1, 1979.
(1949 Rev., S. 733; 1949, S. 313d; 1967, P.A. 60; 1971, P.A. 694, S. 1; P.A. 73-294, S. 1, 4; P.A. 78-154, S. 2; P.A.
79-391, S. 1, 2; P.A. 86-239, S. 1, 14; P.A. 87-292; June 30 Sp. Sess. P.A. 03-6, S. 141.)
History: 1967 act applied provisions to existing boards and commissions rather than to boards and commissions existing
on July 26, 1949; 1971 act allowed designation of regional water authority as a municipality's sewer authority; P.A. 73-294 allowed designation of municipal legislative body as sewer authority, unless legislative body is town meeting; P.A.
78-154 substituted water pollution control authority for sewer authority, allowed designation of regional sewer district as
authority and added Subsec. (b) re water pollution control plans; P.A. 79-391 added Subsec. (c) establishing sewer authorities as water pollution control authorities and validating their acts; P.A. 86-239 amended Subsec. (a) by eliminating the
consent requirement for action complying with a water pollution abatement order; P.A. 87-292 amended Subsec. (a) to
allow for election of commission members; June 30 Sp. Sess. P.A. 03-6 added Subsec. (b)(6) re areas to be designated as
decentralized wastewater management districts, to require that plan describe any programs re subsurface sewage disposal
systems managed by local director of health and to require the effective supervision, control, operation and maintenance
of any community sewerage system or decentralized wastewater management district.
Cited. 218 C. 144. Cited. 220 C. 18.
Subsec. (b):
Cited. 10 CA 440.