Section 7A Storage and use of snow removal chemicals; regulations; reports; penalty
Section 7A. No person shall store sodium chloride, calcium chloride or chemically treated abrasives or other chemicals used for the removal of snow or ice on roads in such a manner or place as to subject a water supply or groundwater supply to the risk of contamination; provided, further, that any sodium chloride, calcium chloride or chemically treated abrasives or other chemicals used for the removal of snow or ice on roads and stored within two hundred yards of an established river or estuary must be stored in a solid frame storage shed to insure against ground leaching and airborne pollution of surrounding property. The department of environmental protection, hereinafter called the department, in consultation with the department of highways, may issue regulations as to place or manner of storage of such chemicals and may, by specific order, in a particular case regulate the place where such chemicals may be used for such purpose. Any violation of this section or any regulation or order issued hereunder shall be punished by a fine not to exceed fifty dollars per day. Any person who uses more than one ton of such chemicals in any calendar year shall report annually to the department on November first, and at such other times as prescribed, the amount of such chemicals used in the previous twelve months specified by road section or other location and the amount of chemicals on hand. Copies of such reports shall be made available upon the request of any concerned state or municipal agency or commission. The department may require studies by competent professional personnel of the probable impact of proposed new or improved highways and the maintenance thereof by use of such chemicals upon reservoirs, ponds, streams, lakes, wetlands and the groundwater aquifers associated with both public and private water sources. Estimates of such chemicals to be applied on proposed roads and other paved areas shall be based upon the most recent records of chemicals actually applied as reported under the provisions of this section. The word “person” as used in this section shall include surveyors of highways, road commissioners, superintendents of streets in towns, commissioners of public works in cities and towns, the chief engineer of the state department of highways, the chief engineer of the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority, the chief administrative officer of state agencies and private persons, including corporations.