§ 143-214.1. Water; water quality standards and classifications; duties of Commission.
§ 143‑214.1. Water; water quality standards and classifications; duties of Commission.
(a) Development and Adoption of Classifications and Standards. The Commission is hereby directed and empowered, as rapidly as possible withinthe limits of funds and facilities available to it, and subject to theprocedural requirements of this Article:
(1) To develop and adopt, after proper study, a series ofclassifications and the standards applicable to each such classification, whichwill be appropriate for the purpose of classifying each of the waters of theState in such a way as to promote the policy and purposes of this Article mosteffectively;
(2) To survey all the waters of the State and to separatelyidentify all such waters as the Commission believes ought to be classifiedseparately in order to promote the policy and purposes of this Article,omitting only such waters, as in the opinion of the Commission, areinsufficiently important to justify classification or control under thisArticle; and
(3) To assign to each identified water of the State suchclassification, from the series adopted as specified above, as the Commissiondeems proper in order to promote the policy and purposes of this Article mosteffectively.
(b) Criteria for Classification. In developing and adoptingclassifications, and the standards applicable to each, the Commission shallrecognize that a number of different classifications should be provided for(with different standards applicable to each) so as to give effect to the needfor balancing conflicting considerations as to usage and other variablefactors; that different classifications with different standards applicablethereto may frequently be appropriate for different segments of the same water;and that each classification and the standards applicable thereto should beadopted with primary reference to the best usage to be made of the waters towhich such classification will be assigned.
(c) Criteria for Standards. In establishing the standardsapplicable to each classification, the Commission shall consider and thestandards when finally adopted and published shall state: the extent to whichany physical, chemical, or biological properties should be prescribed asessential to the contemplated best usage.
(d) Criteria for Assignment of Classifications. In assigningto each identified water the appropriate classifications (with itsaccompanying standards), the Commission shall consider, and the decision of theCommission when finally adopted and published shall contain its conclusionswith respect to the following factors as related to such identified waters:
(1) The size, depth, surface area covered, volume, direction andrate of flow, stream gradient and temperature of the water;
(2) The character of the district bordering said water,including any peculiar suitability such district may have or any dominanteconomic interest or development which has become established in relation to orby reason of any particular use of such water;
(3) The uses and extent thereof which have been made, are beingmade, or may in the future be made, of such water for domestic consumption,bathing, fish or wildlife and their culture, industrial consumption,transportation, fire prevention, power generation, scientific or research uses,the disposal of sewage, industrial wastes and other wastes, or any other uses;
(4) In revising existing or adopting new water qualityclassifications or standards, the Commission shall consider the use and valueof State waters for public water supply, propagation of fish and wildlife,recreation, agriculture, industrial and other purposes, use and value fornavigation, and shall take into consideration, among other things, an estimateas prepared under section 305(b)(1) of the Federal Water Pollution Control Actamendments of 1972 of the environmental impact, the economic and social costsnecessary to achieve the proposed standards, the economic and social benefitsof such achievement and an estimate of the date of such achievement;
(5) With regard to the groundwaters, the factors to beconsidered shall include the natural quality of the water below land surfaceand the condition of occurrences, recharge, movement and discharge, thevulnerability to pollution from wastewaters and other substances, and thepotential for improvement of the quality and quantity of the water.
(e) Chapter 150B of the General Statutes governs the adoptionand publication of rules under this Article.
(f), (g) Repealed by Session Laws 1987, c. 827, s. 156.
(1951, c. 606; 1957, c.1275, s. 2; 1967, c. 892, s. 1; 1969, c. 822, s. 1; 1973, c. 1262, s. 23; 1975,c. 19, s. 50; c. 583, s. 8; c. 655, s. 5; 1977, c. 771, s. 4; 1979, c. 633, s.6; 1979, 2nd Sess., c. 1199; 1983, c. 296, s. 1; 1987, c. 827, ss. 154, 156.)