§ 46-15.2-2 - Legislative findings.
SECTION 46-15.2-2
§ 46-15.2-2 Legislative findings. –The general assembly finds and declares that:
(1) A number of Rhode Island municipalities periodicallysuffer water shortages severe enough to require usage curtailments as a resultof droughts.
(2) The limited water supply systems and sources of thesemunicipalities, burdened by rising water usage caused by growth anddevelopment, will encounter increasing difficulties coping with short-termclimatologically caused shortages.
(3) The quality of water supplies of a number ofmunicipalities are threatened by development and by contamination.
(4) Population growth, commercial and industrial development,and patterns of higher water consumption have forced some communities toabandon or supplement their inadequate or contaminated original sources ofwater, and to develop new supplies of water often located beyond their bordersand outside their original service areas.
(5) It has become evident that individual water systemsserving the public often no longer have the financial resources to find anddevelop adequate new water supplies. The costs of constructing aqueducts, majortransmission lines, and pumping stations to deliver water to communities fromremote sources, and the difficulties in acquiring rights-of-way, overwhelm mostcommunities and indicate the need for state involvement.
(6) Water of high quality is a sufficiently abundant resourcein Rhode Island that enough water can be made available to meet all the needsof each Rhode Islander through the foreseeable future provided that water canbe conveyed to the communities and water systems in need from remote sources.
(7) The water resources board was established in 1967 andcharged with the responsibility of acquiring and developing new major watersupplies for the people of Rhode Island. The Rhode Island water facilitiesassistance program enables the water resources board to assist public watersystems in obtaining and delivering potable water to meet present and futureneeds throughout the state of Rhode Island.
(8) The water resources board and other existing agencies ofstate government have adequate capability and authority to carry out thisprogram without the creation of new agencies.