Senate Bill No. 456
(By Senators Tomblin (Mr. President) and Buckalew
By Request of the Executive)
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[Introduced March 24, 1997; referred to the Committee
on the Judiciary.]
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A BILL to amend and reenact section nine-a, article one, chapter
sixteen of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine
hundred thirty-one, as amended, relating to establishing an
administrative penalty authority for drinking water systems
violating the safe drinking water act.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That section nine-a, article one, chapter sixteen of the
code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as
amended, be amended and reenacted to read as follows:
Article 1. DIVISION OF HEALTH.
§16-1-9a. Public water system defined; regulation of maximum contaminant levels in water systems; authorizing inspections; penalties.
A public water system is any water supply or system which
regularly supplies or offers to supply,
piped water to the public for human consumption water for human consumption through pipes
or other constructed conveyances, if serving at least an average
of twenty-five individuals per day for at least sixty days per
year, or which has at least fifteen service connections, and
shall include: (1) Any collection, treatment, storage, and
distribution facilities under the control of the owner or
operator of such system and used primarily in connection with
such system, and (2) any collection or pretreatment storage
facilities not under such control which are used primarily in
connection with such system. A public water system
shall may not
include a system which meets all of the following conditions: (1)
Which consists only of distribution and storage facilities (and
does not have any collection and treatment facilities); (2) which
obtains all of its water from, but is not owned or operated by,
a public water system which otherwise meets the definition; (3)
which does not sell water to any person; and (4) which is not a
carrier conveying passengers in interstate commerce.
The state board of health shall prescribe by legislative
rule the maximum contaminant levels to which all public water
systems shall conform in order to prevent adverse effects on the
health of individuals, and, if it deems appropriate, treatment
techniques that reduce the contaminant or contaminants to a level
which will not adversely affect the health of the consumer. Such
rule shall contain provisions to protect and prevent contamination of wellheads and well fields used by public water
supplies so that contaminants do not reach a level which would
adversely affect the health of the consumer.
It shall further prescribe by legislative rule minimum
requirements for: Sampling and testing; system operation; public
notification by a public water system on being granted a variance
or exemption or upon failure to comply with specific requirements
of this section and regulations promulgated under this section;
record keeping; laboratory certification; as well as procedures
and conditions for granting variances and exemptions to public
water systems from state public water systems regulations.
In addition, the state board of health shall establish by
legislative rule, as set out in chapter twenty-nine-a of this
code, requirements covering the production and distribution of
bottled drinking water and may by legislative rule, as set out in
chapter twenty-nine-a of this code, establish requirements
governing the taste, odor, appearance, and other consumer
acceptability parameters of drinking water.
Authorized representatives of the state board of health
shall have right of entry to any part of a public water system,
whether or not the system is in violation of a legal requirement,
for the purpose of inspection, sampling or testing, and shall be
furnished records or information reasonably required for a
complete inspection.
Any individual, partnership, association, syndicate,
company, firm, trust, corporation, government corporation,
institution, department, division, bureau, agency, federal
agency, or any entity recognized by law who shall violate any
provision of this section, or any of the regulations or orders
issued pursuant thereto, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and,
upon conviction thereof, shall be fined not less than twenty-five
dollars nor more than two hundred dollars, and each day's
violation shall constitute a separate offense. In addition
thereto, the state board of health or the state director of
health, or his authorized representative may seek injunctive
relief in the circuit court of the county in which all or part of
the public water system is situated for threatened or continuing
violations. For a willful violation of this section, or of any
of the regulations or orders issued thereunder, an individual,
partnership, association, syndicate, company, firm, trust,
corporation, government corporation, institution, department,
division, bureau, agency, federal agency, or entity recognized by
law, upon a finding thereof by the circuit court of the county in
which the violation occurs, shall be subject to a civil penalty
of not more than five thousand dollars, and each day's violation
shall be grounds for a separate penalty.
The division of health shall have the authority to assess
administrative penalties and initiate such proceedings as may be necessary for the enforcement of drinking water regulations.
The administrative penalty shall be a minimum of one thousand
dollars per day per violation and each day's violation shall be
grounds for a separate penalty. Any action may not exceed an
aggregate amount of five thousand dollars for systems serving a
population of less than ten thousand dollars and may not exceed
twenty-five thousand dollars for systems serving a population of
ten thousand dollars or more. Payments shall be payable to the
division of health, safe drinking water fund. All moneys
collected under this section shall be deposited into the state
treasury and placed in a restricted account known as the safe
drinking water fund. All accrued money shall be used by the
commissioner, division of health or designee, to provide
technical assistance to public water systems.
All regulations authorized under this section shall be
promulgated by legislative rules in accordance with the
provisions of article three, chapter twenty-nine-a of this code.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to enable the division of
health to assess administrative penalties which is required for
the division to maintain primacy for the safe drinking water act.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken
from the present law, and underscoring indicates new language
that would be added.