Senate Bill No. 94
(By Senators Ross, Love, Weeks and Sharpe)
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[Introduced January 9, 2003; referred to the Committee on Health
and Human Resources.]
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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 allowing
authorized representatives of the bureau for public health to
conduct surveys and/or evaluations of a public water system;
and providing forty-five days for a public water system to
make a written response to any corrective actions taken as a
result of the survey and/or evaluation.
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. STATE PUBLIC HEALTH SYSTEM.
§16-1-9a. Public water system and community water system defined;
regulation of maximum contaminant levels in water systems; authorization of inspections; violations;
criminal, civil and administrative penalties; safe
drinking water penalty fund.
(a) A public water system is any water supply or system that
regularly supplies or offers to supply 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 does not include a system that meets
all of the following conditions: (1) Consists only of distribution
and storage facilities (and does not have any collection and
treatment facilities); (2) obtains all of its water from, but is
not owned or operated by, a public water system that otherwise
meets the definition; (3) does not sell water to any person; and
(4) is not a carrier conveying passengers in interstate commerce.
(b) (1) The secretary 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 the secretary considers appropriate, treatment techniques that reduce the contaminant or contaminants to a level
which will not adversely affect the health of the consumer. The
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 that would adversely affect the
health of the consumer.
(2) The secretary 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.
(3) In addition, the secretary shall establish by legislative
rule, in accordance with article three, chapter twenty-nine-a of
this code, requirements covering the production and distribution of
bottled drinking water and may by legislative rule, in accordance
with article three, chapter twenty-nine-a of this code, establish
requirements governing the taste, odor, appearance and other
consumer acceptability parameters of drinking water.
(c) Authorized representatives of the bureau 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 inspecting, sampling or testing and shall be furnished records or
information reasonably required for a complete inspection. The
right of entry includes the right for a bureau representative or a
designee of a bureau representative to conduct an evaluation
necessary to assure the public water system meets federal safe
drinking water requirements. The public water system shall provide
a written response to the bureau within forty-five days of receipt
of the evaluation by the public water system, addressing corrective
actions to be taken as a result of the evaluation. Authorized
representatives of the bureau shall also have the right to conduct,
or require to have conducted, surveys and/or evaluations. Public
water systems shall provide written response within forty-five days
to the bureau addressing corrective actions to be taken as a result
of the survey and/or evaluation.
(d) (1) 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 violates any provision of this
section, or any of the rules or orders issued pursuant to this
section, is guilty of a misdemeanor and, upon conviction thereof,
shall be fined not less than fifty dollars nor more than five
hundred dollars and each day's violation shall constitute a
separate offense. The commissioner or his or her authorized
representative may also 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.
(2) For a willful violation of a provision of this section, or
of any of the rules or orders issued under this section for which
a penalty is not otherwise provided under subdivision (3) of this
subsection, 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 of a willful violation
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.
(3) The commissioner or his or her authorized representative
shall have authority to assess administrative penalties and
initiate any proceedings necessary for the enforcement of drinking
water rules. The administrative penalty for a violation of any
drinking water rule is a minimum of one thousand dollars per day
per violation and a maximum of two thousand five hundred dollars
per day per violation for systems serving more than ten thousand
persons, a minimum of two hundred fifty dollars per day per
violation and a maximum of five hundred dollars per day per
violation for systems serving over three thousand three hundred
persons up to and including ten thousand persons, a minimum of one hundred dollars per day per violation and a maximum of two hundred
dollars per day per violation for systems serving three thousand
three hundred or fewer persons and each day's violation shall be
grounds for a separate penalty. Penalties are payable to the
commissioner. All moneys collected under this section shall be
deposited into a restricted account known as the safe drinking
water penalty fund previously created in the office of the state
treasurer. All money deposited into the fund shall be used by the
commissioner to provide technical assistance to public water
systems.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to allow authorized
representatives of the bureau for public health to conduct surveys
and/or evaluations of a public water system; and providing
forty-five days for a public water system to make a written
response to any corrective actions taken as a result of the survey
and/or evaluation.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from
the present law, and underscoring indicates new language that would
be added.