REPORT ON BILLS FAVORABLY REPORTED BY COMMITTEE

TITLE OF BILL:

AN ACT CONCERNING PROTECTION OF PUBLIC WATER SUPPLY SOURCES.

SPONSORS OF BILL:

REASONS FOR BILL:

To protect public drinking water supplies by requiring land developers to notify the Department of Public Health of their proposed development.

RESPONSE FROM ADMINISTRATION/AGENCY:

Ellen Blaschinski, Chief, Regulatory Services Branch, Department of Public Health (DPH):

The Department of Public Health supports SB 313. This bill makes changes to Section 8-3i and 22a-42f that will provide a higher level of awareness for drinking water source protection in Connecticut, and will assist the municipalities and local land use officials in the review of projects that may potentially affect sources of public drinking water. The department has and continues to make technical information and training available to local land use decision makers concerning the potential impact of development on the public drinking water supply and the increased risk to public health.

The addition of a new section to CGS 25-32 would give DPH the ability to incorporate Federal Safe Drinking Water Act regulations by reference. This will assist the Department in meeting primacy requirements concerning safe drinking water as mandated under the Federal Safe Drinking Water Act.

The Department recommends the following changes to the bill: (1) In Line 14 and 44 after “health”, insert, “in a format prescribed by said Commissioner”, (2) In line 16 -17 after “watershed”, delete [on the land records of the municipality in which the application, petition, request or plan is made], (3) In line 45-46, after “watershed” delete [on the land records of the municipality in which the application is made], and (4) In lines 16 and 45, after “watershed”, insert, “with the land use commission”

NATURE AND SOURCES OF SUPPORT:

Dr. Mary Jane Williams, Connecticut Nurses Association (CAN): The Connecticut Nurses Association joins with the Connecticut Fund for the Environment's Endangered Land Coalition to support this bill. More than one-quarter million acres of our watershed land in Connecticut is privately owned under-developed forest land that is the purifier for our streams, rivers and reservoirs. If this land is developed it can no longer protect our rivers and streams which help to purify our drinking water.

The proposed notification process is a simple but effective way to begin an approach to provide consistent protection of Connecticut's potable fresh water supplies from contaminated run-off that comes with land use development.

Andrew J. Nunn, First Selectman, Town of Monroe, Connecticut: I believe that the Department of Public Health should be notified of any development applications in a drinking water watershed. This important bill will help protect a quarter million acres of privately owned watershed and undeveloped forest land that purifies the rivers, streams and reservoirs in Connecticut.

Margaret Miner, Executive Director, Rivers Alliance of Connecticut: Rivers Alliance is pleased to testify in favor of HB 313. In our experience at the Water Planning Council and in the council's Advisory Group, this bill appears to have unanimous support. It addresses the increasingly frequent problems that rise when persons proceed with a development without considering that it might threaten a drinking water source. Siting and development plans can best be adjusted to protect our natural resources when all concerned agencies and parties become involved as early as possible.

Elizabeth Gara, Connecticut Water Works Association: Source water protection is an important step in maximizing the quality of our public water supplies. As land use development pressure continues to grow, the state needs to become more proactive in protecting water supply watershed and aquifer lands. By requiring copies of zoning and wetland application affecting the state's watershed and aquifer areas to be sent to the state Department of Public Health for review, will enhance Connecticut's efforts to protect our public water supplies.

This bill will allow the Department of Public Health to participate in public hearing on all application and petition, and If proposed projects or activities are determined to have an adverse impact on public water supplies, it will allow the department to take action.

We recommend that public water supply watershed or aquifer maps be filed with the appropriate land use commission, rather than on the land records. We also recommend that any notification to the Department and water company that is required under this section be done on a standardized reporting form developed by the Department of Public Health.

Connecticut Association of Conservation and Inland Wetlands Commissions, Inc. (CACIWC): CACIWC strongly supports this bill as a means to help protect public drinking water supplies. Thousands of acres of privately owned forest land lies within watersheds containing public water supply sources. Forest, acting as natural water filters, purifies ground and surface water before it reaches reservoirs and aquifers- the primary storage sites for public water supply. To be effective this requirement must be contingent on the filing of watershed and/or aquifer protection area maps with the appropriate municipal land use agencies.

Curtis P. Johnson, Senior Attorney and Program Director, Connecticut Funds for the Environment (CFE): There is nothing more important to our health and environment than protecting clean, pure drinking water by preserving the forests that buffer and protect our reservoirs within drinking water watersheds. Based on this required notice the Department of Public Health will be able to provide comments to the local land use agencies, which have jurisdiction over land use decisions, on the potential impact of the development.

Cheryl Dunson, VP Public Issues, League of Women Voters of Connecticut: The League is a member of the Endangered Lands Coalition and commends the committee for spearheading this legislation that will add to the 2004 legislation which ensured that water supply sources that might be needed in the future are not abandoned.

The US Environmental Protection Agency has identified polluted runoff from developed lands, a.k.a. non-point source pollution, as, the number one threat to water quality superseding point source of pollution such as sewage treatment plants and factory discharges. This proposed bill will give the Department of Public Health a needed tool with which to carry out their job.

NATURE AND SOURCES OF OPPOSITION:

NONE