Environment Committee
Public Health Committee
AN ACT CONCERNING NOTIFICATION OF CONTAMINANTS IN DRINKING WATER
SUMMARY: This act requires the public health commissioner, no later than five business days after receiving notice that a public water system violates U. S. Environmental Protection Agency national primary drinking water standards, to notify, either in writing or electronically, the chief elected official of (1) the municipality where the public water system is located and (2) any municipality it serves. The act does not define public water system, but under the Public Health Code a “public water system” is a water company supplying water to 15 or more consumers or 25 or more people.
EFFECTIVE DATE: Upon passage
BACKGROUND
National Primary Drinking Water Regulations
National primary drinking water regulations are legally enforceable standards that apply to public water systems. Primary standards limit the levels of contaminants in drinking water.
Public Water System
In addition to the Public Health Code definition (Conn. Agency Regs. § 19-13-B102 (65)), the statutes contain several definitions of public water systems. By law, a public water system variously means a:
1. private, municipal, or regional utility supplying water to 15 or more service connections or 25 or more people (CGS § 25-33d);
2. corporation, company, municipality, political subdivision, association, joint stock association, partnership or person, or lessee thereof, owning, maintaining, operating, managing, or controlling any pond, lake, reservoir, or distributing plant that supplies water for general use in any town, city, or borough (CGS § 22a-358); and
3. public water system as defined by the federal Safe Drinking Water Act, (CGS § 22a-475). (The federal act defines a public water system as a system that has at least 15 service connections or regularly serves at least 25 people (42 USC § 300f)).
OLR Tracking: PF: VR; SS; TS