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General Assembly Raised Bill No. 5186
February Session, 2020
LCO No. 1355
Referred to Committee on PUBLIC HEALTH
Introduced by:
(PH)
AN ACT CONCERNING SA FE DRINKING WATER.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General
Assembly convened:
Section 1. (NEW) (Effective October 1, 2020) A water company, as 1
defined in section 25-32a of the general statutes, shall provide an 2
alternative source of drinking water to its consumers, as defined in 3
section 25-32a of the general statutes, when there is a water main break, 4
loss of system pressure or other event that the water company 5
determines may last more than eight consecutive hours and that the 6
Department of Public Health determines may affect the quality or 7
quantity of drinking water provided to such consumers. An alternative 8
source of drinking water includes bulk water provided by a bulk water 9
hauler licensed pursuant to section 20-278h of the general statutes, 10
bottled water, as defined in section 21a-150 of the general statutes, or a 11
fill station. For the purposes of this section, "fill station" means a location 12
at which consumers of the affected water company may obtain drinking 13
water from a water company that is not affected by the water main 14
break, loss of system pressure or other event. 15
Sec. 2. (NEW) (Effective October 1, 2020) (a) As used in this section: 16 Raised Bill No. 5186
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(1) "Consumer" has the same meaning as provided in section 25-32a 17
of the general statutes; 18
(2) "Small community water system" has the same meaning as 19
provided in section 19a-37e of the general statutes; 20
(3) "Water company" has the same meaning as provided in section 25-21
32a of the general statutes. 22
(b) Each small community water system shall prepare, on a form 23
developed by the Department of Public Health, a system capacity 24
implementation plan, which shall assess such system's managerial, 25
technical and financial capacity to operate. Such plan shall include: 26
(1) A description of the small community water system, including the 27
number of consumers and persons served by such system and the 28
source of the water that is supplied to its consumers; 29
(2) Ownership and management information, including the type of 30
ownership structure and the names, addresses and telephone numbers 31
of the owners, certified operators and emergency contact persons for the 32
small community water system; 33
(3) Service area maps; 34
(4) Facilities maps, including the location of and specific information 35
regarding sources, storage facilities, treatment facilities, pressure zones, 36
booster pumps, hydrants, distribution lines, valves and sampling 37
points; 38
(5) A description of the small community water system's cross-39
connection control program; 40
(6) A description of the small community water system's source water 41
protection program; 42
(7) The small community water system's emergency response plan; 43
(8) The small community water system's capital improvement 44 Raised Bill No. 5186
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program, including a schedule that identifies all capital improvements 45
scheduled for a five-year planning period and capital improvements or 46
major projects scheduled for a twenty-year planning period; 47
(9) Water production and consumption information; 48
(10) Information regarding any nearby public water system, 49
including the type of such public water system and the distance of such 50
public water system from the small community water system, based on 51
such information in the coordinated water system plan prepared by the 52
water utility coordinating committee for the public water supply 53
management area in which the small community water system is 54
located pursuant to section 25-33h of the general statutes; 55
(11) Financial capacity information, including: 56
(A) An evaluation of the small community water system's fiscal and 57
asset management plan prepared pursuant to section 19a-37e of the 58
general statutes; 59
(B) A summary of the small community water system's income and 60
expenses for the five years preceding the date of submission of the plan; 61
(C) A five-year balanced operation budget; 62
(D) Water rate structure and fees charged, including information 63
regarding how such rates and fees are updated and whether such rates 64
and fees are sufficient to maintain cash flow stability and to fund the 65
capital improvement program developed pursuant to subdivision (8) of 66
subsection (b) of this section and any emergency improvements; and 67
(E) An evaluation that has considered the affordability of water rates. 68
(c) Each small community water system shall complete the system 69
capacity and implementation plan prepared pursuant to subsection (b) 70
of this section not later than January 1, 2026. Following the completion 71
of the initial capacity implementation plan, each small community 72
water system shall annually update such capacity implementation plan 73 Raised Bill No. 5186
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and make such capacity implementation plan available to the 74
Department of Public Health upon request. 75
(d) On or before July 1, 2026, and annually thereafter, each small 76
community water system shall provide a summary of its capacity 77
implementation plan in the small community water system's consumer 78
confidence report. 79
(e) The provisions of this section shall not apply to a small community 80
water system that is (1) regulated by the Public Utilities Regulatory 81
Authority, (2) subject to the requirements set forth in section 25-32d of 82
the general statutes, or (3) a state agency. 83
(f) The provisions of this section shall relate to the purity and 84
adequacy of water supplies for the purposes of the imposition of a 85
penalty under section 25-32e of the general statutes. 86
(g) The Commissioner of Public Health may adopt regulations, in 87
accordance with the provisions of chapter 54 of the general statutes, to 88
carry out the provisions of this section. 89
Sec. 3. Section 21a-150b of the general statutes is repealed and the 90
following is substituted in lieu thereof (Effective October 1, 2020): 91
(a) Qualified employees of a bottler shall collect samples of water 92
from each approved source used by such bottler not less than once 93
annually to test for contaminants for which allowable levels have been 94
established in accordance with 21 CFR 165.110 and regulations adopted 95
pursuant to sections 21a-150 to 21a-150j, inclusive, and not less than 96
once every three years to test for contaminants for which monitoring is 97
required pursuant to sections 21a-150 to 21a-150j, inclusive, but for 98
which no allowable level has been established. Qualified employees of 99
an approved laboratory shall analyze such samples to determine 100
whether such source complies with the provisions of sections 21a-150 to 101
21a-150j, inclusive, any regulation adopted pursuant to said sections 102
and any allowable contaminant level set forth in 21 CFR 165.110. 103
Microbiological analysis shall be conducted not less than once each 104 Raised Bill No. 5186
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calendar quarter if the source of such water is other than a public water 105
supply and shall be in addition to any sampling and analysis conducted 106
by any government agency or laboratory. 107
(b) Qualified employees of a bottler shall collect samples of water 108
from any source used by such bottler when such bottler knows or has 109
reason to believe that water obtained from such source contains an 110
unregulated contaminant in an amount which may adversely affect the 111
health or welfare of the public. Qualified employees of an approved 112
laboratory shall analyze such samples periodically to determine 113
whether water obtained from any such source is safe for public 114
consumption or use. 115
(c) On or before January 1, 2021, and annually thereafter, qualified 116
employees of a bottler shall collect samples of water from each approved 117
source used by such bottler that is located in the state and have such 118
samples analyzed by an environmental laboratory that is registered by 119
the Department of Public Health pursuant to section 19a-29a and 120
certified to conduct analysis for unregulated contaminants. For the 121
purposes of this subsection, "unregulated contaminant" means a 122
contaminant for which the Commissioner of Public Health has set a level 123
at which such contaminant creates or can reasonably be expected to 124
create an unacceptable risk of injury to the health or safety of persons 125
drinking such source of water, pursuant to section 22a-471. 126
Sec. 4. Section 21a-150d of the general statutes is repealed and the 127
following is substituted in lieu thereof (Effective October 1, 2020): 128
(a) A laboratory which analyzes any water sample in accordance with 129
any provision of sections 21a-150 to 21a-150j, inclusive, shall report the 130
results of such analysis to the bottler of such water. 131
(b) Such results shall be available for inspection by the Department 132
of Consumer Protection. 133
(c) A bottler shall report any result which indicates that a water 134
sample contains contaminants in an amount exceeding any applicable 135 Raised Bill No. 5186
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standard to the Department of Consumer Protection not later than 136
twenty-four hours after learning of such result. 137
(d) A bottler shall report the results of the analysis conducted 138
pursuant to subsection (c) of section 21a-150b, as amended by this act, 139
to the Departments of Public Health and Consumer Protection not later 140
than nine days after the date of receipt of the results from the 141
environmental laboratory. If such results exceed the level set by the 142
Commissioner of Public Health pursuant to section 22a-471 for an 143
unregulated contaminant, the Department of Public Health may require 144
such bottler to discontinue use of its approved source until such source 145
no longer creates an unacceptable risk of injury to the health or safety of 146
the people who drink the bottled water that comes from such source. 147
For the purposes of this subsection, "unregulated contaminant" has the 148
same meaning as provided in subsection (c) of section 21a-150b, as 149
amended by this act. 150
[(d)] (e) All records of any sampling or analysis conducted in 151
accordance with the provisions of sections 21a-150 to 21a-150j, inclusive, 152
shall be maintained on the premises of the bottler for not less than five 153
years from the date of such sampling or analysis. 154
Sec. 5. Section 25-40a of the general statutes is repealed and the 155
following is substituted in lieu thereof (Effective October 1, 2020): 156
(a) Not later than twenty-four hours after obtaining a test result that 157
shows a contaminant at a level that is in violation of the federal 158
Environmental Protection Agency national primary drinking water 159
standards, the environmental laboratory that performed the test shall 160
notify the person or persons who requested such test and the 161
Department of Public Health, in a form and manner prescribed by the 162
Commissioner of Public Health, of such test result. For the purposes of 163
this subsection, "contaminant" means any physical, chemical, biological 164
or radiological substance or matter in water. 165
(b) Not later than five business days after the date of receiving notice 166
that a public water system is in violation of the federal Environmental 167 Raised Bill No. 5186
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Protection Agency national primary drinking water standards, the 168
Commissioner of Public Health, or the commissioner's designee, shall 169
give written or electronic notification of such violation to the chief 170
elected official of the municipality where such public water system is 171
located and of any municipality that is served by such public water 172
system. 173
This act shall take effect as follows and shall amend the following
sections:
Section 1 October 1, 2020 New section
Sec. 2 October 1, 2020 New section
Sec. 3 October 1, 2020 21a-150b
Sec. 4 October 1, 2020 21a-150d
Sec. 5 October 1, 2020 25-40a
Statement of Purpose:
To require (1) water companies to provide drinking water to consumers
in the event of a water main break or loss of system pressure; (2) small
community water systems to prepare capacity implementation plans;
and (3) bottlers to test approved water sources for unregulated
contaminants and report such results to the department.
[Proposed deletions are enclosed in brackets. Proposed additions are indicated by underline, except
that when the entire text of a bill or resolution or a section of a bill or resolution is new, it is not
underlined.]