(a) Whenever any public water system has water reserves in excess of those required to maintain an abundant supply of water to inhabitants of its service area, such system may sell such excess water to any other public water system upon approval of the Commissioner of Public Health. Such approval shall be given only after (1) the applicant has clearly established to the satisfaction of the commissioner that such abundant supplies are in existence and will continue to be in existence for ten years, and (2) the purchasing community water system being supplied has agreed to restrict water usage in the same manner as the applicant when necessary in accordance with the emergency contingency provisions of the applicant's water supply plan. The commissioner shall make such determination on the basis of generally accepted engineering principles and techniques. The commissioner shall make an appropriate investigation in making such determination or shall have an investigation made by an independent person; in either event the cost of such investigation shall be borne by the applicant. Permission granted under this subsection shall be valid for such period up to ten years as the commissioner shall approve, and may be renewed in the same manner as an original application. “Public water system” includes a 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 employed for the purpose of supplying water for general domestic use in any town, city or borough, or portion thereof, within this state. Permission granted under this section shall be in addition to any approval or other authorization which a public water system must by law receive from the Public Utilities Regulatory Authority, and nothing in this section shall be construed to impair the jurisdiction of the Public Utilities Regulatory Authority.

(b) Any company, town, city, borough, corporation or person may appeal from any decision of said commissioner issued under the provisions of subsection (a) of this section to the superior court as provided in section 4-183.

(1959, P.A. 652, S. 1, 2; 1971, P.A. 870, S. 77; 872, S. 56; P.A. 75-486, S. 57, 69; P.A. 76-436, S. 466, 681; P.A. 77-603, S. 106, 125; 77-614, S. 162, 610; P.A. 80-482, S. 181, 348; P.A. 85-142, S. 3; P.A. 93-381, S. 9, 39; P.A. 95-257, S. 12, 21, 58; P.A. 02-85, S. 22; P.A. 11-80, S. 1.)

History: 1971 acts replaced superior court with court of common pleas, effective September 1, 1971, except that courts with cases pending retain jurisdiction unless pending matters deemed transferable, and replaced water resources commission with environmental protection commissioner; P.A. 75-486 replaced public utilities commission with public utilities control authority; P.A. 76-436 replaced court of common pleas with superior court, added reference to chapter 54 and updated section references under Subsec. (b), effective July 1, 1978; P.A. 77-603 required that appeals be made in accordance with Sec. 4-183 rather than in accordance with Secs. 16-35, 16-36, 16-39 and chapter 54; P.A. 77-614 replaced public utilities control authority with division of public utility control within the department of business regulation, effective January 1, 1979; P.A. 80-482 made division of public utility control an independent department and deleted reference to abolished department of business regulation; Sec. 25-7a transferred to Sec. 22a-358 in 1983; P.A. 85-142 required approval of health services commissioner rather than of environmental protection commissioner for sales of excess water; P.A. 93-381 replaced commissioner of health services with commissioner of public health and addiction services, effective July 1, 1993; P.A. 95-257 replaced Commissioner and Department of Public Health and Addiction Services with Commissioner and Department of Public Health, effective July 1, 1995; P.A. 02-85 amended Subsec. (a) to change requirement for continuation of abundant supplies from 5 to 10 years, delete language re such longer period as the applicant seeks, add requirement for purchasing system to agree to restrict water usage, make technical changes, and add “municipality” and “political subdivision” to the list of entities included in a public water system, effective January 1, 2003; pursuant to P.A. 11-80, “Department of Public Utility Control” was changed editorially by the Revisors to “Public Utilities Regulatory Authority” in Subsec. (a), effective July 1, 2011.

See Sec. 52-192 re precedence of appeal.

Cited. 215 C. 616.