(a) The Commissioner of Energy and Environmental Protection shall examine all existing or proposed disposal systems, and shall compel their operation in a manner which shall conserve and protect the natural resources and environment of Connecticut and protect the public health, safety and welfare.

(b) No disposal system shall be built or operated until the plan or design of the same and the method of operation thereof have been filed with said commissioner and approved by him, and no such system or facility shall be extended or replaced, until the plan for the same has been approved by him. This subsection shall not apply to any disposal system treating a discharge for which a permit has been issued under section 22a-430 or 22a-430b.

(c) The commissioner may, by regulations adopted in accordance with the provisions of chapter 54, delegate to municipalities or regional sewer authorities the authority to review and approve plans and specifications for the design and construction of sanitary sewers. Such regulations may include, but not be limited to, provisions for (1) minimum design and construction requirements, (2) the retention of such authority by the commissioner for certain types of facilities or environmentally sensitive areas, and (3) the identity of municipalities and regional sewer authorities to which such authority is delegated.

(d) As used in this section the terms “class I”, “class II”, “class III” and “class IV” mean the classifications of wastewater treatment plants provided for in regulations adopted by the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection. The Commissioner of Energy and Environmental Protection may establish requirements for the presence of approved operators at pollution abatement facilities. Applicants for class I and class II certificates shall only be required to pass the relevant standardized national examination prepared by the Association of Boards of Certification for Wastewater Treatment Facility Operators. Applicants for class III and class IV certificates shall only be required to pass the relevant standardized national examination prepared by the Association of Boards of Certification for Wastewater Treatment Facility Operators supplemented with additional questions submitted by the commissioner to such board. Operators with certificates issued by the commissioner prior to May 16, 1995, shall not be required to be reexamined. The commissioner shall administer and proctor the examination of all applicants. The qualifications of the operators at such facilities shall be subject to the approval of the commissioner. The commissioner may adopt regulations, in accordance with the provisions of chapter 54, requiring all operators at pollution abatement facilities to satisfactorily complete, on a regular basis, a state-certified training course, which may include training on the type of municipal pollution abatement facility at which the operator is employed and training concerning regulations promulgated during the preceding year. Any applicant for certification who passed either the examination prepared and administered on December 8, 1994, by the commissioner or the examination prepared by the Association of Boards of Certification for Wastewater Treatment Facility Operators and administered on December 8, 1994, by the commissioner shall be issued the appropriate certificate in accordance with the regulations adopted under this section. On and after October 1, 2018, each certified operator shall obtain not less than six hours of continuing education each year. A record of such continuing education shall be maintained by the certified operator and by the facility employing the operator and shall be made available for inspection upon request by the commissioner.

(1949 Rev., S. 4034; 1957, P.A. 364, S. 10; February, 1965, P.A. 385, S. 1; 508; 1967, P.A. 656, S. 66; 1969, P.A. 307; 1971, P.A. 688, S. 1; 845, S. 16; 872, S. 74; P.A. 73-555, S. 2, 10; P.A. 86-239, S. 5, 14; P.A. 90-69; 90-301, S. 2, 8; P.A. 93-428, S. 22, 39; P.A. 94-89, S. 9; P.A. 95-34, S. 1, 2; P.A. 11-80, S. 1; P.A. 18-97, S. 1.)

History: 1965 acts substituted commissioner of health for state department of health, gave commissioner power to examine refuse disposal areas, required that their plan and design be filed with commissioner, and required that methods of operation of disposal plants and areas be approved; 1967 act specified that plan or design and method of operation be approved by commissioner; 1969 act substituted “volume reduction” plants and areas for “disposal” plants and areas, required that qualifications of operators of such plants be subject to approval of health department and referred to “chapter 474a” rather than “part I”; 1971 acts clarified that sewage discharge points which may directly or indirectly cause pollution be investigated, deleted references to refuse volume reduction plants and areas, transferred duties of commissioner and department of health and of water resources commission to commissioner of environmental protection and deleted necessity for approval to build systems or plants and qualifying phrase characterizing systems or plants requiring approval as those “the effluent or discharge from which may directly or indirectly mingle or come into contact with the waters of the state”; P.A. 73-555 replaced references to sewage systems and plants with references to pollution abatement systems and plants, required operation of systems so as to conserve and protect natural resources and environment and public safety and welfare and deleted prohibition against discharge of “sewage prejudicial to the public health” into waters of the state, essentially rephrasing provisions for economy of expression; Sec. 25-26 transferred to Sec. 22a-416 in 1983; P.A. 86-239 deleted provision requiring commissioner to investigate points of existing or potential discharges which may cause water pollution; P.A. 90-69 added Subsec. (b) authorizing the delegation of certain authority to municipal and regional sewer authorities; P.A. 90-301 added Subsec. (c) re qualifications of approved operators; P.A. 93-428 made part of the former Subsec. (a) into a new Subsec. (b), adding exemptions from this section for certain disposal systems, and relettered former Subsecs. (b) and (c) accordingly, effective July 1, 1993; P.A. 94-89 added provision in Subsec. (d) requiring relevant national examination for operators; P.A. 95-34 amended Subsec. (d) to provide for qualifications of different classes of operators and to delete authority of the commissioner to adopt regulations re testing of facility operators, effective May 16, 1995; pursuant to P.A. 11-80, “Commissioner of Environmental Protection” and “Department of Environmental Protection” were changed editorially by the Revisors to “Commissioner of Energy and Environmental Protection” and “Department of Energy and Environmental Protection”, respectively, effective July 1, 2011; P.A. 18-97 amended Subsec. (d) by adding provision requiring certified operator to obtain not less than 6 hours of continuing education each year and requiring record of such education to be maintained by operator and facility employing operator and made available for inspection by commissioner.

Annotations to former section 25-26:

Cited. 176 C. 33.

Right of property owner to collect damages for town nuisance not affected. 30 CS 401.

Annotation to present section:

Cited. 218 C. 703.