46-1240. Failure to comply with standards; criminal penalty; civil penalty; action to enjoin.

Any person who engages in or any person who employs or uses a person who engages in the construction of water wells, the installation of pumps and pumping equipment, the decommissioning of water wells, or the measuring of ground water levels, the collection of ground water samples from existing water wells, or the inspection of installed water well equipment, pumping systems, or chemigation regulation devices or who fails to decommission or decommissions an illegal water well without complying with the standards adopted and promulgated pursuant to the Water Well Standards and Contractors' Practice Act shall be guilty of a Class III misdemeanor or subject to a civil penalty of not more than five hundred dollars for each day an intentional violation occurs and may be enjoined from continuing such activity, including a mandatory injunction.

Any civil penalty assessed and unpaid shall constitute a debt to the state which may be collected in the manner of a lien foreclosure or sued for and recovered in a proper form of action in the name of the state in the district court of the county in which the violator resides or owns property. An action to collect a civil penalty shall be brought within two years of the alleged violation providing the basis of the penalty, except that if the cause of action is not discovered and could not be reasonably discovered within the two-year period, the action may be commenced within two years after the date of discovery or after the date of discovery of facts which would reasonably lead to discovery, whichever is earlier. The department shall remit the civil penalty to the State Treasurer, within thirty days after receipt, for distribution in accordance with Article VII, section 5, of the Constitution of Nebraska.

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