Chapter446k

Sec. 22a-416

(Formerly Sec. 25-26). Pollution of waterways. Qualifications of operators. Delegation of authority.

(a) The Commissioner of 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.

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 Environmental Protection.

The Commissioner of 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.

Sec. 22a-417.

(Formerly Sec. 25-26a). Discharge of sewage into tributaries of water supply impoundments or

Salmon River. (a) No person or municipality shall discharge any sewage into any waters of the state which are

tributary to an existing water supply impoundment or any proposed water supply impoundment identified in the

long-range plan for management of water resources prepared and adopted pursuant to section 22a-352.

Sec. 22a-422.

(Formerly Sec. 25-54a). Declaration of policy. It is found and declared that the pollution of the

waters of the state is inimical to the public health, safety and welfare of the inhabitants of the state, is a public

nuisance and is harmful to wildlife, fish and aquatic life and impairs domestic, agricultural, industrial, recreational

and other legitimate beneficial uses of water, and that the use of public funds and the granting of tax exemptions

for the purpose of controlling and eliminating such pollution is a public use and purpose for which public moneys

may be expended and tax exemptions granted, and the necessity and public interest for the enactment of this

chapter and the elimination of pollution is hereby declared as a matter of legislative determination.

Sec. 22a-423

. (Formerly Sec. 25-54b). Definitions. As used in this chapter: "Commissioner" means the

Commissioner of Environmental Protection or his designated agent; "waters" means all tidal waters, harbors,

estuaries, rivers, brooks, watercourses, waterways, wells, springs, lakes, ponds, marshes, drainage systems and

all other surface or underground streams, bodies or accumulations of water, natural or artificial, public or private,

which are contained within, flow through or border upon this state or any portion thereof; "wastes" means sewage

or any substance, liquid, gaseous, solid or radioactive, which may pollute or tend to pollute any of the waters of

the state; "sewage" means human and animal excretions and all domestic and such manufacturing wastes as may

tend to be detrimental to the public health; "pollution" means harmful thermal effect or the contamination or

rendering unclean or impure or prejudicial to public health of any waters of the state by reason of any wastes or

other material discharged or deposited therein by any public or private sewer or otherwise so as directly or

indirectly to come in contact with any waters; "rendering unclean or impure" means any alteration of the physical,

chemical or biological properties of any of the waters of the state, including, but not limited to, change in odor,

color, turbidity or taste; "harmful thermal effect" means any significant change in the temperature of any waters

resulting from a discharge therein, the magnitude of which temperature change does or is likely to render such

waters harmful, detrimental or injurious to public health, safety or welfare, or to domestic, commercial, industrial,

agricultural, recreational or other legitimate beneficial uses, or to livestock, wild animals, birds, fish or other

aquatic life; "person" means any individual, partnership, association, firm, limited liability company, corporation or

other entity, except a municipality, and includes the federal government, the state or any instrumentality of the

state, and any officer or governing or managing body of any partnership, association, firm or corporation or any

member or manager of a limited liability company;

"community pollution problem" means the existence of pollution

which, in the sole discretion of the commissioner, can best be abated by the action of a municipality

; "municipality"

means any metropolitan district, town, consolidated town and city, consolidated town and borough, city, borough,

village, fire and sewer district, sewer district and each municipal organization having authority to levy and collect

taxes or make charges for its authorized function; "discharge" means the emission of any water, substance or

material into the waters of the state, whether or not such substance causes pollution; "pollution abatement facility"

means any equipment, plant, treatment works, structure, machinery, apparatus or land, or any combination

thereof, acquired, used, constructed or operated for the storage, collection, reduction, recycling, reclamation,

disposal, separation or treatment of water or wastes, or for the final disposal of residues resulting from the

treatment of water or wastes, including, but not limited to: Pumping and ventilating stations, facilities, plants and

works; outfall sewers, interceptor sewers and collector sewers; and other real or personal property and

appurtenances incident to their use or operation; "potable drinking water" means drinking water from an existing

water supply for which treatment is provided or an alternative supply, which the Commissioner of Public Health

determines does not create an unacceptable risk of injury to the health or safety of those persons using such

water as a public or private source of water for drinking or other personal or domestic uses. In making such

determination, the Commissioner of Public Health shall balance all relevant and substantive facts and inferences

and shall not be limited to a consideration of available statistical analysis but shall consider all the evidence

presented and any factor related to human health risks; "disposal system" means a system for disposing of or

eliminating wastes, either by surface or underground methods, and includes sewage systems, pollution abatement

facilities, disposal wells and other systems; "federal Water Pollution Control Act" means the federal Water

Pollution Control Act, 33 USC Section 466 et seq., including amendments thereto and regulations thereunder;

"order to abate pollution" includes an order to abate existing pollution or to prevent reasonably anticipated

sources of pollution; "federal Safe Drinking Water Act" means the federal Safe Drinking Water Act, 42 USC,

Section 300f et seq., including amendments thereto and regulations thereunder; "monitoring system" means a

system or method for measuring the quality or quantity of a discharge or its impact on the waters of the state.

Such system or method shall provide for any means the commissioner reasonably deems necessary to assure the

security of the system and the accuracy of monitoring results, including, but not limited to, automatic monitoring;

"effluent limitation" means any restriction, established by the commissioner by regulations adopted in accordance

with the provisions of chapter 54, on quantities, rates or concentrations of chemical, physical, biological and other

constituents which are discharged into the waters of the state and established by permit, schedule of compliance

or administrative order; "economic benefit" includes the amount of any savings resulting from avoided or delayed

expenditures as a result of noncompliance with the effluent limitations of a permit to discharge into the waters of

the state, and includes capital or one-time expenditures, operating costs, maintenance costs and any other

benefits resulting from noncompliance; "persistent violator" means any person or municipality which holds a permit

to discharge into the waters of the state and which has exceeded any effluent limitation by a factor of one and

one-half or more for four out of six consecutive reporting periods.

Sec. 22a-425

. (Formerly Sec. 25-54d).

Records.

The commissioner may require any person or municipality to

maintain such records relating to pollution, possible pollution or the operation of pollution abatement facilities as

he deems necessary to carry out the provisions of this chapter and the federal Water Pollution Act. The

commissioner or his authorized representative shall have access to such records, and may examine and copy any

such records or memoranda pertaining thereto, or shall be furnished copies of such records on request.

Sec. 22a-427.

(Formerly Sec. 25-54f).

Pollution or discharge of wastes prohibited. No person or municipality shall

cause pollution of any of the waters of the state or maintain a discharge of any treated or untreated wastes in

violation of any provision of this chapter.

Sec. 22a-428

. (Formerly Sec. 25-54g).

Orders to municipalities to abate pollution. If the commissioner finds that

any municipality is causing pollution of the waters of the state, or that a community pollution problem exists, or that

pollution by a municipality or a community pollution problem can reasonably be anticipated in the future, he may

issue to the municipality an order to abate pollution.

If the commissioner, after giving due regard to regional

factors, determines that such pollution can best be abated by the action of two or more adjacent municipalities, he

may issue his order jointly or severally to such municipalities. If a community pollution problem exists in, or if

pollution is caused by, a municipality geographically located all or partly within the territorial limits of another

municipality, the commissioner may, after giving due regard to regional factors, determine which municipality shall

be ordered to abate the pollution or may, after giving due regard to regional factors, issue an order to both of

such municipalities jointly to provide the facilities necessary to abate the pollution. Any order issued pursuant to

this section shall include a time schedule for action by the municipality or municipalities, as the case may be,

which may require, but is not limited to, the following steps to be taken by such municipality or municipalities: (a)

Submission of an engineering report outlining the problem and recommended solution therefor for approval by

the commissioner; (b) submission of contract plans and specifications for approval by the commissioner; (c)

arrangement of financing; (d) acceptance of state and federal construction grants; (e) advertisement for

construction bids; (f) start of construction; (g) placing in operation.

Sec. 22a-430

(Formerly Sec. 25-54i). Permit for new discharge. Regulations. Renewal. Special category permits

or approvals. Limited delegation. General permits. (a) No person or municipality shall initiate, create, originate or

maintain any discharge of water, substance or material into the waters of the state without a permit for such

discharge issued by the commissioner. Any person who initiated, created or originated a discharge prior to May 1,

1967, and any municipality which initiated, created or originated a discharge prior to April 10, 1973, for which a

permit has not been issued pursuant to this section, shall submit an application for a permit for such discharge on

or before July 1, 1987. Application for a permit shall be on a form prescribed by the commissioner, shall include

such information as the commissioner may require and shall be accompanied by a fee of twenty-five per cent

more than the amount established in regulations in effect on July 1, 1990. On and after July 1, 1991, such fees

shall be as prescribed by regulations adopted by the commissioner in accordance with chapter 54. The

commissioner shall not issue or renew a permit unless such issuance or renewal is consistent with the provisions

of the federal Clean Water Act (33 USC 1251 et seq.).

Sec. 22a-435.

(Formerly Sec. 25-54n). Injunction. If any person or municipality fails to comply with any order to

abate pollution, or any part thereof, issued pursuant to the provisions of section 22a-428, 22a-431 or 22a-433,

and no request for a hearing on such order or appeal therefrom is pending and the time for making such request

or taking such appeal has expired, the commissioner may request the Attorney General to bring an action in the

superior court for the judicial district of Hartford to enjoin such person or municipality from maintaining such

pollution and to comply fully with such order or any part thereof. All actions brought by the Attorney General

pursuant to the provisions of this section shall have precedence in the order of trial as provided in section 52-191.

Sec. 22a-477

. Clean Water Fund. (a) There is established and created a fund to be known as the "Clean Water

Fund". There is established and created within the Clean Water Fund a water pollution control federal revolving

loan account, a water pollution control state account, a Long Island Sound clean-up account, a drinking water

federal revolving loan account, a drinking water state account and a river restoration account, which accounts

shall be held separate and apart from each other.......................

(g) Amounts in the water pollution control federal revolving loan account of the Clean Water Fund shall be

available to the commissioner to provide financial assistance (1) to any municipality for construction of eligible

water quality projects, and (2) for any other purpose authorized by Title VI of the federal Water Pollution Control

Act. In providing such financial assistance to municipalities, amounts in such account may be used only: (A) By

the commissioner to make loans to municipalities at an interest rate of two per cent per annum, provided such

loans shall not exceed a term of twenty years and shall have principal and interest payments commencing not

later than one year after scheduled completion of the project, and provided the loan recipient will establish a

dedicated source of revenue for repayment of the loan; (B) by the commissioner to guarantee, or purchase

insurance for, local obligations, where such action would improve credit market access or reduce interest rates;

bonds issued by the state if the proceeds of the sale of such bonds have been deposited in such account; (D) to

be invested by the Treasurer of the state and earn interest on moneys in such account; (E) by the commissioner

to pay for the reasonable costs of administering such account and conducting activities under Title VI of the

federal Water Pollution Control Act.