Session Laws

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:

SECTION 1. The department of environmental quality engineering, hereinafter referred to as the department, shall test public drinking water supply sources in the commonwealth for the presence of toxic substances, determine the extent of contamination and the need for additional testing or requirements for monitoring of such water supplies; provided, however, that the department shall not duplicate testing which any city, town, district or authority is required to conduct by the federal Safe Drinking Water Act, 42 USC 300f et seq. Testing shall be so conducted as to permit the department to develop a statistically valid profile of the extent of contamination of different types of such water supplies statewide and by geographic region and to determine whether consumers are being protected from lead and copper contamination present in such water supplies, their distribution systems or in the connection systems of such consumers.

SECTION 2. By July first, nineteen hundred and eighty-eight, the department shall publish a list of toxic substances to be tested at each public drinking water supply source. In developing the list, the department shall:

(a) consider including substances listed as priority pollutants by the federal Environmental Protection Agency or listed in the following: Advance Notices of Proposed Rulemaking, Volume 47, Federal Register, page 9352, and Volume 48, Federal Register, page 45502; Proposed Rulemakings, Volume 50, Federal Register, pages 46929, 46930 and 47022; Final Rule, Volume 50, Federal Register, page 46901; Final Rule, Volume 52, Federal Register, pages 25712 to 25717, inclusive, and pages 25720 to 25734, inclusive;

(b) consult with public water supply purveyors, appropriate experts and members of the public having a knowledge of water supply issues, and provide the public with opportunities to comment on the proposed list;

(c) identify for each toxic substance, or group of toxic substances, the types of public drinking water supplies and regions of the commonwealth to be tested; and

(d) identify the toxic substances to be tested at each public drinking water supply source.

The department may decide not to test particular public drinking water supplies, or groups thereof, for particular toxic substances if it determines that there is no valid reason to believe that such substances may be present therein; provided, however, that the department shall identify all public drinking water supplies and toxic substances for which such determinations are made in its report of test results pursuant to section four.

SECTION 3. Testing shall be conducted in two phases as follows:

(a) Phase I. By January first, nineteen hundred and eighty-nine, the department shall test all community public water supplies in the commonwealth which serve one hundred and fifty or more persons for the presence of listed substances.

(b) Phase II. By January first, nineteen hundred and ninety, the department shall test all community public water supplies which serve twenty-five to one hundred and forty-nine persons, inclusive, and a representative sampling of all non-community public water supplies in the commonwealth for the presence of listed substances.

SECTION 4. The department shall publish a report of test results including an analysis of the extent to which various types of public drinking water supplies in various regions of the commonwealth are contaminated by toxic substances. The report on Phase I testing shall be published by April first, nineteen hundred and eighty-nine. The report on Phase II testing shall be published by April first, nineteen hundred and ninety.

SECTION 5. For each community in which public water supplies are tested, the department shall:

(a) provide education and training for public water supply purveyors, community officials and the public in water quality standards, methods of analysis and sampling, health advisories, requirements and impact of the nineteen hundred and eighty-six amendments to the federal Safe Drinking Water Act, and long-range water supply protection and planning;

(b) report test results promptly following testing to water purveyors, community officials and the public;

(c) provide community officials and the public an explanation of possible health consequences, risk assessment methods and possible methods for correcting any problems detected during testing;

(d) provide education for community officials and the public as to options for water supply planning and land use planning necessary to provide current and long-term protection for community water supplies.

Education and training required by this act shall be provided in coordination with a university research facility selected by the department. Such facility shall be located within the commonwealth and have demonstrated experience in environmental and public health, land use and regional planning, and hydrology.

SECTION 6. For purposes of this act, "community officials" shall mean the city manager in any city having a city manager, the mayor in any other city; the town manager in any town having a town manager, the board of selectmen in any other town; and the board of health, board of water commissioners and superintendent of the water department, or officers performing like duties, in any city or town.