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. Section 1 of chapter 313 of the acts of 1984 is hereby amended by adding the following paragraph:-

Notwithstanding the provisions of section fourteen of chapter two hundred and eighty-six of the acts of nineteen hundred and eleven the execution and administration of the operations of the water department of the district shall be vested in the board of commissioners.

SECTION 2. Said chapter 313 is hereby further amended by inserting after section 2 the following six sections:-

Section 2A. The Hyannis Fire District, hereinafter called the district, may supply itself and its inhabitants with water for the extinguishment of fires and for domestic, manufacturing and other purposes, with power to establish fountains and hydrants and to relocate and discontinue the same, to regulate the use of such water and to fix and collect rates to be paid for the use of the same.

Section 2B. For the purposes aforesaid, the district, acting by and through its board of commissioners, may contract with any municipality, acting through its water department, or with any water company, or with any water district, for whatever water may be required, authority to furnish the same being hereby granted, and may take by eminent domain under chapter seventy-nine or chapter eighty A of the General Laws, or acquire by lease, purchase or otherwise, and hold, the waters, or any portion thereof, of any pond, spring or stream, or of any ground sources of supply by means of driven, artesian or other wells or filter galleries, within the limits of the district, not already appropriated for the purposes of a public supply and the water and flowage rights connected with any such water sources; and for said purposes may take as aforesaid, or acquire by purchase or otherwise, and hold, all lands, rights-of-way and other easements necessary for collecting, storing, holding, purifying and preserving the purity of the water and for conveying the same to any part of the district; provided, that no source of water supply or lands necessary for preserving the quality of the water shall be so taken or used without first obtaining the advice and approval of the state department of environmental protection, and that the location and arrangement of all dams, reservoirs, springs, wells, filter galleries, pumping, purification and filtration plants and such other works as may be necessary in carrying out the provisions of this act shall be subject to the approval of said department. The district may construct and maintain on the lands acquired and held under this act proper dams, wells, springs, reservoirs, standpipes, tanks, pumping plants, buildings, fixtures and other structures including also the establishment and maintenance of filter beds and purification works and systems, which shall be subject to the approval of said department, and may make excavations, procure and operate machinery and provide such other means and appliances, and do such other things as may be necessary for the establishment and maintenance of complete and effective water works; and for that purpose may construct, lay, acquire and maintain aqueducts, conduits, pipes and other works under or over any land, water courses, railroad, railways and public or other ways, and along such ways, in the district in such manner as not unnecessarily to obstruct the same; and for the purpose of constructing, laying, maintaining, operating and repairing such aqueducts, conduits, pipes and other works, and for all proper purposes of this act, the district may dig up or raise and embank any such lands, highways or other ways in such manner as to cause the least hindrance to public travel on such ways. The district shall not enter upon, or construct or lay any conduit, pipe or other works within, the location of any railroad corporation except at such time and in such manner as it may agree upon with such corporation, or, in the case of failure so to agree, as may be approved by the department of public utilities. The district may enter upon any lands for the purpose of making surveys, test wells or pits and borings, and may take or otherwise acquire the right to occupy temporarily any lands necessary for the construction of any work or for any purpose authorized by this act.

Section 2C. Any person sustaining damages to his property by any taking under this act or anything done under authority thereof may recover such damages from the district under said chapter seventy-nine or said chapter eighty A.

Section 2D. The aforementioned board of commissioners shall fix just and equitable prices and rates for the use of water, and shall prescribe the time and manner of payment. The income of the water works shall be appropriated to defray all operating expenses. It may also be appropriated to retire outstanding debt. If there should be a net surplus remaining it may be appropriated for such new construction as said commissioners, with the approval of the district, may determine. Said commissioners shall annually, and as often as said district may require, render a report upon the condition of the works under their charge and an account of their doings, including an account of receipts and expenditures.

Section 2E. Whoever wilfully or wantonly corrupts, pollutes or diverts any water obtained or supplied under this act, or wilfully or wantonly injures any dam, well, reservoir, pumping or filtration plant, building, standpipe, tank, fixture or other structure, or other property owned, held or used by the district under authority and for the purposes of this act, shall forfeit and pay to the district three times the amount of the damages assessed therefor, to be recovered in an action of tort, and upon conviction of any one of the above wilful or wanton acts shall be punished by a fine of not more than five hundred dollars or by imprisonment for not more than two and one-half years.

Section 2F. No money shall be drawn from the treasury of the district to pay any expense of, or to discharge any liability incurred on account of, its system of water supply, unless and until such payment is approved in writing by a majority of the board of commissioners.

SECTION 3. This act shall take effect upon the acceptance by a two-thirds majority vote of the voters of the Hyannis Fire District present and voting thereon at a district meeting called for the purpose within three years after its passage.

SECTION 4. This act shall take effect upon its passage.