SENATE DOCKET, NO. 163        FILED ON: 1/12/2009

SENATE  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  No. 1396

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts

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In the Year Two Thousand Nine

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An Act providing for the regulation of landscape sprinkler systems..

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.  Chapter 143 of the General Laws is hereby amended by inserting after section 61 the following section:-Section 61A. Notwithstanding any general or special law, rule or regulation to the contrary, the state board of building regulations and standards shall amend the state building code to include system interruption devices for newly installed or renovated outdoor landscape irrigation systems. The board shall adopt rules and regulations for the installation of the system interruption devices to override and suspend the programmed operation of the irrigation system during periods of sufficient moisture and shall specify the criteria that devices must meet to be accepted under this section. These regulations shall be in accordance with generally accepted standards of irrigation practice and shall also include a requirement that all such new irrigation systems be inspected every 3 years by a certified irrigation contractor (CIC), a certified landscape irrigation auditor (CLIA), or a certified irrigation designer (CID). This section shall not apply to systems operating on golf courses or agricultural lands.