Redraft 256

Budget Amendment ID: FY2015-S4-256-R1

Redraft ENV 256

Locally-Based Wastewater Management Strategy

Mr. Wolf moved that the proposed new text be amended moved that the bill be amended by inserting, after section 34, the following new section:-

“SECTION __.

(A) M.G.L Chapter 29C Section 6 (ii)(3) is hereby deleted and replaced by:

(3) the applicant has a Comprehensive Wastewater Management Plan approved by the Department of Environmental Protection or the Department of Environmental Protection determines that the project is consistent with an areawide waste management plan approved under section 208 of the Federal Clean Water Act;

(B) M.G.L. Chapter 21 Section 27 (1) is hereby deleted and replaced by:

(1) Encourage or require the adoption and execution by cities and towns, districts, commissions, authorities, and other public agencies, and industries and other users of the waters of the commonwealth, and by cooperative groups of municipalities and industries, of plans for the prevention, control and abatement of water pollution.

(6) Prescribe effluent limitations, permit programs and procedures applicable to the management and disposal of pollutants, including, where appropriate, prohibition of discharges. The director may adopt watershed-based permit programs and procedures for nitrogen sensitive areas designated by the director and for other nutrient impaired watersheds that are the subject of an area-wide management plan or plan update or a total maximum daily load that has been approved by the United States Environmental Protection Agency pursuant to the Federal Clean Water Act.

(D) M.G.L Chapter 21 Section 27(10) is hereby amended by adding the words “, watershed based” after the words “river basin”

(E) M.G.L Chapter 21 Section 42 is hereby amended by adding the words “twenty-seven or “ after the words “issued under this section”

(F) M.G.L Chapter 21 Section 43 (7) and (8)are hereby deleted and replaced by:

(7) Every permit shall specify effluent limitations, interim and final deadlines where appropriate for compliance, the term for which the permit is issued, which may not be in excess of twenty years, as prescribed by the director by regulation for each category of permits, and such requirements of proper operation and maintenance, monitoring, sampling, recording, reporting, and inspection as the director may prescribe. Permits may specify additional requirements, including technical controls and other components of treatment works to be constructed or installed, and provisions for insuring payments of user charges, which the director deems necessary to safeguard the quality of the receiving waters or to comply with pertinent provisions of the laws of the commonwealth or of federal law.

(8) A permit for a discharge to publicly owned treatment works shall require any user to comply with pretreatment standards and other safeguards which the director may require to prevent excessive or improper waste loadings. With the approval of the director, a municipality individually or acting in concert with other municipalities, a district, commission, authority or other public agency operating treatment works may administer, in whole or in part, the system of permits that shall regulate discharges to those works.

(G) M.G.L Chapter 21 Section 28 (b) is hereby deleted and replaced by:

(b) Within ninety days of receipt by any city council or town council of a proposal by the division, approved by the commission, or within ninety days of receipt by the municipality of an approval of an area-wide waste treatment management plan update under section 208 of the Federal Clean Water Act that includes one or more proposed water pollution abatement districts as the designated area-wide waste treatment management agency or agencies for such town or towns that a water pollution abatement district which includes such city be established, said city or town council shall consider said proposal and indicate its approval or disapproval by voting by yeas and nays upon a question in substantially the following form:—“Shall there be established a water pollution abatement district as recommended by the division of water pollution control and approved by the water resources commission, to include the city (cities) of (herein name of city or cities so proposed for inclusion) and the town (towns) of (herein name of town or towns proposed for inclusion in part) and the construction, acquisition, extension, improvement, maintenance and operation of a system of water pollution abatement facilities by the said district in accordance with the provisions of chapter twenty-one of the General Laws?” Within ninety days of receipt by the selectmen of any town of a proposal by the division, approved by the commission, that a water pollution abatement district which includes such town or a part of such town be established, or within ninety days of receipt by the selectmen of any town of an approval of an area-wide waste treatment management plan update under section 208 of the Federal Clean Water Act that includes one or more proposed water pollution abatement districts as the designated area-wide waste treatment management agency or agencies for such town or towns, said selectmen shall cause to be presented for determination by vote, with printed ballots at an annual town meeting or a special town meeting called for the purpose, the question of approving said proposal, which question shall be in substantially the form set forth above. If the proposed district includes a part or parts of a town, the said selectmen or town council shall call a special meeting or for the purpose of approving the proposal at which only registered voters resident in that part or parts of the town proposed to be included in the district may vote. The warrant for such meeting posted in not less than two public places in said part or parts of the town at least seven days before the day of the meeting and the moderator of the town shall preside at such meeting and the town clerk shall keep the records thereof. Whenever within said ninety days each city and town or part thereof proposed for inclusion in said district shall have indicated its approval of the proposed district by vote in the affirmative on said question in the manner described in this subsection, the district shall be deemed to be established.

In the event that the city or town or designated parts thereof proposed by the division for inclusion in a district fails to vote in the affirmative on said question within the ninety day period, the director shall conduct a public hearing. Upon completion of said hearing, the director may, upon finding that the creation of said district is necessary for the prompt and efficient abatement of water pollution, and with the approval of the water resources commission, declare the mandatory formation of the district.

(H) M.G.L Chapter 21 Section 28 (c) is hereby amended by deleting paragraph 2 and replacing it with:

In the event that the enlargement or consolidation involves a district formed mandatorily as provided in subsection (b), the director shall conduct a public hearing. Upon completion of the hearing, the director may, upon finding that the formation of said district is necessary for the prompt and efficient abatement of water pollution, and with the approval of the water resources commission, declare the enlargement or consolidation on the part of such district.

(I)M.G.L Chapter 21 section 30 is hereby deleted and replaced by:

Section 30. A district commission (1) may act by a majority vote of the full commission, (2) shall adopt by-laws and regulations for the conduct of its affairs, (3) shall adopt a name and a corporate seal, (4) may sue and be sued, (5) may enter into contracts, (6) may incur expenses in order to carry out its purposes, (7) may issue bonds and notes as hereinafter provided, (8) may acquire, dispose of and encumber real and personal property for the purposes of the district, (9) may manage, control and supervise abatement facilities, (10) may construct, acquire, improve and maintain and operate abatement facilities, (11) may exercise the power of eminent domain under chapter seventy-nine, (12) shall provide revenue to carry out the purposes of the district, in accordance with sections thirty-five and thirty-six, (13) may apply for, accept and receive financial assistance from the federal government and from the commonwealth, and (14) shall apply for and hold permits issued by the department of environmental protection, and any other federal or state regulatory agency, required for those facilities and operations necessary to prevent, control or abate water pollution.

A district commission may lay out, construct, maintain and operate a system or systems of common sewers and main drains in public or private ways for a part or the whole of its territory as they adjudge necessary for the public convenience or the public health with such connections and other works as may be required for a system or systems of sewerage and drainage, stormwater treatment and disposal, and sewage treatment and disposal, including but not limited to the so-called alternative wastewater treatment techniques approved or permitted by the Department of Environmental Protection and proposed as part of an approved area-wide wastewater management plan adopted under Section 208 of the federal Clean Water Act. Such works for sewage treatment and disposal may include any wastewater treatment facility for treating, neutralizing or stabilizing sewage including treatment or disposal plants; the necessary intercepting, outfall and outlet sewers; pumping stations integral to such facilities; and equipment and appurtenances related to the foregoing, as well as the facilities or structures or other measures for alternative wastewater management treatment techniques. The works for drainage may include a stormwater treatment facility or measure of treating, or removing sediment or contaminants from, stormwater discharges. For the purposes of this chapter the word “sewage” shall mean wastewater from homes, public buildings, commercial or industrial establishments, or any combination thereof, and shall include any surface or ground water that may be present therein. For the purposes of this chapter, the word ‘stormwater’ shall mean surface runoff from precipitation.

A district commission may install and maintain, in any public or private way therein where sanitary sewers are constructed, such connecting sewers within the limits of such way as may be necessary to connect any estate which abuts upon the way.

No act shall be done except in the making of surveys, reports and other preliminary investigations, until the plan for said system or systems of sewerage and sewage treatment and disposal has been approved by the department of environmental protection.

A district commission may acquire, install, operate, maintain, remove, repair or replace any septic system located within its district.

A district commission may take by eminent domain under chapter seventy-nine, or acquire by purchase or otherwise, any lands, rights of way or easements, public or private, in said district, necessary for accomplishing any purpose mentioned in this section, and may construct such sewers or drains under or over any bridge, railroad, railway, or public way, or within the location of any railroad, and may enter upon and dig up any private land, public way or railroad location, for the purpose of laying such sewers or drains and of maintaining and repairing the same, and may do any other thing proper or necessary for the purpose of this section; provided that they shall not take in fee any land of a railroad corporation, and that they shall not enter upon or construct any sewer or drain within the location of any railroad corporation except at such time and in such manner as they may agree upon with such corporation, or, in case of failure to agree, as may be approved by the department of telecommunications and energy. Any person injured in his property by such action may recover damages from such district under chapter seventy-nine.

A district commission may make contracts with, or may go to aid any other city, town, commission or district with regard to the operation, repair and maintenance of the physical properties of its system or systems of sewers and drains. Members of such districts while in the performance of their duties under such contracts or in extending such aid shall have the same immunities and privileges as if performing the same work in their respective cities, towns, commissions, and districts. Any city, town, commission or district aided under this section shall compensate any district rendering aid as aforesaid, for such aid and for the whole or any part of any damage to its property sustained in the course of rendering such aid. Any contracts under this section may be for a period not exceeding twenty years.”

(J) Section 13(b) of Chapter 716 of the Acts of 1989 is hereby amended by inserting at the end of said subsection the following:

“provided, however, that for any plan or project proposed by a public or quasi-public entity for managing wastewater, watersheds, water resources, or water quality, the commission may conduct the public hearing referred to in subsection (a) and issue the decision referred to in subsection (e) jointly and/or prior to or concurrent with the issuance of a certificate by the secretary of energy and environmental affairs or a successor agency certifying compliance with said sections sixty-one to sixty-two H, inclusive, of chapter thirty of the General Laws, and provided further that, notwithstanding subsection (e), the commission may specify in its decision the period for which the development of regional impact is valid and effective and municipal development permits may be issued pursuant thereto, which period may be different than seven years.”

(K) Section 13 of Chapter 716 of the Acts of 1989 is hereby amended by inserting at the end thereof the following new subsection:

“Section 13(l). The commission and any public agency may enter into agreements to expedite permitting for nutrient remediation and other water quality improvement plans and projects. Notwithstanding the provisions of 12 and 13 of this act, the commission shall review developments of regional impact for managing wastewater, watersheds, water resources, or water quality for consistency with any approved area wide water quality management plan created at the direction of the governor of the commonwealth of Massachusetts pursuant to the U.S. Clean Water Act.”