10100199D
HOUSE BILL NO. 696
Offered January 13, 2010
Prefiled January 12, 2010
A BILL to amend and reenact § 62.1-44.38 of the Code of
Virginia, relating to requiring the reporting of water withdrawals from surface
waters and groundwater; penalty.
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Patrons-- Bulova, Morgan and Abbitt; Senator: Ticer
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Referred to Committee on Agriculture, Chesapeake and Natural Resources
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Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:
1. That § 62.1-44.38 of the Code of Virginia is amended
and reenacted as follows:
§ 62.1-44.38. Plans and programs; registration of certain data
by water users; advisory committees; committee membership for federal, state,
and local agencies; fund established; water supply planning assistance.
A. The Board shall prepare plans and programs for the
management of the water resources of this Commonwealth in such a manner as to
encourage, promote and secure the maximum beneficial use and control thereof.
These plans and programs shall be prepared for each major river basin of this
Commonwealth, and appropriate subbasins therein, including specifically the
Potomac-Shenandoah River Basin, the Rappahannock River Basin, the York River
Basin, the James River Basin, the Chowan River Basin, the Roanoke River Basin,
the New River Basin, the Tennessee-Big Sandy River Basin, and for those areas
in the Tidewater and elsewhere in the Commonwealth not within these major river
basins. Reports for each basin shall be published by the Board.
B. In preparing river basin plan and program reports
enumerated in subsection A of this section,
the Board shall (i) estimate current water withdrawals and use for agriculture,
industry, domestic use, and other significant categories of water users; (ii)
project water withdrawals and use by agriculture, industry, domestic water use,
and other significant categories of water users; (iii) estimate, for each major
river and stream, the minimum instream flows necessary during drought
conditions to maintain water quality and avoid permanent damage to aquatic life
in streams, bays, and estuaries; (iv) evaluate, to the extent practicable, the
ability of existing subsurface and surface waters to meet current and future
water uses, including minimum instream flows, during drought conditions; (v)
evaluate, in cooperation with the Virginia Department of Health and local water
supply managers, the current and future capability of public water systems to
provide adequate quantity and quality of water; (vi) identify water management
problems and alternative water management plans to address such problems; and
(vii) evaluate hydrologic, environmental, economic, social, legal, jurisdictional,
and other aspects of each alternative management strategy identified.
C. The Board may shall, by regulation, require
each water user withdrawing surface or subsurface water or both during each
year to register, by a date to be established by the Board, water withdrawal
and use data for the previous year including the estimated average daily
withdrawal, maximum daily withdrawal, sources of water withdrawn, and volume of
wastewater discharge, provided that the withdrawal exceeds one million gallons
in any single month for use for crop irrigation, or that the daily average
during any single month exceeds 10,000 gallons per day for all other users. If the Board
finds that a person
required to register and report
water withdrawal data under this subsection and the regulations adopted pursuant to this subsection has failed
to submit the required report, it
shall notify such person of the reporting requirement.
The person shall have 60 days after the notice to submit the report.
If, after 60 days the person has failed to submit
the report, the Department may assess a
civil penalty by the Board not to exceed $1,000. Each
day of violation may constitute a separate
offense. With the consent of
any person in violation of this subsection, the Board may provide, in an order
issued by the Board against the person, for the payment of civil charges and
the performance of injunctive relief. All
civil penalties and charges collected shall be
deposited in the Water Supply Plan Fund established in subsection D.
D. There
is hereby established a
special, nonreverting fund in
the state treasury to be known as the Water Supply Plan Fund (the Fund). The Fund shall consist of the
civil penalties assessed by the Board pursuant to subsection C. No
part of the Fund, either principal
or interest, shall revert to the general fund. The Fund shall be administered
by the Director and shall be used solely for administration of the
water supply planning responsibilities
of the Department of Environmental Quality.
E. The
Board shall establish advisory committees to assist it in the formulation of
such plans or programs and in formulating recommendations called for in
subsection E of this section F.
In this connection, the Board may include committee membership for branches or
agencies of the federal government, branches or agencies of the Commonwealth,
branches or agencies of the government of any state in a river basin located
within that state and Virginia, the political subdivisions of the Commonwealth,
and all persons and corporations interested in or directly affected by any
proposed or existing plan or program.
EF. The Board shall prepare
plans or programs and shall include in reports prepared under subsection A of this section recommended actions
to be considered by the General Assembly, the agencies of the Commonwealth and
local political subdivisions, the agencies of the federal government, or any
other persons that the Board may deem necessary or desirable for the
accomplishment of plans or programs prepared under subsection B of this section.
FG. In addition to the
preparation of plans called for in subsection A of this section, the Board, upon written request of a
political subdivision of the Commonwealth, shall provide water supply planning
assistance to such political subdivision, to include assistance in preparing
drought management strategies, water conservation programs, evaluation of
alternative water sources, state enabling legislation to facilitate a specific
situation, applications for federal grants or permits, or other such planning
activities to facilitate intergovernmental cooperation and coordination.
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