Enacts the "well water and water supply education act"

Summary of provisions

Section 1 of the bill establishes that the act shall be known and may be cited as the "well water and water supply education act."

Section 2 of the bill amends paragraph (b) of subdivision 2 of section 1102 of the public health law to include consequential damages as part of a recovery. Further, this bill will add a new subdivision 4 to para- graph (b) of subdivision 2 of section 1102 of the public health law that will read: notwithstanding any provision of law to the contrary, any action to recover damages brought by the person, officer, board, or commission having the management and control of the potable water supply of a municipality, state or United States institution, park, reservation or post, or in the city of New York, the commissioner or environmental protection, or the board of water supply of the city of New York, or any entity furnishing such potable water supply pursuant to this chapter shall be commenced no later than ten years after the detection of a contaminant at levels exceeding one half of the applicable maximum contaminant level, or within three years after the effective date of the chapter of the laws of 2014 which added this subdivision, whichever is later.

Section 3 of the bill provides for an immediate effective date and shall be deemed to have been in full force and effect on and after January 1, 2014.

Justification

Clean water is essential to our health and our quality of life throughout the State of New York. In recent years, contamination of our potable water supply, both with regard to our surface waters and the underground aquifers, has been a widespread and increasingly frequent problem.As a result, many New York communities and water districts have been burdened with the costly task of testing, cleaning and treating the water to make it safe for their residents, as well as the ongoing burden of monitoring the quality of the remediated water supplies. The constituents and rate payers of those water districts and municipalities should not bear the expense of costly remediation systems when the contamination can be traced to the negligent or illegal activ- ities of some industrial organization or other entity.

New York State law does not adequately protect the water supply at this time. The State currently imposes a three-year deadline for making a claim to seek monetary damages arising from harmful substances leaking into our water supply wells, reservoirs and aquifers. That deadline begins to run on the date that the damages are discovered or the date by which they should have been discovered by a "reasonably diligent party,"

whichever is earlier. As a result of this relatively vague standard, courts have recognized a wide variety of triggers for the limit of time for which a water provider can bring a claim.

Without a definitive trigger for the time to file a claim that is recog- nized by all New York State courts, water providers cannot know for certain what contamination-related event to watch out for and when they should take legal action in order to best protect their rights and by extension, those of the citizens.

A well-defined trigger and a longer time to file a claim are necessary to best protect the purity of New York State's drinking water and the health of its residents. This proposed bill will allow for a ten year timeframe to bring a claim that is triggered by the detection of a contaminant at levels exceeding one half of the applicable maximum contaminant level, or within three years of this amendment being signed, whichever is later. If this bill becomes law, innocent rate payers will no longer be forced to shoulder the financial burden of restoring their drinking water supply to the safe and clean state they deserve.

Legislative history

This is a new bill.

Fiscal implications

None.

Effective date

Immediately and will be deemed to have been in full force and effect on and after January 1, 2014.