What's happening
The bill allows recovery of consequential damages and extends the time to sue for water contamination to ten years after detection.
Why it matters
Expands legal liability for water contamination. by allowing recovery of consequential damages, which can include indirect losses such as health care costs, property value decline, or business interruption—not just direct cleanup costs.
Significantly increases the time frame to take legal action. for contaminated water supplies: affected parties have up to ten years after the discovery of contamination, rather than from when the contamination first occurred, making it easier for victims to seek justice even after delayed detection.
Empowers a wider range of entities to sue. for damages, including municipalities, boards, commissions, and those managing or furnishing potable water, ensuring that both public and private water suppliers can hold polluters accountable.
May increase accountability for polluters. by removing barriers to lawsuits and raising potential financial risks, which could deter negligent practices and incentivize more proactive water protection efforts.
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Who cares
Headline styles
Teach Well Water Safety
Plain English, a few words. Used as the page title.
Sponsors
Senator · Senate District 7
No co-sponsors yet.
History
- Referred to health
- Referred to health
Full text
2 pagesUnderlined is new[Struck] is removedOfficial text on nysenate.gov ↗
STATE OF NEW YORK
2490
2017-2018 Regular Sessions
IN SENATE
January 13, 2017
Introduced by Sen. PHILLIPS -- read twice and ordered printed, and when printed to be committed to the Committee on Health
AN ACT to amend the public health law, in relation to enacting the "well water and water supply education act"
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assembly, do enact as follows:
Section 1. This act shall be known and may be cited as the "well water and water supply education act".
§ 2. Paragraph (b) of subdivision 2 of section 1102 of the public health law is amended and a new subdivision 4 is added to read as follows:
(b) If the local board of health of the health district wherein the violation or noncompliance occurs, fails to enforce the order of the commissioner within ten days after its receipt, the corporation furnishing such water supply or the municipality, state, or United States or state or United States institution, park, reservation or post deriving its water supply from the waters to which such rule or regulation relates, or the commissioner, or the local board of health of the health district wherein the water supply protected by these rules is used, or any person interested in the protection of the purity of the water supply, may maintain an action in a court of record which shall be tried in the county where the cause of action arose against such person, for the recovery of the penalties and consequential damages incurred by such violation, and for an injunction restraining the person violating such rule or regulation from the continued violation thereof.
4. 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 of environmental protection, or the board of water supply of the city of New York, or any
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[ ] is old law to be omitted.
LBD06742-01-7
S. 2490 2
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 this subdivision, whichever is later.
§ 3. This act shall take effect immediately and shall be deemed to have been in full force and effect on and after January 1, 2018.
Reflowed for reading: line numbers and page breaks removed. Cite the official text.
Sponsor's memo
Title of bill
An act to amend the public health law, in relation to enacting the "well water and water supply education act"
Purpose
To enact 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."
Read the full memo (701 words)
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. Furthermore, this bill will add a new subdivision 4 to paragraph (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 an entity having management and control of the potable water supply of a municipality, state or United States institution, or in the City of New York, the commissioner of 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, 2018.
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 widespread and an 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 activities 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 recognized by all New York State courts, water providers cannot know for certain 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
S.3236B (2016) - Referred to Health S.7495 (2014) - Referred to Health
Fiscal implications
None.
Effective date
Immediately and will be deemed to have been in full force and effect on and after January 1, 2018.
Summaries, headlines and scores are AI-generated from the official bill text. How we score bills. Source: NYS Open Legislation.