BILL NUMBER:S7495

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."

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.