HD39 - Report of the State Water Study Commission
Executive Summary: BACKGROUND The State Water Study Commission was continued pursuant to House Joint Resolution No. 13 (1982). New to the Commission this past year were Delegates James B. Murray and Mary Sue Terry, and citizen member Leonard Shabman. Delegate Lewis W. Parker, Jr., and Senator Charles J. Colgan were re-elected by the Commission as its chairman and vice chairman, respectively. MATTERS STUDIED IN 1982 The Commission continued in 1982, as it has since its establishment, to study water supply and allocation problems facing the Commonwealth. Following its study during 1981, the Commission had recommended three legislative proposals to the 1982 · Session of the General Assembly. Amendments to the Groundwater Act House Bill No. 157 sought to address deficiencies existing in the present Groundwater Act. The exemption of municipalities from the provisions of this law was judged to be its most serious defect. Other changes proposed to the Act would have lowered the amount of groundwater pumpage that would bring someone under the provisions of the Act, required well drillers to furnish information on new wells, changed the basis upon which withdrawals are grandfathered, and established a new fee system for permitted withdrawals. When this bill was heard in committee during the Session, several aspects of it were opposed by various individuals. Its chief sponsor then withdrew the legislation, requesting that the Commission give it further study during 1983. Regulation of Water Well Drillers House Bill No. 241, a measure which had been introduced in a similar format several years ago but informally referred to the Commission for study, addressed the regulation and licensure of water well drillers. State agencies and representatives of the industry itself had testified before the Commission in favor of this measure, saying it was needed to help protect the public welfare from the improper drilling of wells. The bill called for the establishment of a five-member board charged with responsibility for the regulation of the well drilling profession and the licensure of its members. This legislation also faced opposition when heard in committee during the last Session. The Administration questioned the need for the establishment of a new regulatory board and suggested that a current board, such as the State Registration Board for Contractors, might be well-qualified to take on this additional responsibility. The Administration requested, and the legislature agreed to, the deferral of action on this bill until after the Session so that the Administration could formulate a better method of regulating this profession. The Commission agreed to take the responsibility for further legislative study of this matter. Interbasin Transfer The Commission also recommended that the 1982 General Assembly approve House Bill No. 503, which would have put into place an administrative framework to allow and regulate the Interbasin transfer of water. The proposed statute would have authorized the State Water Control Board to issue permits for the transfer of water from one basin to another when it determined that the issuance of such a permit is in the public interest. Criteria for judging whether a transfer would be in the public interest was included in the legislation. The Act also would have established a system under which a permittee would make payments for withdrawals; these payments were to be divided among the Water Control Board, the locality from which the water was withdrawn, and localities adjoining this donor locality. This legislation faced considerable opposition during the Session and was withdrawn by its patron. The Commission agreed to give it further study during 1982. |
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