SENATE BILL No. 1192

 

 

December 14, 2016, Introduced by Senator ANANICH and referred to the Committee on Government Operations.

 

 

 

     A bill to amend 1976 PA 399, entitled

 

"Safe drinking water act,"

 

by amending section 2 (MCL 325.1002), as amended by 1998 PA 56, and

 

by adding section 25.

 

THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF MICHIGAN ENACT:

 

     Sec. 2. As used in this act:

 

     (a) "Asset management" means maintaining, upgrading, and

 

operating physical assets cost-effectively and on an ongoing basis,

 

based on a continuous physical inventory and condition assessment.

 

     (b) (a) "Bottled drinking water" means water that is

 

ultimately sold, provided, or offered for human consumption in a

 

closed container.

 

     (c) (b) "Capacity assessment" means an evaluation of the

 

technical, financial, and managerial capability of a community

 

supply or nontransient noncommunity water supply to comply and


maintain compliance with all requirements of this act and the rules

 

promulgated under this act.

 

     (d) "Central data storage agency" means that agency or office

 

chosen by the department where the asset manager data collected are

 

stored and maintained.

 

     (e) (c) "Community supply" means a 1 of the following as

 

implied by the context:

 

     (i) A public water supply that provides year-round service to

 

not fewer than 15 living units or which that regularly provides

 

year-round service to not fewer than 25 residents.

 

     (ii) The owner or operator of a public water supply described

 

in subparagraph (i).

 

     (f) (d) "Contaminant" means a physical, chemical, biological,

 

or radiological substance or matter in water.

 

     (g) "Council" means the water supply asset management council

 

created by section 25.

 

     (h) (e) "Customer service connection" means the pipe between a

 

water main and customer site piping or a building plumbing system.

 

     (i) (f) "Customer site piping" means an underground piping

 

system owned or controlled by the customer that conveys water from

 

the customer service connection to building plumbing systems and

 

other points of use on lands owned or controlled by the customer.

 

Customer site piping does not include any system that incorporates

 

treatment to protect public health.

 

     (j) (g) "Department" means the department of environmental

 

quality or its authorized agent or representative.

 

     (k) (h) "Director" means the director of the department of


environmental quality or his or her authorized agent or

 

representative.

 

     (l) (i) "Imminent hazard" means that in the judgment of the

 

director there is a violation, or a condition that may cause a

 

violation, of the state drinking water standards at a public water

 

supply requiring immediate action to prevent endangering the health

 

of people.

 

     (m) (j) "Living unit" means a house, apartment, or other

 

domicile occupied or intended to be occupied on a day to day day-

 

to-day basis by an individual, family group, or equivalent.

 

     (n) "Multiyear program" means a compilation of community

 

supply projects anticipated to be contracted for by the community

 

supply during a 3-year period. The multiyear program shall include

 

a listing of each project to be funded in whole or in part with

 

state or federal funds.

 

     (o) (k) "Noncommunity supply" means a public water supply that

 

is not a community supply, but that has not less than 15 service

 

connections or that serves not fewer than 25 individuals on an

 

average daily basis for not less than 60 days per year.

 

     (p) (l) "Nontransient noncommunity water supply" means a

 

noncommunity public water supply that serves not fewer than 25 of

 

the same individuals on an average daily basis over 6 months per

 

year. This definition includes water supplies in places of

 

employment, schools, and day-care centers.

 

     (q) (m) "Person" means an individual, partnership,

 

copartnership, cooperative, firm, company, public or private

 

association or corporation, political subdivision, agency of the


this state, agency of the federal government, trust, estate, joint

 

structure company, or any other legal entity, or their its legal

 

representative, agent, or assigns.

 

     (r) (n) "Plans and specifications" means drawings, data, and a

 

true description or representation of an entire waterworks system

 

or parts of the system as it exists or is to be constructed, and a

 

statement on how a waterworks system is to be operated.

 

     (s) (o) "Political subdivision" means a city, village,

 

township, charter township, county, district, or authority or a

 

portion or combination thereof.of any of these.

 

     (t) (p) "Public water supply" means a waterworks system that

 

provides water for drinking or household purposes to persons other

 

than the supplier of the water, and does not include either of the

 

following:

 

     (i) A waterworks system that supplies water to only 1 living

 

unit.

 

     (ii) A waterworks system that consists solely of customer site

 

piping.

 

     (u) (q) "State drinking water standards" means quality

 

standards setting limits for contaminant levels or establishing

 

treatment techniques to meet standards necessary to protect the

 

public health.

 

     (v) (r) "Service connection" means a direct connection from a

 

distribution water main to a living unit or other site to provide

 

water for drinking or household purposes.

 

     (w) (s) "Source water assessment" means a state program to

 

delineate the boundaries of areas in the state from which 1 or more


public water supplies receive supplies of drinking water, to

 

identify contaminants regulated under this act for which monitoring

 

is required because the this state has determined they may present

 

a threat to public health, and, to the extent practical, to

 

determine the susceptibility of the public water supply in the

 

delineated area to these contaminants.

 

     (x) (t) "Supplier of water" or "supplier" means a person who

 

that owns or operates a public water supply, and includes a water

 

hauler.

 

     (y) (u) "Transient noncommunity water supply" means a

 

noncommunity supply that does not meet the definition of

 

nontransient noncommunity water supply.

 

     (z) (v) "Water hauler" means a person engaged in bulk

 

vehicular transportation, of water to other than the water hauler's

 

own household, which of water that is intended for use or used for

 

drinking or household purposes. Excluded from this definition are

 

those persons Water hauler does not include a person providing

 

water solely for employee use.

 

     (aa) (w) "Water main" means a pipe owned or controlled by a

 

supplier that may convey conveys water to a customer service

 

connection or to a fire hydrant.

 

     (bb) (x) "Waterworks system" or "system" means a system of

 

pipes and structures through which water is obtained and

 

distributed, including, but not limited to, wells and well

 

structures, intakes and cribs, pumping stations, treatment plants,

 

storage tanks, pipelines and appurtenances, or a combination

 

thereof, of any of these, actually used or intended for use for the


purpose of furnishing water for drinking or household purposes.

 

     (cc) (y) "Year-round service" means the ability of a supplier

 

of water to provide drinking water on a continuous basis to a

 

living unit or facility.

 

     Sec. 25. (1) The water supply asset management council is

 

created within the department.

 

     (2) The council shall consist all of the following members,

 

who shall be appointed by the director and are voting members

 

unless otherwise indicated:

 

     (a) Two members representing the department.

 

     (b) Two members representing cities.

 

     (c) Two members representing community planners.

 

     (d) One member representing community supplies.

 

     (e) One member from academia who has knowledge of and

 

experience with public water supplies.

 

     (f) One member representing the public health sector.

 

     (g) One member representing counties.

 

     (h) One member representing townships.

 

     (i) One nonvoting member representing the central data storage

 

agency.

 

     (3) The members first appointed to the council shall be

 

appointed within 60 days after the effective date of the amendatory

 

act that added this section. Members of the council shall serve for

 

terms of 3 years or until a successor is appointed, whichever is

 

later, except that of the members first appointed 3 shall serve for

 

1 year and 3 shall serve for 2 years. An individual may be

 

appointed for successive terms.


     (4) If a vacancy occurs on the council, the director shall

 

make an appointment for the unexpired term in the same manner as

 

the original appointment. The director may remove a member of the

 

council for incompetence, dereliction of duty, malfeasance,

 

misfeasance, or nonfeasance in office, or any other good cause.

 

     (5) The first meeting of the council shall be called by the

 

director. At the first meeting, the council shall elect from among

 

its members a chairperson and other officers as it considers

 

appropriate. After the first meeting, the council shall meet at

 

least quarterly, or more frequently at the call of the chairperson

 

or if requested by 4 or more members. A majority of the members of

 

the council constitute a quorum for the transaction of business at

 

a meeting of the council. A majority of the members present and

 

serving are required for official action of the council. The

 

business that the council may perform shall be conducted at a

 

public meeting of the council held in compliance with the open

 

meetings act, 1976 PA 267, MCL 15.261 to 15.275.

 

     (6) A writing prepared, owned, used, in the possession of, or

 

retained by the council in the performance of an official function

 

is subject to the freedom of information act, 1976 PA 442, MCL

 

15.231 to 15.246.

 

     (7) Members of the council shall serve without compensation,

 

except that a member of the council representing the department or

 

the central data storage agency shall serve without additional

 

compensation. Members of the council may be reimbursed for their

 

actual and necessary expenses incurred in the performance of their

 

official duties as members of the council.


     (8) The council shall advise the department and community

 

supplies on a statewide asset management strategy for community

 

supplies and the processes and tools necessary to implement the

 

strategy.

 

     (9) Within 90 days after the date of its first meeting, the

 

council shall develop and present to the director for approval

 

procedures and requirements that are necessary for the

 

administration of the asset management process. The procedures and

 

requirements shall, at a minimum, include the areas of training,

 

data storage and collection, reporting, development of a multiyear

 

program, budgeting and funding, and other issues related to asset

 

management. All quality control standards and protocols shall, at a

 

minimum, be consistent with any existing federal requirements and

 

regulations and existing government accounting standards.

 

     (10) The council may appoint a technical advisory panel whose

 

members are representatives from associations involved in the

 

construction of community supplies. The council shall select

 

members to the technical advisory panel from names submitted by the

 

associations. The technical advisory panel members shall be

 

appointed for terms of 3 years. The council shall assign research

 

issues and projects to the technical advisory panel to assist in

 

the development of statewide asset management policies. The

 

technical advisory panel's recommendations are not binding on the

 

council.

 

     (11) Each community supply shall annually submit a report to

 

the council. The report shall include a multiyear program developed

 

through the asset management process as developed under subsection


(9). Projects contained in the annual multiyear program shall be

 

consistent with the asset management process of the community

 

supply and shall be reported consistent with categories established

 

by the council.

 

     (12) Funding necessary to support the activities described in

 

this section, including funding for costs incurred by publicly

 

owned community supplies, shall be provided by an annual

 

appropriation in the department's budget.

 

     (13) The department and each community supply shall keep

 

accurate and uniform records on all work performed and funds

 

expended for the purposes of this section, pursuant to procedures

 

developed by the council. Each community supply shall annually

 

report to the council the receipts and disbursements of funds for

 

the implementation of this section and of asset management plans.

 

The report shall be made in the manner prescribed by the council,

 

which shall be consistent with accepted accounting procedures. A

 

report under this subsection may be combined with a report under

 

subsection (11).

 

     (14) By February 1 of each year, the staff assigned to the

 

council under subsection (15) shall submit to the director and the

 

legislature a report regarding the results of activities conducted

 

during the preceding year and the expenditure of funds related to

 

those activities. The report shall also include an overview of the

 

activities identified for the succeeding year.

 

     (15) The department shall provide qualified administrative

 

staff to the council.

 

     (16) The department shall designate a central data storage


agency within 45 days after the effective date of the amendatory

 

act that added this section.

 

     Enacting section 1. This amendatory act takes effect 90 days

 

after the date it is enacted into law.