Chapter 165

Section 1. In sections one to eleven, inclusive, the following words shall have the following meanings:— ''Corporation'' or ''company'', every person, partnership, association or corporation, other than a municipal corporation, and other than a landlord supplying his tenant, enga…

Section 10. A customer of a company or corporation subject to this chapter, or such company or corporation, may apply to the department for an examination and test of any water meter to determine the accuracy of the same. The department shall forthwith cause such examination and …

Section 11. Whoever unlawfully and intentionally injures, or suffers to be injured, a water meter belonging to a city, town, district, or company engaged in supplying water, or prevents such meter from duly registering the quantity of water supplied through it, or hinders or inte…

Section 11A. Except as otherwise provided in this chapter, a water company may shut off the flow of water from its mains or pipes to the premises of any customer who has failed or refused to pay the lawful charges of said company for water previously consumed. The officers, emplo…

Section 11B. No water company shall intentionally shut off the water service to any domicile occupied by a person who is seriously ill if the company receives written notice from the municipal health authorities or a registered physician verifying the fact of such illness. Any co…

Section 11C. A water company shall not refuse to supply water to any premises on application of the owner thereof because of the indebtedness of a prior owner to the said water company for water previously furnished to said premises.

Section 11D. Any person employed by a city, town, district or company engaged in supplying water who displays on his outer garment a suitable identification badge bearing his photograph, issued to him by his employer, may at any reasonable time enter any premises supplied with wa…

Section 11E. No water company shall shut off the flow of water to any residential building in which the occupant thereof is not the customer of record of said company, without first complying with the notice provisions of section eleven A and also providing notice to each affecte…

Section 12. Aqueduct companies shall, except as otherwise herein provided, be subject to chapter one hundred and fifty-eight and also to sections four to ten, inclusive, of chapter one hundred and sixty-six except that all rights and duties imposed on the department by sections f…

Section 13. Immediately after the payment of the capital of an aqueduct company, as authorized by the state secretary, a certificate, signed and sworn to by its president, treasurer and a majority of its directors, stating the fact of such payment, the manner in which the capital…

Section 14. A conveyance to an aqueduct company of real or personal property at a fair valuation shall be a sufficient payment of the capital stock to the extent of such value, if a description of such property and a statement of the value at which it has been taken in payment, i…

Section 15. The proprietors of an aqueduct corporation, which has been organized under chapter one hundred and ten of the Public Statutes or corresponding provisions of earlier laws, may at a legal meeting agree upon the method of calling future meetings of the corporation, and m…

Section 16. The clerk, at or immediately after the first meeting, shall enter in the books the names of the several proprietors and the shares owned by each.

Section 17. The proprietors may choose any number of directors and other officers to manage the business; and the directors shall choose one of their number to be the president of the corporation.

Section 18. The directors may make such assessments on each share as they find necessary; and, upon the default of a proprietor for thirty days after notice thereof to pay an assessment, they may sell by public auction so many of his shares as will be sufficient to pay the assess…

Section 1A. No corporation or company shall engage in the distribution or sale of water in the commonwealth through its pipes or mains unless written approval of the adequacy of its distribution system has first been obtained from the department, and unless proof of compliance wi…

Section 1B. The department may establish from time to time such reasonable rules and regulations consistent with this chapter as may be necessary to carry out the administration thereof.

Section 1C. No water company shall install plastic pipe connections in any building or dwelling house without first giving notice to the occupant or owner of said building or dwelling house, and sending a copy of such notice to the wire inspector of the city or town in which the …

Section 2. Sections four through eight D, ten, eleven, twelve, twelve A, thirteen, fourteen, sixteen, sixteen A, seventeen, seventeen A, eighteen, nineteen, twenty-one through twenty-five, thirty-three, seventy-eight through eight-four, ninety-two, ninety-three, ninety-four, nine…

Section 20. Such corporation may, with the written consent of the aldermen of a city or the selectmen of a town, dig up and open any street or way therein for the purpose of placing such pipes as are necessary in constructing its aqueduct or in repairing or extending the same, if…

Section 21. Contracts made by or with such a corporation shall remain in force after its dissolution, and the shareholders at such dissolution shall continue liable and capable as a corporation in all its suits relative to such contracts until they are performed, if suit is comme…

Section 22. If no corporate property can be found to satisfy a judgment recovered against the shareholders after the dissolution, and it is not satisfied within six months after it is recovered, the judgment creditor may satisfy the same out of the private estate of the sharehold…

Section 23. If the corporation at its dissolution is seized of real estate, the proprietors shall become tenants in common thereof in proportion to their respective shares or interests in the stock of the corporation.

Section 24. Whoever maliciously injures an aqueduct or any of its appurtenances shall forfeit not more than one hundred dollars to the use of the town where the offence is committed, and shall be liable to the corporation for treble the amount of damages sustained thereby.

Section 25. A town in which such aqueduct is situated may put conductors into the pipes for the purpose of drawing therefrom, free of expense, as much water as is necessary if a building is on fire therein and such conductors are so secured that water shall not be drawn therefrom…

Section 26. If the selectmen consider it necessary, for the protection of persons and property in their town against fire, to take water from the conductors or pipes therein of an aqueduct corporation, they may direct the engineers of the fire department to request the corporatio…

Section 27. Any person who has sustained injury in his land or by the diversion of water by the operations of an aqueduct corporation, and who is entitled to damages for such injury by the act establishing such corporation or otherwise, may recover such damages under chapter seve…

Section 28. Any water or aqueduct company which is limited by its charter or by any other special law as to the amount of real estate which it may acquire and hold may apply to the department of telecommunications and energy for authority to acquire and hold real estate in excess…

Section 2A. Water districts shall file with the department schedules, in such form as the department shall from time to time prescribe, showing all rates, prices and charges to be charged or collected within the commonwealth for the sale and distribution of water.

Section 2B. All municipalities or water districts within the jurisdiction of the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority, but not including communities serviced by the Connecticut Valley Aqueduct shall institute water charges and fees that incorporate a base rate for all users; p…

Section 3. This chapter shall not affect or impair the powers and duties of the department of environmental protection with respect to water supply under chapter one hundred and eleven.

Section 4. The department shall have general supervision of all corporations and companies subject to this chapter, and shall make all necessary examinations and inquiries and keep itself informed as to the compliance by all such corporations and companies with the law.

Section 4A. A water company that has, prior to the effective date of this section, entered into or shall thereafter enter into any contract with an affiliated company as herein defined, for the payment of any fees, salaries, commissions or percentages for services of any kind fur…

Section 4B. Any water company or corporation subject to this chapter having franchise rights encompassing an entire city, town or district may, subject to determination by the department after notice and a public hearing as to the public convenience and necessity, and with the ad…

Section 5. In all proceedings for the acquisition by a town of the water works and other property of a water company created by special law in the commonwealth providing for the appointment of commissioners for the determination of the price to be paid for such water works and pr…

Section 6. In all proceedings conducted by the department under the laws relating to the petition of any water company for authorization to issue capital stock or bonds, and in all matters connected with the determination by the department of any question relating thereto and bef…

Section 7. The department shall make an annual report of all its doings under this chapter, together with such suggestions as to the condition of affairs or conduct of the corporations and companies as may be appropriate and with such abstracts of the returns required by section …

Section 8. In a town where a water company exists in active operation, no other company or person shall dig up and open the streets, lanes and highways of such town for the purpose of laying water mains and pipes therein without the consent of the aldermen or selectmen after noti…

Section 9. Any corporation, company or person aggrieved by the decision of the aldermen or selectmen under the preceding section may, within thirty days after notice of said decision, appeal therefrom to the department which shall thereupon give due notice to and hear all parties…