Title L, Water Management and Protection

All valves or gates used in the connection here described, in the case of sources maintained for public fire protection, shall also be subject to the special seal and inspection of the department. Whenever it shall become necessary to break such seal, or to resort to an unapprove…

The department shall have general control and oversight of emergency intakes. It may, when feasible and deemed necessary for the protection of the public health, upon reasonable notice, require the abandonment of any existent emergency source and the adoption of other means of su…

I. No fluoride shall be introduced into a public water system unless and until the municipality or municipalities served by such system have each held a public hearing as to the introduction of fluoride into the public water system, and the registered voters of such municipality …

I. Upon the written application of the aggregate of 10 percent of the registered voters in all of the towns served by a water system, presented to the clerk of the town owning the water system at least 90 days before the day prescribed for an annual town meeting or city election,…

I. If a public water supply is fluoridated, the following notice shall be posted in the water system's consumer confidence report: "Your public water supply is fluoridated. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, if your child under the age of 6 months is exc…

If the department shall require the abandonment of any such emergency source the person, corporation or association aggrieved by such action shall have an appeal to the superior court, said appeal to be taken within 30 days from the receipt of the order from said department, and …

Whoever violates any of the provisions of RSA 485:8-13, but not RSA 485:8, II, or fails to comply with the lawful orders and requirements of the department duly made pursuant to those sections, or whoever hinders or obstructs any inspector in the pursuit of his lawful duty in res…

I. The commissioner, in consultation with the commissioner of health and human services, shall adopt primary and secondary drinking water standards pursuant to RSA 485:3, and ambient groundwater quality standards pursuant to RSA 485-C:6, applicable to MTBE. The commissioner shall…

I. Except as provided for in RSA 485:16-d, the commissioner shall seek all necessary authorizations from the Environmental Protection Agency to opt out of the federal reformulated gasoline program as soon as possible, but in no case later than January 1, 2004. The department of e…

In order to reduce air emissions and receive federal credit for such reductions, the commissioner shall be authorized to establish limits on the manufacture, use, or sale of consumer products in accordance with RSA 125-C:6, XVII.

I. The commissioner is authorized to promote such regional or federal efforts as may be required to reduce the ongoing contamination threat posed by MTBE and other gasoline ethers, including but not limited to efforts to eliminate the federal oxygen mandate in the federal Clean A…

I. The maximum contaminant levels for the following shall be: (a) Perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA): 12 parts per trillion. (b) Perfluoroctanesulfonic acid (PFOS): 15 parts per trillion. (c) Perfluorohexanesulfonic acid (PFHxS): 18 parts per trillion. (d) Perfluorononanoic acid (PFNA…

I. If a person shall recklessly place, leave, or cause to be placed or left, in or near a lake, pond, reservoir or stream tributary thereto, from which the domestic water supply of a city, town, or village is taken, in whole or in part, any material, substance, or fluid that may …

I. Public and private schools and licensed child care facilities shall take measures to limit exposure to lead in drinking water by: (a) Within 180 days of the effective date of this section, installing and providing access to water bottle filling stations in accordance with para…

The health officer of the town, or the water commissioners having charge of the water supply, or the proprietors of the water supply, may remove such material, substance, or fluid and may recover the expense of removal from the person who placed the same, or caused it to be place…

This chapter shall be administered by the department, which is authorized to: I. Enter into agreements, contracts or cooperative arrangements under such terms and conditions as it deems appropriate with other state, federal or interstate agencies, municipalities, education instit…

I. The superior court shall have power to issue injunctions restraining any person from violating the provisions of RSA 485:17. II. Municipalities may apply to a justice of the superior court for injunctive relief against existing or impending violations of RSA 485:17. The munici…

Said local legislative bodies and officers may also adopt all reasonable rules regarding fishing and the use of boats in and upon any such lake, pond or reservoir, and regarding racing or speeding horses upon the ice of such water body, which they may deem expedient. Any person w…

If any person shall bathe in such lake, pond or reservoir, within the limits prescribed for the protection of said water supply by the local board of health or health officer or the department, he shall be guilty of a misdemeanor.

I. Whenever any board of water commissioners, local board of health, local health officer or 10 or more citizens of any town or city have reason to believe that a public water or ice supply is being contaminated or is in danger of contamination, and that the local regulations are…

No private boat access facility shall be constructed to any public waters which serve as a public water supply for a public or private water utility company, without the approval of the department of environmental services upon consultation with the public water access advisory b…

I. The department shall respond in writing to a petition filed under RSA 485:23, I, after due investigation, but not later than 30 days after receipt of the petition, informing the petitioners of the department's intended action. In response to a petition, or upon its own motion,…

To protect the purity of interstate waters used as sources of public drinking water supply by adjoining states, the commissioner is authorized, at the request of the state health department of an adjoining state, to adopt rules under RSA 541-A for the protection of the purity of …

Any person violating rules adopted pursuant to RSA 485:24 or 25 shall be guilty of a misdemeanor if a natural person, or guilty of a felony if any other person.

The department is empowered to investigate the conditions and methods pertaining to existing systems of sewerage and sewage treatment works and to require the application of any treatment, improvement or enlargement of such facilities as will insure their proper operation and pro…

The department is hereby empowered to investigate the conditions and methods relating to the disposal of sewage in any municipality, as set forth in RSA 486:1, and to require the installation of public sewers, as defined in RSA 147:8, whenever such investigation demonstrates that…

Any person aggrieved by any decision, regulation, ruling or order made by the department pursuant to the provisions of RSA 485:24, 27, and 28 may appeal such decisions pursuant to RSA 21-O:14.

I. The commissioner shall adopt under RSA 541-A, following public hearing, drinking water rules and primary drinking water standards which are necessary to protect the public health and which shall apply to all public water systems. Such rules shall include: (a) identification of…

The department may grant operational permits for public water systems.

I. Any person, except for state and local governments including counties and political subdivisions, that requests an expedited review of environmental site assessment reports by the department shall pay to the department a review fee based on the equalized assessed valuation of …

Any person, submitting a permit application under RSA 485:3, X shall pay to the department a groundwater management permit application fee of $2,000. Any person who has paid the environmental site assessment review fee specified in RSA 485:3-b shall be exempt from the groundwater…

I. Public water systems shall implement a cybersecurity protection program that is commensurate with the size and complexity of the public water system in accordance with rules adopted by the department. II. Public water systems that do not use an Internet-connected control syste…

No person, association or corporation shall cause or permit the discharge of sewage or other deleterious waste from any dwelling, camp, factory, hotel, boardinghouse, or other commercial establishment into any stream, lake, pond, or river not previously polluted, without first su…

I. Any person who tampers with, attempts to tamper with, or makes a threat to tamper with a public water system shall be guilty of a class B felony if a natural person and guilty of a felony if any other person. II. Notwithstanding RSA 651:2, a natural person may, in addition to …

Any person who shall willfully injure any of the property of any water company or of any city or town, used by it in supplying water to its inhabitants, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor if a natural person, or guilty of a felony if any other person, and such person shall also for…

Whenever any well, spring or other water supply is suspected of being polluted by sewage or other matter dangerous to health, the health officer of the town where it is located may cause an analysis of the water to be made by a competent chemist, without expense to the owner. If …

The department shall have concurrent jurisdiction with local boards and officers to enforce the provisions of this subdivision.

Whenever the department, upon investigation, becomes satisfied that a well, spring or other supply of water, used for domestic purposes, has become polluted so as to endanger the public health, it is authorized to prohibit the person or corporation owning or controlling said supp…

The superior court shall have jurisdiction in equity, upon application of the department, to enforce the orders of the department issued under RSA 485:35.

No person who owns or occupies land shall knowingly allow any well which is within 500 feet of a dwelling or within 200 feet of any highway to remain open on such land, unless there is around such well a substantial fence or protection at least 3 feet high so constructed that no …

Any open well which is not fenced or protected as provided in RSA 485:37 is declared a nuisance and the same may be ordered abated by any court of competent jurisdiction on complaint of any prosecuting officer.

Whoever violates any provision of RSA 485:37 or RSA 485:38 shall be guilty of a misdemeanor if a natural person, or guilty of a felony if any other person.

I. The department is empowered to investigate the sanitary conditions and methods pertaining to the source, treatment, and distribution of all public water supplies for domestic use, and to require the application of any treatment or improvement in conditions and methods as it ma…

The department shall develop plans, with the advice and assistance of the division of homeland security and emergency management, and of the public water systems of the state, for emergency conditions and situations that may endanger the public health or welfare by contamination …

The department shall: I. Monitor the operation and maintenance of new and existing public water systems and privately owned redistribution systems. II. Adopt rules governing the maintenance and operation of public water systems to ensure compliance with drinking water standards a…

I. The department may, after notice and opportunity for hearing, grant one or more variances from an applicable state drinking water regulation to a public water system if the variance will not result in an unreasonable risk to the public health, and if: (a) Because of the charac…