Title 46, Title 46 and Navigation

If any section, clause, provision, or term of this chapter shall be declared unconstitutional and ineffective in whole or in part then, to the extent that it is not unconstitutional and effective, it shall be valid and effective, and no other section, clause, provision, or term s…

(a) The board shall consist of fifteen (15) members, three (3) members to be appointed by the presidents of the town councils of Coventry, West Warwick, and Scituate, respectively, and three (3) members each to be appointed by the mayors of the cities of Warwick and Cranston. Eac…

Each member of the board shall receive an annual salary not to exceed five hundred dollars ($500) per year and shall be entitled to reimbursement of his or her actual and necessary expenses incurred in the performance of his or her official duties. The salaries, compensation, and…

The chairperson of the board shall be selected by the majority vote of the members of the board. The board shall appoint a secretary and treasurer who may, or may not, be members of the board and such other employees as may be necessary in its judgment and fix their compensation.

No member of the Pawtuxet River authority shall directly or indirectly engage in any contract or agreement for labor, supply of materials for construction, or reconstruction of the physical assets of the district or replacements or additions thereto. No person holding elective of…

The fiscal year of the authority shall be from July 1 to June 30.

The board, during May of each year, shall submit to the councils of the participating cities and towns a report showing actual expenditures for the preceding ten (10) months, and the projected expenditures for the final two (2) months of its fiscal year, as well as a proposed bud…

The authority shall the have power: (1) To negotiate payments within one or more of the participating communities for the conduct of services or the erection of projects necessary for the purposes of the authority, subject to a majority vote of each of the city and town councils …

This chapter is known as the “Narragansett Bay Commission Act”.

(a) The commission shall acquire the city of Providence Fields Point sewage treatment plant, as well as interceptors, combined sewer overflow facilities, force mains, and appurtenant facilities, and the land, property, easements, and other interests in property from municipalitie…

For any purposes of this chapter, the commission may, at any time and from time to time, take by eminent domain or acquire by purchase or otherwise, such land, water rights, easements, and other property or interests in property, public and private, as it may determine necessary …

Any taking under this chapter may be in fee or otherwise, perpetual in duration or for a limited period of time, as the commission shall determine and set forth in the order of taking.

In the exercise of its power of eminent domain under this chapter, the commission shall be subject to the provisions of chapter 6 of title 37.

In the month of January, the commission shall make an annual report to the governor and to the general assembly of its activities for the preceding fiscal year. Each report shall set forth a complete statement covering its operations during the year.

(a) The commission shall have full and complete authority to cooperate with and assist the federal government in all matters relating to the planning, constructing, equipping, maintenance, and operation of the project in the event that the federal government should make any feder…

Whenever it shall be necessary to obtain assistance from the federal or state governments in the form of loans, advances, grants, subsidies, and otherwise, directly or indirectly, for the execution of the project, the commission may make all necessary applications for those purpo…

The commission may, for the purpose of carrying out the project or any part thereof herein authorized, accept or use any federal or state funds or assistance, or both, provided therefor under any federal or state law. In the event that federal or state funds or assistance are mad…

(a) All moneys paid to the commission by the federal government for the purpose of executing the project shall be received by the executive director of the commission and applied in the following order of priority: (1) For the payment of debt service on, or the recall, or the red…

(a) The commission shall have full and complete power and authority to limit, deny, or cause appropriate direct or indirect connections to be made between any building or property located in the district generating sanitary or industrial wastewater, and any public sewer or appurt…

Starting on January 1, 2012, the commission shall maintain as-built drawings and plans on any new or upgraded sewer main it owns and operates. Such as-built drawings and plans shall be the responsibility of the person that the commission has designated and shall be in a form desi…

It is hereby found and declared that: (1) There exists in the Providence metropolitan area and Narragansett Bay severe water quality problems resulting from the discharge of pollutants, conventional, and unconventional, into Narragansett Bay. (2) It is further found and declared …

Whenever the commission shall lay or install any pipes or other equipment under any public highway, private way, right-of-way, or tracks, the commission shall, as far as possible, restore the public highway, private way, right-of-way, or tracks, to its former condition. Nothing i…

For the purpose of causing the project and its operation, maintenance, and improvements to be self liquidating, the commission shall assess any person having a direct or an indirect connection to the project the reasonable charges for the use, operation, maintenance, and improvem…

(a) Any person aggrieved on any ground whatsoever by any sewer use fee, charge, or assessment against him or her may within three (3) years after the first day designated for the payment of the sewer use fee, charge, or assessment, or the first installment thereof, if payable in …

The commission shall proceed under the provisions of this chapter to collect the fees, charges, and assessments from any person so assessed. Each person so assessed shall pay the fees, charges, or assessments within the time frame prescribed by the rules and regulations of the co…

(a) Notwithstanding the provision of § 46-25-22, the commission is authorized to order any water supplier which services any person assessed by the commission pursuant to § 46-25-22 to terminate the water supply service of any person for nonpayment of sewer user fees, charges, an…

Except as provided in § 46-25-18, all moneys received by the commission for the use of the facilities of the project, shall be paid over to the executive director of the commission and deposited by him or her in the fund. All moneys in the fund are hereby appropriated, in additio…

Authorized agents and employees of the commission may enter upon any lands, waters and premises in the district for the purpose of making surveys, soundings, test pits, drillings, borings and examinations as the commission may deem necessary for the purposes of the Narragansett B…

(a) Without limiting the generality of the foregoing, the authority hereby vested in the commission shall include the authority to limit, reject, or prohibit any direct or indirect discharge of pollutants or combination of pollutants, as defined by applicable federal or state law…

(a) The commission is authorized to carry out all inspection, surveillance, and monitoring procedures necessary to determine, independent of information supplied by any person who discharges into the facilities of the project, compliance or noncompliance by the person with the pr…

(a) Any person who shall violate the provisions of §§ 46-25-25 — 46-25-25.3, or of any permit, rule, regulation, or order issued pursuant thereto, shall be subject to a civil penalty of not more than twenty-five thousand dollars ($25,000) per day for each violation. (b) The commi…

(a) Any person who shall be found guilty of violating, willfully or with criminal negligence, any of the provisions of §§ 46-25-25 — 46-25-25.3 or of any permit, rule, or regulation issued pursuant thereto, or an order of the commission, shall be punished by a fine of not more th…

(a) The commission shall have authority to seek legal or equitable relief in the federal court or in the superior court of Providence county to enforce the requirements of §§ 307(b) and (c), 402(b)(8) and other applicable sections of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act, also …

(a) Any permit, or permit application, or effluent data shall be available to the public for inspection and copying. (b) Other records, reports, or information obtained under this section also may be made available to the public for inspection and copying, provided, that upon a s…

(a) Any municipality within the district, which has connected or connects its sewers with the facilities of the project, shall adopt appropriate rules and regulations, pertaining to sewer usage, no less restrictive than the rules and regulations pertaining to sewer usage so adopt…

The commission may adopt rules and regulations, or any amendment to existing rules and regulations, according to the provisions of chapter 35 of title 42. The commission shall also give notice thereof, prior to the effective date thereof, by sending, by registered or certified ma…

Notice of proposed user charges and fees shall be provided for in the manner set forth in title 39, pursuant to the regulations of the public utilities commission.

At all hearings held under the provisions of this chapter, the commission and the members thereof, shall have the right to administer oaths. All persons testifying at the hearings shall do so under oath and under penalty of perjury. The commission shall have the right to issue su…

Within a reasonable time following the conclusion of the hearing, the commission shall render its decision and findings and shall give notice thereof by publication in some newspaper published in the county of Providence, and by mailing a copy thereof by registered or certified m…

As used in this chapter, the following words and terms shall have the following meanings unless the context shall indicate another or different meaning: (1) “Administrative penalty” means a monetary penalty not to exceed the civil penalty specified in § 46-25-25.2. (2) “Commissio…

Any person aggrieved by any decision may obtain a judicial review thereof in accordance with chapter 35 of title 42.

Before adopting or entering any order applicable to any one or more specific persons, the commission shall give to each of the persons, by registered or certified mail, twenty (20) days’ notice in writing of the time and place of a hearing to be afforded each of the persons shoul…

The provisions of §§ 46-25-27 — 46-25-30 relative to hearings and judicial review, shall be applicable to all hearings and decisions under § 46-25-31.

The expenses of the commission in the performance of its duties hereunder shall be construed to be costs of operation and maintenance of the project.

In the performance of its duties hereunder, the commission shall be entitled to ask for and to receive from the Providence water supply board or any other commission, board, officer, or agency of the state, such information, cooperation, assistance and advice as shall be reasonab…

The commission may, from time to time, recommend to the general assembly the advisability of the enactment of any legislation relating to the project.