CHAP. 360.—An ACT to protect the public health, to provide for the con-
trol and supervision of waters furnished to the public for drinking
and domestic use, to define the duties of the State board of health in
relation thereto. (H. B. 182.)

Approved March 20, 1916.

1. Be it enacted by the general assembly of Virginia, That
the term “waterworks,” whenever used in this act, shall be con-
strued to mean and include all structures and appliances used
in connection with the collection, storage, purification and treat-
ment of water for drinking or domestic use and the distribution
thereof to the public or more than twenty-five individuals, ex-
cept only the piping and fixtures inside the buildings where such
water is delivered. The term “water supply,” whenever used
in this act, shall be construed to mean and include water that
shall have been taken into waterworks as hereinbefore defined
from all streams, springs, lakes and other bodies of surface
water, natural or impounded, and the tributaries thereto, and all
impounded ground water; provided that nothing in this act shall
be held to apply to any waters above the point of intake of such
waterworks.

2. The State board of health shall have general supervision
and control, in accordance with the provisions of this act, over
all water supplies and water works in the State in so far as the
sanitary and physical quality of waters furnished may affect
the public health or comfort.

-38. Said board may cause examination of such water sup-
plies to be made to ascertain their purity and fitness for drink-
ing or domestic use or their liability to impair the public health.

4. Said board shall, when requested, consult with and advise
the authorities of cities and towns and persons having or in-
tending to have water works installed as to the most appro-
priate source of water supply and the best method of assuring
its purity, without any expense to such authorities or persons;
but said board shall not prepare plans, specifications or detailed
estimates for any proposed improvement.

5. No individual, firm, institution, corporation or muni-
cipal corporation shall supply water for drinking or domestic
purposes to the public within the State from or by means of any
water works that shall hereafter be constructed or extended,
either in whole or in part, without a written permit from the
State board of health for the supplying of such water; except
that this provision shall not apply to the extension of water
pipes for the distribution of water. The application for such
a permit shall be accompanied by a certified copy of the maps,
plans and specifications for the construction of such water works
or extensions, and a description of the source or sources from
which it is proposed to derive the supply and the manner of
storage, purification or treatment praposed for the supply pre-
vious to its delivery to consumers; and no other or additional
source of supply shall subsequently be used for any such water
works, nor any change in the manner of storage, purification or
treatment of the supply be made without an additional permit
to be obtained in a similar manner from the State board of
health. Whenever application shall be made to the State board
of health for a permit under the provisions of this section, it
shall be the duty of said board to examine the application with-
out delay, and as soon as practicable thereafter, to issue said
permit if, in its judgment, the proposed supply appears not to
be prejud‘cial to the public health, or to make an order stating
the conditions under which said permit will be granted.

6. Whenever an investigation of any water supply or water
works within the boundaries of the State is undertaken by the
State board of health to ascertain the purity or fitness of the
water furnished to the public for drinking or domestic purposes,
it shall be the duty of the individual, firm, institution, corpora-
tion or municipal corporation, having in charge the water sup-
ply or water works under investigation, to furnish, on demand,
to the State board of health, or the authorized agent of said
board, such information relative to the source or sources from
which the said supvly is derived, and the manner of storage,
purification or treatment of the water before its delivery to the
consumers, as may be necessary or desirable for the determina-
tion of its sanitary or physical quality. In making said investi-
gation, authorized agents of sa'd board shall be allowed to enter
any premises or buildings constituting a part of a water supply
or water works for the purpose of inspecting same and ascer-
taining whether orders, as provided for under this act, are
opey

7. When, upon investigation, the State board of health
finds that a water supply furnished to the public for drinking
or domestic purposes is a menace to health, said board is hereby
given authority to make an order requiring such changes in the
source or sources of said water supply or such alterations or
extensions in the water works as said board may deem neces-
sary. Said board shall name in its order such date for the com-
pletion of the works as said board may deem reasonable and
proper and it shall be the duty of the individual, firm, institu-
tion, corporation or municipal corporation, having in charge
such water supply or water works to fully comply with said
order within the time prescribed. As soon as said order of the
State board of health, or the modified form of the order of the
court, as hereinafter provided for, shall have been shown, upon
investigation, to have been complied with fully, said board shall
issue a written permit to the individual, firm, institution, cor-
poration or municipal corporation to furnish water to the
public for drinking or domestic purposes.

8. Every permit issued by the State board of health under
this act shall be revocable at any time it is shown by investiga-
tion that the water works can no longer be depended upon to
furnish a water safe for drinking or domestic use, or that the
capacity of said water works is inadequate for the purpose of
furnishing water safe for drinking or domestic use, provided
that a written notice is sent by said board to the individual,
firm, institution, corporation or municipal corporation i in charge,
together with an order requiring such changes in the water
supply or water works as, in its judgment, may be necessary
to safeguard the public health. Any permit issued by the State
board of health may be specified to run a certain definite period
and said permit shall become inoperative at the expiration of
the period of time without notice to that effect having been
given by the State board of health.

9. Whenever the board shall issue an order to an individual,
firm, institution or corporation, under the provisions of this act,
said board shall appoint a time and place within the county,
city or town where such waterworks exist, for a hearing on
the subject, said hearing to be not less than two nor more than
six months from the entry of such order. At such a hearing the
said State board of health shall attend in person, or shall depu-
tize a committee of said board to attend or shall authorize the
State health commissioner to act for and in the name of said
board touching said hearing. At any such hearing, all persons
interested may appear and be heard and may present the testi-
mony of expert and other witnesses, and said board may hear
witnesses called upon its own motion. The State board of health
shall have power to issue, in the name of the board, subpoenas
for the attendance of witnesses and the production of books,
papers and maps, relative to the sources of the water supply
and the manner of storage, purification or treatment of said
supply before its delivery to the public, at any hearing before
said board in any part of the State as provided by law. The
officer of said board, presiding at any hearing, shall have power
to administer oaths and certify to all official acts of the board.
After such hearings, said board shall issue such final order as,
in its judgment, may be required to protect the public health,
and notice of said final order shall be sent to all parties con-
cerned. ;

10. Any individual, firm, institution or corporation dis-
satisfied with such order or final order of, or by the granting or
refusal to grant any permit by the State board of health, or
believing that such order, granting or refusal to grant such per-
mit to be illegal or unreasonable or that said order is not neces-
sary for the protection of the public health, may within thirty
days after the making of said order, or final order, or the grant-
ing or refusal to grant such permit, appeal to any court of com-
petent jurisdiction, and the said court shall render a decision
approving, setting aside or modifying the said order or final
order or stating the conditions for the granting of said permit.

11. Failure on the part of an individual, firm, institution or
corporation to obtain a written permit from the State board of
health, as provided for under five, or to comply fully with an
order issued by said board, under the provisions of this act,
shall be deemed a misdemeanor and punishable by a fine of not
less than twenty dollars nor more than one hundred dollars for
each offense, each day in which such failure is made being con-
sidered to constitute a separate offense. All penalties under this
act are to be recovered by the State in civil action brought by
the attorney general in the name of the Commonwealth.

12. Any municipal corporation disobeying any order duly
issued by the State board of health, under the provisions of this
act, may be compelled to obey same by mandamus or other ap-
propriate remedy by any court of competent jurisdiction.

13. In all actions and proceedings for the enforcement of
orders of the State board of health under the provisions of this
act, the attorney general shall represent the said board, except
in proceedings to which the State or any of its public institu-
tions is a party defendant and in such cases, the board is author-
ized to employ special counsel.

14. Any provisions in any charter heretofore granted to
any person, company, institution, corporation or municipal cor-
poration in conflict with the provisions of this act are hereby
repealed.