CHAP. 317.—An ACT conferring upon the respective councils of the cities
of Norfolk and Portsmouth the power to acquire by purchase, con-
demnation, lease or otherwise the property in whole or in part of any
private or public service corporation operating a water-works system,
or chartered for the purpose of acquiring or operating such a system;
and providing for condemnation proceedings in regard thereto.

Approved March 14th, 1912.

1. Be it enacted by the general assembly of Virginia, That
for the purpose of making provision for an adequate water sup-
ply, or of acquiring, maintaining or enlarging a water-works
system, the respective councils of the cities of Norfolk and
Portsmouth, in addition to other powers conferred by law, shall
have the power to acquire within or without, or partly within
and partly without, the limits of said cities by purchase, con-
demnation, lease, or otherwise, the property, in whole or in part,
whensoever acquired, of any private or public service corpora-
tion operating a water-works system, or chartered for the purpose
of acquiring or operating such a system, including its lands,
plants, works, buildings, machinery, pipes, mains, wells, basins,
reservoirs, and all appurtenances thereto, its contracts, ease-
ments, rights and franchises, including its franchise to be a cor-
poration, whether said property, or any part thereof, is essential
to the purposes of said corporation or not; provided, however,
that either city condemning property hereunder shall rest under
the same obligations, in respect of furnishing water to such con-
sumers of any water company whose property is condemned as
may be cut off from a supply of water by such condemnation, as
those under which the said water company rested before said
proceedings were taken and had; provided, however, that either
of said cities, which shall acquire, maintain or enlarge a water-
works system under the provisions of this act and which shal]
undertake to supply water on the east and west sides of the Eliza-
beth river, shall establish and maintain the same rates of charges
for water under similar conditions and circumstances and fur-
nish the same quality and pressure of water, all conditions con-
sidered, to all consumers of the same class in the other city, and
also, if the city of Norfolk is the acquiring city, within two
miles of the corporate limits of the city of Portsmouth, as they
now exist, or may be hereafter extended; and if the city of Nor.
folk is the acquiring city it shall not, directly or indirectly, charge
more for water to consumers of the same class under similar con.
ditions and circumstances in the city of Portsmouth, or withir
two miles of the corporate limits thereof, as they now exist, 01
may hereafter be extended, than it charges to consumers withir
its own corporate limits; and in the event that either of said
cities shall acquire under this act by purchase, lease, condemna.-
tion or otherwise the property, rights and franchises of any pri-
vate or public service corporation operating a water-works sys-
tem, or chartered for the purpose of acquiring or operating such
a system, which is engaged in furnishing, or is under contract to
furnish water to any other city than the city so acquiring the
said property, rights and franchises of such corporation, the ac-
quiring city shall in consideration of the use of the streets and
alleys of such other city for the purpose of distributing its water,
and so long as such other city shall not impose, demand, collect,
or receive any license or property tax upon the business or prop-
erty of said acquiring city in connection: with its water system in
said other city, furnish to such other city, free of charge, for fire
hydrants, flushing sewers, public buildings, and for all other city
uses, a sufficient supply of water of the same quality and pres-
sure, all conditions considered, that it furnishes to itself, the city
to which such water is furnished to erect and maintain, at its
own cost, its fire hydrants, the number and location of such hy-
drants, to be determined by its city council; provided, the same
shall not be less than one city block apart; and the city furnish-
ing such water to establish and maintain, at its own cost, all
necessary pipe lines and mains for furnishing such water, except
that the city furnishing the water shall not be required to extend
its pipes or mains for any purpose unless there shall be an aver-
age of one water consumer to every fifty feet of main so to be ex-
tended; and in case there is not such a number of consumers, the
city in which the mains are to be extended may lay the same, and
they shall then become the property of the city furnishing the
water, and shall be taken over by the said city so soon as there
shall be said average of one consumer for each fifty feet of pipe
so laid,-at their physical valuation at the time of taking them
over; provided further, that if either of said cities shall acquire
by purchase, lease, condemnation, or otherwise, the property,
rights and franchises of any private or public service corpora-
tion operating a water-works system whose principal pumping
station is located within one mile of the corporate limits of any
city, and whose mains and pipes are laid in the streets of such
city, and shall thereby prevent the said city from procuring water
from the same source as that from which it is obtained at the
time of the passage of this act, it shall be the duty of the city so
acquiring such property to establish and maintain the same rates
of charges for water, under similar conditions and circumstances,
and furnish the same quality and pressure of water, all condi-
tions considered, to all consumers of the same class in the citv
so located as is furnished to consumers in the city so acquiring
sald property.

Nothing in this act shall be construed as preventing the ac-
quiring city, or any other city in the State, from contracting with
each other for the acquisition of a water supply, or for the use
and management of the water supply of either city, in any man-
ner and upon any terms that to said cities may seem fit.

2. In condemnation proceedings had hereunder, the provisions
of an act entitled ‘“‘an act concerning the exercise of the power of
eminent domain,” approved January eighteenth, nineteen hun-
dred and four, as amended, so far as applicable shall govern; ex-
cept that the provisions of section fifty-two of chapter five of
an act entitled ‘‘an act concerning corporations,” which became a
law on May twenty-first, nineteen hundred and three, shall not
apply. The proper court of the city or county wherein the prop-
erty proposed to be condemned, or any part thereof, is located
shall have jurisdiction of the condemnation proceedings.

3. All acts or parts of acts in conflict herewith are hereby re-
pealed.