CHAP. 97.—An ACT conferring upon the councils of cities having, by the
fast United States census, a population of more than sixty thousand,
and cities within five miles thereof the power to acquire, by purchase,
condemnation, lease or otherwise, the property, in whole or in part,
of any private or public service corporation operating a waterworks
system, or chartered for the purpose of acquiring or operating such
a system; and providing for condemnation proceedings in regard
thereto.

Approved March 7, 1912.

1. Be it enacted by the general assembly of Virginia, That
for the purpose of making provision for an adequate water
supply, or of acquiring, maintaining or enlarging a waterworks
system, the council of every city having, by the last United
States census, a population of more than sixty thousand, in addi-
tion to other powers conferred by law, shall have the power to
acquire, within or without, or partly within and partly with-
out, the limits of said city, by purchase, condemnation, lease or
otherwise the property, in whole or in part, whensoever acquired,
of any private or public service corporation operating a water-
works system, or chartered for the purpose of acquiring or oper-
ating such a system, including its lands, plants, works, buildings,
machinery, pipes, mains, wells, basins, reservoirs and all ap-
purtenances thereto, its contracts, easements, rights and fran-
chises including its franchise to be a corporation, whether said
property, or any part thereof, is essential to the purposes of said
corporation or not; provided, however, that any city condemning
property hereunder, shall rest under the same obligations, in
respect of furnishing water, to such consumers 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 any city situated on the Elizabeth
river, or any branch thereof, which shall acquire, maintain, or
enlarge a water-works system, under the provisions of this act,
and which shall undertake to supply water on the east and west
sides of the said river, shall establish and maintain the same
rates of charges for water; under similar conditions and circum-
stances, and furnish the same quality and pressure of water, all
conditions considered, to all consumers of the same class in any
city on the east and west sides of said river, or on the west side
of said river within two miles of the corporate limits thereof as
they now exist or may be hereafter extended, and shall not,
directly or indirectly, charge more for water to consumers of
the same class, under similar conditions and circumstances, in
any city on the west side of said river, or, on the west side of
said river, within two miles of the corporate limits thereof as
they now exist or may hereafter be extended, than it charges
to such consumers on the east side thereof; and in the event
that any city shall acquire under this act, by purchase, lease,
condemnation, or otherwise, the property, rights, and franchises
of any private or public service corporation operating a water
works system, 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 acquiring 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 property 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 pressure, 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 hydrants to be determined by its
city council; provided the same shall not be less than one city
block apart; and the city furnishing 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 pur-
pose unless there shall be an average of one water consumer to
every fifty feet of main so to be extended; 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 be-
come 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 phvsi-
cal valuation at the time of taking them over.
Provided further, that if any city shall acquire by purchase,
lease, condemnation, or otherwise, the property, rights, and fran-
chises of any private or public service corporation operating a
water-works system, whose plant 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 plant of said com-
pany, 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 conditions considered,
to all consumers of the same class in the city so located as is
furnished to consumers in the city so acquiring said 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
manner, and upon any terms that to said cities may seem fit.

2. Any city situated within five miles of a city having by
the last United States census a population of more than sixty
thousand, shall have all the powers vested in said last mentioned
city under this act. .

3. In condemnation proceedings had hereunder, the pro-
visions of an act entitled ‘‘an act concerning the exercise of the
power of eminent domain,” approved January eighteenth, nine-
teen hundred and four, as amended, so far as applicable, shall
govern; except that the provision 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 property proposed to be condemned, or any part thereof, is
located shall have jurisdiction of the condemnation proceedings.

4. All acts or parts of acts in conflict herewith are hereby
repealed.