Chap. 258.—An ACT to prescribe the respective powers and duties of the State
Highway Commission, the State Highway Commissioner, the governing bodies
of the several counties, and the owners and occupiers of certain dams, with
respect to such dams; to prescribe penalties ; and to repeal certain provisions of
law inconsistent with this act. [S B 89]

Approved March 18, 1942

1. Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia, as follows:

Section 1. Every owner or occupier of a dam shall, so far as any
State Highway passes over the same, keep such dam in good order, at
least twelve feet wide at the top, and also keep in good order the sub-
structure of a bridge of like width over the pier heads, flood-gates, or
any wastecut through or around the dam; provided, however, that when
the above has been done, the superstructure of any such bridge shall be
maintained by the State Highway Commission, but the State Highway
Commission is hereby charged with the duty of inspecting all such
bridges and reporting to the owner in writing needed repairs. If he fails
to comply with this section he shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor
and, upon conviction thereof, shall be fined two dollars for every such
failure of twenty-four hours, but if a mill dam is carried away or de-
stroyed by flood or any other extraordinary natural cause, the owner or
occupier thereof shall not be subject to such fine until one month after
any mill, operated in whole or in part by water impounded by such dam,
has been put into operation by such water power. _

Section 2. The State Highway Commission may, at its own cost
and expense, widen or strengthen any such dam or bridge to a width
sufficient properly to provide for the traffic which uses that section of
road of which such dam or bridge forms a part. The State Highway
Commission shall maintain the road surface on such sections of road.
Section 3. It shall be the duty of the owner or occupier of a dam
to raise or lower the floodgates on such dam when there is an impending
flood, in order to reduce the level of the water in the pond, and where it
comes to the attention of the State Highway Commissioner, or his au-
thorized agent, that this has not been done, or that the owner is unable
to reach the spillway in order to do so, the State Highway Commissioner,
or his authorized agent, shall have the right to perform this duty.

Section 4. In case such a dam is washed out and the owner refuses
to replace the same, the State Highway Commissioner, with or without
the consent of such owner or occupier, may construct a highway across
the same; but in case the owner desires to replace the dam and use the
pond, he shall be permitted to do so by paying to the State Highway
Commission one-half of the cost and expenses of replacing the dam, up
to a width of twelve feet at the top and the difference between the cost,
if any, of replacing the bridge normally required to carry the water of
the stream and the cost of a bridge which includes floodgates and ade-
quate spillway.

Section 5. In case the earthen portion of a dam has been washed
away and it is determined by the State Highway Commission that the
washout was caused by a spillway of insufficient opening to carry flood
water, the dam shall not be restored for the purpose of impounding
water unless the owner or occupier agrees with the State Highway
Commission for the construction of a spillway with adequate opening,
conforming to plans and specifications of the Department of Highways,
and in the event that such construction is required, the State Highway
Commission shall be responsible for such part of the cost as would be
necessary to provide a bridge with sufficient opening to carry the flood
water of the stream, and the owner or occupier of the dam shall be
required to pay the difference in cost, if any, of providing adequate flood-
gates and spillways in addition to the bridge.

Section 6. The foregoing sections of this act shall also apply to
dams, and to the owners and occupiers thereof, over which pass public
roads which are not in the State Highway System. As to any such dam
and the owner or occupier thereof, the powers hereinabove in this act
conferred and imposed upon the State Highway Commission and the
State Highway Commissioner shall be vested in and imposed upon the
Board of Supervisors, or other governing body, of the county in which
such dam is located.

Z. Be it further enacted, That section ten of chapter one hundred
and fifty-nine of the Acts of the General Assembly of nineteen hundred
and twenty-eight, approved March tenth, nineteen hundred and twenty-
eight, and all other acts and parts of acts inconsistent with the provisions
of this act, are repealed.