STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
S. 8449--A A. 10586--A
SENATE - ASSEMBLY
May 8, 2018
___________
IN SENATE -- Introduced by Sens. LAVALLE, BOYLE -- read twice and
ordered printed, and when printed to be committed to the Committee on
Judiciary -- committee discharged, bill amended, ordered reprinted as
amended and recommitted to said committee
IN ASSEMBLY -- Introduced by M. of A. THIELE, ENGLEBRIGHT, LAVINE,
D'URSO, PELLEGRINO, HOOPER, MONTESANO, MIKULIN, RAIA, RA -- read once
and referred to the Committee on Judiciary -- committee discharged,
bill amended, ordered reprinted as amended and recommitted to said
committee
AN ACT to amend the civil practice law and rules, in relation to the
statute of limitations for public water suppliers to commence an
action for injury to property
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. The civil practice law and rules is amended by adding a new
2 section 214-g to read as follows:
3 § 214-g. Action to recover damages for injury to property by public
4 water supplier. 1. In this section:
5 (a) "Contaminant" means any physical, chemical, microbiological or
6 radiological substance or matter in water.
7 (b) "Public water supplier" means a community, noncommunity or
8 nontransient noncommunity water system that provides water to the public
9 for human consumption through pipes or other constructed conveyances, if
10 such system has at least five service connections or regularly serves an
11 average of at least twenty-five individuals daily at least sixty days
12 out of the year.
13 (c) "Source of water supply" means any groundwater aquifer or waterc-
14 ourse from which water is taken either periodically or continuously for
15 drinking, culinary or food-processing purposes, or which has been desig-
16 nated for present or future use as a source of water supply for domestic
17 or municipal purposes.
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD15560-03-8
S. 8449--A 2 A. 10586--A
1 (d) "Plant intake" means the works or structures at the head of a
2 conduit through which water is diverted from a source of water supply
3 into the treatment plant by a public water supplier.
4 (e) "Well" means any excavation used for obtaining water by a public
5 water supplier.
6 (f) "Raw water" means water immediately before the first or only point
7 of disinfection or other treatment.
8 2. Notwithstanding the provisions of section two hundred fourteen or
9 two hundred fourteen-c of this article, or any other provision of law to
10 the contrary, an action to recover damages for injury to property of a
11 public water supplier resulting from the presence of a contaminant in a
12 source of water supply shall be commenced within three years of the
13 latest of any of the following:
14 (a) the detection of a contaminant in the raw water of each well or
15 plant intake sampling point in excess of any action level, maximum
16 contaminant level, or maximum contaminant level goal established by the
17 department of health or the United States Environmental Protection Agen-
18 cy for that contaminant;
19 (b) the last wrongful act by any person whose conduct substantially
20 contributed to the presence of a contaminant in a source of water supply
21 or the raw water of each well or plant intake sampling point; or
22 (c) the date the contaminant is no longer detected in the raw water of
23 each well or plant intake sampling point in excess of any action level,
24 maximum contaminant level, or maximum contaminant level goal established
25 by the department of health or the United States Environmental
26 Protection Agency for that contaminant.
27 3. This three-year period shall apply to each well and each plant
28 intake for each contaminant separately, and the expiration of the three-
29 year period at one well or plant intake shall not affect the three-year
30 period for another well or plant intake.
31 4. Nothing in this section shall abridge or limit a public water
32 supplier's right to bring an action to abate an imminent threat of
33 contamination of any well or plant intake or to recover as damages the
34 costs of such abatement.
35 § 2. This act shall take effect immediately.
