You requested a description of the restrictions the law imposes on sales and other transfers of land owned by water utilities. By law, land owned by water utilities falls into three classes.
Additional provisions regulate transfers of any unimproved land owned by a private water company.
The law gives the state, municipalities, and land conservation organizations first refusal rights with regard to such land. This allocation must favor the preservation of open space. All land owned by a private or municipal water utility or acquired from it through an involuntary transfer falls into three classes. It also includes certain environmentally sensitive land, such as those that are steeply sloped or where bedrock is less than 20 inches from the soil surface. Class II land consists of the remainder of the watershed owned by the utility plus its other land that is within 150 feet of a reservoir or a major stream that runs into it.