An Act To Ensure the Availability of Public Drinking Water Supplies (AFTER DEADLINE)
Maine Legislature, Session 122, LD 2070
Committee: Natural Resources
Sponsors: WESTON, BOWLES, ANDREWS, SULLIVAN, BABBIDGE, BISHOP, MOULTON, PINGREE, ROSEN, WHEELER
Amends: 38 MRSA §470-G

Legislative Document 
No. 2070 
S.P.809 
In Senate, March 16,2006 
An Act To Ensure the Availability of Public Drinking Water 
Supplies 
(AFTER DEADLINE) 
Approved for introduction by a majority of the Legislative Council pursuant to Joint Rule 
205. 
Reference to the Committee on Natural Resources suggested and ordered printed. 
Presented by Senator WESTON of Waldo. 
Cosponsored by Representative BOWLES of Sanford and 
JOY J. O'BRIEN 
Secretary of the Senate 
Senators: ANDREWS of York, SULLIVAN of York, Representatives: BABBIDGE of 
Kennebunk, BISHOP of Boothbay, MOULTON of York, PINGREE of North Haven, ROSEN 
of Bucksport, WHEELER of Kittery. 
Pnnted nn recycled paper 
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Maine as follows: 
Sec. 1. 38 MRSA §470-G, as enacted by PL 2001, c. 619, §1 and amended by PL 
2003, c. 689, Pt. B, §7 is further amended to read: 
§470-G. Report to Legislature 
The commissioner shall report to the joint standing committee of the Legislature 
having jurisdiction over natural resources matters on January 15, 2003, and annually 
thereafter, on all aspects of water use reporting, data aggregation and the development of 
water use standards required by this article. That report must summarize water use 
reporting data on a regional basis and in a manner that does not allow for the 
identification of any individual user. The report must compare cumulative water use and 
availability of water in watersheds and assess water use issues and priorities on a 
watershed basis. The report must also identify any impediments to implementing any of 
the requirements of this article and any undue impacts of water use policies on water-
dependent uses, and must include recommendations for addressing those impediments 
and may include recommendations on any other aspect of the reporting or water use 
standards provisions of this article. In preparing these reports, the commissioner shall 
encourage and assist in establishing regional task forces with cooperating agencies to 
assess regional water use issues and options for addressing those issues. 
The 
commissioner shall also solicit input from the Commissioner of Agriculture, Food and 
Rural Resources, the Commissioner of Conservation aa6.1 the Commissioner of Health 
and Human Services and the chair of the Public Utilities Commission on all aspects of the 
requirements of this article and shall include in the report all comments and 
recommendations received from those departments on these requirements. 
Sec. 2. 38 MRS A §470-H, as enacted by PL 2005, c. 330, §12, is amended to 
read: 
§470-H. Water use standards; rules 
+he Based on the information contained in the annual reports prepared pursuant to 
section 470-G, the board shall adopt rules that establish water use standards for 
maintaining in-stream flows and GP A lake or pond water levels that are protective of 
aquatic life and other uses and that establish criteria for designating watersheds most at 
risk from cumulative water use. Standards adopted under this section must be based on 
the natural variation of flows and water levels, allowing variances if use will still be 
protective of water quality within that classification. Notwithstanding any other section 
of law, the withdrawal of water by a water utility from any water resource from which the 
utility is allowed to withdraw, including resources allowed by the utility'S charter, is 
deemed protective of water quality and permitted under these rules, as long as such 
withdrawal is consistent with the sustainable yield for such resource as determined by the 
drinking water program of the Department of Health and Human Services in consultation 
with the department and the Public Utilities Commission. Rules adopted under this 
section are major substantive rules as defined in Title 5, chapter 375, subchapter 2-A. 
SUMMARY 
This bill provides that water use standards adopted by the Board of Environmental 
Protection, as applied to authorized water resources of water utilities in the State, must be 
Page I - 122LR3209(1)-1 
based on the sustainable yield of such resources as determined by the drinking water 
program of the Department of Health and Human Services.