2023 West Virginia Code › Chapter 8. Municipal Corporations › Article 20. Combined Systems › §8-20-1a. Acquisition and Operation of Combined Systems; Extension Beyond Corporate Limits; Definitions

(a) Any municipality may acquire, construct, establish and equip and thereafter repair, maintain and operate a combined waterworks, sewerage and stormwater system either wholly within or partly within and partly without the corporate limits thereof under the provisions of this article, and any municipality owning and operating a waterworks and sewerage system, but not a stormwater system, may acquire, construct, establish and equip the stormwater system which it does not then own and operate, and such municipality may provide by ordinance that when such stormwater system shall have been acquired, constructed, established and equipped, the same shall thereafter be owned, repaired, maintained and operated as a combined undertaking under the provisions of this article, and any municipality already owning and operating an existing waterworks system, sewerage system, and stormwater system, may by ordinance combine the same into a single undertaking under the provisions of this article. However, no municipality may acquire, construct, establish and equip or thereafter repair, maintain and operate a combined waterworks, sewerage and stormwater system which includes highways, road and drainage easements, and/or stormwater facilities constructed, owned and/or operated by the West Virginia Division of Highways without the express agreement of the commissioner of highways.
(b) Any municipality which has combined its waterworks, sewerage system and stormwater systems under the provisions of this article, or pursuant to the provisions of any other law, may hereafter construct extensions, additions, betterments and improvements to any of the systems, any combination thereof, or all of the waterworks, sewerage and stormwater systems of said combined waterworks, sewerage and stormwater system, and may finance the acquisition, construction, establishment and equipment thereof, or the construction or extensions, additions, betterments and improvements thereof by the issuance of revenue bonds under the provisions of this article.
(c) Notwithstanding the provisions of any other law or charter to the contrary, any such municipality may serve and supply the area included within twenty miles outside its corporate limits with either the water, sewer or stormwater services, any combination of such services or all such services, of its combined waterworks, sewerage and stormwater system; provided that such water, sewer or stormwater services and facilities shall not be served or supplied within the corporate limits of any municipality without the consent of the governing body of such municipality: Provided, That for stormwater systems, within the twenty miles beyond the municipality's corporate limits the only areas the municipality may serve and supply shall be those areas from which stormwater affects or drains into the municipality.
(d) As used in this article, the following terms shall have the following meanings unless the text clearly indicates otherwise.
(1) "Stormwater system" means a stormwater system in its entirety or any integral part thereof used to collect and dispose of stormwater and an associated stormwater management program. It includes all facilities, structures and natural water courses used for collecting and conducting stormwater to, through and from drainage areas to the points of final outlet, including, but not limited to, any and all of the following: Inlets, conduits, outlets, channels, ponds, drainage ways, easements, water quality facilities, catch basins, ditches, streams, gulches, flumes, culverts, siphons, retention or detention basins, dams, floodwalls, pipes, flood control systems, levies and pumping stations. The term "stormwater system" shall not include highways, road and drainage easements, and/or stormwater facilities constructed, owned and/or operated by the West Virginia Division of Highways.
(2) "Combined waterworks, sewerage and stormwater system" means a waterworks, sewerage and stormwater system which a municipality determines by ordinance to operate in combination.
(3) "Combined system" means either a combined waterworks, sewerage and stormwater system, or a combined waterworks and sewerage system.
(4) "Stormwater management program" means those activities associated with the management, operation and maintenance and control of stormwater and stormwater systems, and shall include and not be limited to public education, stormwater and surface runoff water quality improvement, mapping, planning, flood control, inspection, enforcement and any other activities required by state and federal law. The term "stormwater management program" shall not include those activities associated with the management, operation, maintenance and control of highways, road and drainage easements, and/or stormwater facilities constructed, owned and/or operated by the West Virginia Division of Highways without the express agreement of the commissioner of highways.