Local and State Water Supply Planning Legislation {GS 143-355(l) and (m)} 143-355.

(See editor's note for date change)


Powers and duties of the Department. (l) Each unit of local government that provides public water services or that plans to provide public water service shall, either individually or together with other units of local government, prepare a local water supply [plan] and submit it to the Department. The Department shall provide technical assistance with the preparation of plans to units of local government upon request and to the extent that the Department has resources available to provide assistance. At a minimum, local units of government shall include in local water supply plans all information that is readily available to them. However this subsection shall be construed to require the preparation of local water supply plans only to the extent that technical assistance is made available to units of local government from the Department. Plans shall include present and projected population, industrial development, and water use within the service area, present and future water supplies, an estimate of the technical assistance that may be needed at the local level to address projected water needs, and any other related information as the Department may require in the preparation of a State water supply plan. Local plans shall be revised to reflect changes in relevant data and projections at least once each five years unless the Department requests more frequent revisions. Local plans and revised plans shall be submitted to the Department once they have been approved by the unit(s) of local government.

(m) In order to assure the availability of adequate supplies of good quality water to protect the public health and to support desirable economic growth, the Department shall develop a State water supply plan. The State water supply plan shall include the information and projections required to be included in local plans, a summary of the technical assistance needs indicated by local plans, and shall indicate the extent to which the various local plans are compatible. The State plan shall identify potential conflicts among the various local plans and ways in which local water supply programs could be better coordinated. (1959, c. 779, s. 3; 1961, c. 315; 1967, c. 1069, ss. 1-3; c. 1070, s. 1; c. 1071, ss. 3, 4; c. 1117, s. 1; 1973, c. 1262, ss. 23, 28, 86; 1977, c. 771, s. 4; 1981, c. 514, ss. 2, 3; 1989, c. 603, s. 1; 1993, c. 513, s. 7(a); c. 539, s. 1034; 1994, Ex. Sess., c. 24, s. 14(c).)

Editor's Note. - Because subsections (a) and (j) of this section pertain to past events, they have not been changed pursuant to the 1973 amendatory act.

Session Laws 1989, c. 751, s. 16, effective July 1, 1989, repealed Session Laws 1989, c. 727, ss. 218(84) and 218(118), which would have substituted "Environment, Health, and Natural Resources" for "Natural Resources and Community Development" in this section. This change was unnecessary in light of the amendment by Session Laws 1989, c. 603, s. 1.

Session Laws 1989, c. 603, which amended this section, in s. 3, as amended by Session Laws 1989, c. 727, s. 222, and Session Laws 1991 (Reg. Sess., 1992), c. 990, s. 3 provides: "The Department of Environment, Health, and Natural Resources shall report on an annual basis beginning 1 September 1992 to the Environmental Review Commission as to progress in the implementation of this act."

Session Laws 1993, c. 513, s. 7(b), effective July 24, 1993, provides: "Each unit of local government that is required to submit a plan under G.S. 143-355(l) shall submit its plan to the Department on or before 1 January 1995."

Session Laws 1993, c. 539, which amended this section, in s. 1359, as amended by Session Laws 1994, Extra Session, c. 24, s. 14(c), provides: "This act becomes effective October 1, 1994, and applies to offenses occurring on or after that date. Prosecutions for offenses committed before the effective date of this act are not abated or affected by this act, and the statutes that would be applicable but for this act remain applicable to those prosecutions."

The bracketed word "plan" was inserted in subsection (l) at the direction of the Revisor of Statutes, as it was inadvertently omitted in the amendment by Session Laws 1993, c. 513, s. 7(a).

Effect of Amendments. - Session Laws 1993, c. 539, s. 1034, effective October 1, 1994,and applicable to offenses occurring on or after that date, inserted "Class 3" preceding "misdemeanor" and inserted "only" following "conviction, shall" in the first sentence of subsection (i).