As used in this chapter: “Commissioner” means the Commissioner of Energy and Environmental Protection or his designated agent; “waters” means all tidal waters, harbors, estuaries, rivers, brooks, watercourses, waterways, wells, springs, lakes, ponds, marshes, drainage systems and all other surface or underground streams, bodies or accumulations of water, natural or artificial, public or private, which are contained within, flow through or border upon this state or any portion thereof; “wastes” means sewage or any substance, liquid, gaseous, solid or radioactive, which may pollute or tend to pollute any of the waters of the state; “sewage” means human and animal excretions and all domestic and such manufacturing wastes as may tend to be detrimental to the public health; “pollution” means harmful thermal effect or the contamination or rendering unclean or impure or prejudicial to public health of any waters of the state by reason of any wastes or other material discharged or deposited therein by any public or private sewer or otherwise so as directly or indirectly to come in contact with any waters; “rendering unclean or impure” means any alteration of the physical, chemical or biological properties of any of the waters of the state, including, but not limited to, change in odor, color, turbidity or taste; “harmful thermal effect” means any significant change in the temperature of any waters resulting from a discharge therein, the magnitude of which temperature change does or is likely to render such waters harmful, detrimental or injurious to public health, safety or welfare, or to domestic, commercial, industrial, agricultural, recreational or other legitimate beneficial uses, or to livestock, wild animals, birds, fish or other aquatic life; “person” means any individual, partnership, association, firm, limited liability company, corporation or other entity, except a municipality, and includes the federal government, the state or any instrumentality of the state, and any officer or governing or managing body of any partnership, association, firm or corporation or any member or manager of a limited liability company; “community pollution problem” means the existence of pollution which, in the sole discretion of the commissioner, can best be abated by the action of a municipality; “municipality” means any metropolitan district, town, consolidated town and city, consolidated town and borough, city, borough, village, fire and sewer district, sewer district and each municipal organization having authority to levy and collect taxes or make charges for its authorized function; “discharge” means the emission of any water, substance or material into the waters of the state, whether or not such substance causes pollution; “pollution abatement facility” means any equipment, plant, treatment works, structure, machinery, apparatus or land, or any combination thereof, acquired, used, constructed or operated for the storage, collection, reduction, recycling, reclamation, disposal, separation or treatment of water or wastes, or for the final disposal of residues resulting from the treatment of water or wastes, including, but not limited to: Pumping and ventilating stations, facilities, plants and works; outfall sewers, interceptor sewers and collector sewers; and other real or personal property and appurtenances incident to their use or operation; “potable drinking water” means drinking water from an existing water supply for which treatment is provided or an alternative supply, which the Commissioner of Public Health determines does not create an unacceptable risk of injury to the health or safety of those persons using such water as a public or private source of water for drinking or other personal or domestic uses. In making such determination, the Commissioner of Public Health shall balance all relevant and substantive facts and inferences and shall not be limited to a consideration of available statistical analysis but shall consider all the evidence presented and any factor related to human health risks; “disposal system” means a system for disposing of or eliminating wastes, either by surface or underground methods, and includes sewage systems, pollution abatement facilities, disposal wells and other systems; “federal Water Pollution Control Act” means the federal Water Pollution Control Act, 33 USC Section 466 et seq., including amendments thereto and regulations thereunder; “order to abate pollution” includes an order to abate existing pollution or to prevent reasonably anticipated sources of pollution; “federal Safe Drinking Water Act” means the federal Safe Drinking Water Act, 42 USC, Section 300f et seq., including amendments thereto and regulations thereunder; “monitoring system” means a system or method for measuring the quality or quantity of a discharge or its impact on the waters of the state. Such system or method shall provide for any means the commissioner reasonably deems necessary to assure the security of the system and the accuracy of monitoring results, including, but not limited to, automatic monitoring; “effluent limitation” means any restriction, established by the commissioner by regulations adopted in accordance with the provisions of chapter 54, on quantities, rates or concentrations of chemical, physical, biological and other constituents which are discharged into the waters of the state and established by permit, schedule of compliance or administrative order; “economic benefit” includes the amount of any savings resulting from avoided or delayed expenditures as a result of noncompliance with the effluent limitations of a permit to discharge into the waters of the state, and includes capital or one-time expenditures, operating costs, maintenance costs and any other benefits resulting from noncompliance; “persistent violator” means any person or municipality which holds a permit to discharge into the waters of the state and which has exceeded any effluent limitation by a factor of one and one-half or more for four out of six consecutive reporting periods.

(1967, P.A. 57, S. 2; 1971, P.A. 872, S. 79; P.A. 73-555, S. 4, 10; P.A. 77-416; P.A. 80-15; P.A. 81-176, S. 4, 7; P.A. 82-240, S. 2, 3; P.A. 84-81, S. 2; P.A. 85-407, S. 3, 9; P.A. 86-82, S. 1, 5; 86-420, S. 10, 12; P.A. 88-118, S. 2, 3; P.A. 90-222, S. 1; P.A. 93-381, S. 9, 39; P.A. 95-79, S. 101, 189; 95-257, S. 12, 21, 58; P.A. 11-80, S. 1.)

History: 1971 act replaced definition of “commission”, i.e. water resources commission, with definition of “commissioner”, i.e. commissioner of environmental protection and redefined “pollution” to specifically include that which is “prejudicial to public health”; P.A. 73-555 extended applicability of definitions to include part II of chapter 474 and defined “sewage”; P.A. 77-416 included subsurface sewage systems in definition of “pollution abatement facility”; P.A. 80-15 redefined “person” to include the federal government, the state and instrumentalities of the state; P.A. 81-176 defined the Federal Safe Drinking Water Act; P.A. 82-240 defined “potable drinking water”; Sec. 25-54b transferred to Sec. 22a-423 in 1983; P.A. 84-81 revised the definition of potable drinking water by eliminating requirement that alternative supply be provided at the boundary line of the affected property; P.A. 85-407 redefined “potable drinking water” to eliminate the reference to drinking water standards established by the commissioner of health services and to add provision re determination by said commissioner that water does not create an unacceptable risk of injury to users; P.A. 86-82 defined “monitoring system”; P.A. 86-420 redefined “pollution abatement facility”; P.A. 88-118 added an agent designated by the commissioner to the definition of commissioner; P.A. 90-222 defined “effluent limitation”, “economic benefit” and “persistent violator”; P.A. 93-381 replaced commissioner of health services with commissioner of public health and addiction services, effective July 1, 1993; P.A. 95-79 redefined “person” to include a limited liability company and any member or manager of a limited liability company, effective May 31, 1995; P.A. 95-257 replaced Commissioner and Department of Public Health and Addiction Services with Commissioner and Department of Public Health, effective July 1, 1995; pursuant to P.A. 11-80, “Commissioner of Environmental Protection” was changed editorially by the Revisors to “Commissioner of Energy and Environmental Protection”, effective July 1, 2011.

Annotations to former section 25-54b:

Former statute cited. 148 C. 586. Cited. 170 C. 31.

Annotation to present section:

Cited. 226 C. 358.