§ 214-H — Certain actions by public water suppliers to recover damages for injury to property

§ 214-h. Certain actions by public water suppliers to recover damages\nfor injury to property. 1. In this section:\n (a) "Contaminant" means any physical, chemical, biological or\nradiological substance or matter in water and includes but is not\nlimited to an emerging contaminant listed pursuant to section eleven\nhundred twelve of the public health law.\n (b) "Person" means an individual, corporation, public corporation,\ncompany, association, partnership, or entity of the state or federal\ngovernment.\n (c) "Public water supplier" means a person that owns, manages or\noperates a community, noncommunity or nontransient noncommunity water\nsystem that provides water to the public for human consumption through\npipes or other constructed conveyances, if such system has at least five\nservice connections or regularly serves an average of at least\ntwenty-five individuals daily at least sixty days out of the year.\n (d) "Wholesale water supplier" means a person that owns, manages or\noperates a public water system that treats a source of water supply as\nnecessary to produce finished water and then delivers some or all of\nthat finished water to a public water supplier.\n (e) "Source of water supply" means any groundwater aquifer or other\nsource from which water is taken either periodically or continuously for\ndrinking, kitchen, cooking or food-processing purposes, or which has\nbeen designated for present or future use as a source of water supply\nfor domestic or municipal purposes.\n (f) "Plant intake" means the works or structures at the head of a\nconduit through which water is diverted from a source of water supply\ninto the treatment plant by a public water supplier.\n (g) "Well" means any excavation used for obtaining water by a public\nwater supplier.\n (h) "Raw water" means water immediately before the first or only point\nof disinfection or other treatment.\n (i) "Emerging contaminant" shall mean any physical, chemical,\nmicrobiological or radiological substance that has ever been or ever\nwill be identified or listed pursuant to paragraph a or b of subdivision\nthree of section eleven hundred twelve of the public health law or that\nhas ever been or ever will be required to be identified or listed as an\nemerging contaminant pursuant to paragraph c of subdivision three of\nsection eleven hundred twelve of the public health law or that is\nidentified or listed as an emerging contaminant pursuant to any other\nlaw.\n 2. Notwithstanding any other law that provides for a shorter\nlimitations period, any civil claim or cause of action brought by a\npublic water supplier or wholesale water supplier against any person to\nrecover damages for injury to property owned, managed or operated by a\npublic water supplier or a wholesale water supplier resulting from the\npresence of a contaminant in a source of water supply shall be commenced\nwithin three years of the latest of any of the following:\n (a) the detection of a contaminant in the raw water of each well or\nplant intake sampling point in excess of any notification level, action\nlevel, maximum contaminant level, or maximum contaminant level goal\nestablished by the commissioner of health, the department of health or\nthe United States Environmental Protection Agency for that contaminant;\n (b) the last wrongful act by any person whose conduct contributed to\nthe presence of a contaminant in a source of water supply or the raw\nwater of each well or plant intake sampling point; or\n (c) the date the contaminant is last detected in the raw water of each\nwell or plant intake sampling point in excess of any notification level,\naction level, maximum contaminant level, or maximum contaminant level\ngoal established by the commissioner of health, the department of health\nor the United States Environmental Protection Agency for that\ncontaminant.\n 3. This three-year period shall apply to each well and each plant\nintake for each contaminant separately, and the expiration of the\nthree-year period at one well or plant intake shall not affect the\nthree-year period for another well or plant intake.\n 4. Nothing in this section shall abridge or limit a public water\nsupplier's or a wholesale water supplier's right to bring an action to\nabate an imminent threat of contamination of any well or plant intake or\nto recover as damages the costs of such abatement.\n 5. Any action, civil claim, or cause of action involving an emerging\ncontaminant that is barred as of the effective date of this subdivision\nbecause the applicable period of limitation has expired is hereby\nrevived, and such action, civil claim, or cause of action thereon may be\ncommenced and prosecuted provided such action, civil claim, or cause of\naction is commenced either before or within one year and six months\nfollowing the effective date of this subdivision.\n