§ 23-18.9-9.1. Disposal of solid waste over drinking water sources.
(a) The general assembly recognizes and declares that disposal of solid waste on or in
the ground overlying underground drinking water sources is not an environmentally
sound solid waste management practice, and that such disposal could threaten the public
health with contamination of existing and future municipal drinking water supplies.
(b) Solid waste landfill facilities shall be prohibited in the following areas:
(1) Watersheds of existing surface drinking water supplies;
(2) Watersheds of the proposed Big River Reservoir;
(3) Groundwater recharge areas designated by the director as GAA pursuant to chapter 13.1 of title 46,and ground water protection areas designated by duly adopted zoning ordinances, pursuant
to § 45-24-33(a)(7) and/or § 45-24-33(a)(20) and approved by the water resources board;
(4) One hundred (100) year flood plains;
(5) Areas within two hundred feet (200′) of the coast and/or coastal high hazard areas;
(6) Areas designated by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration of the United
States Department of Commerce as a national estuarine sanctuary;
(7) Coastal barriers;
(8) Wellhead protection areas as designated by the director.
(9) Notwithstanding all of the preceding, any landfill site must include the acquisition
and maintenance of a heavily vegetated buffer zone of at least 600 feet (600′) between
any working face or excavated area and adjacent property. Further, the outer limit
of any landfill site must be located at least twelve hundred feet (1,200′) from the
center line of fresh water rivers as determined by the state planning council which
shall include but not be limited to the following: Ashaway River, Beaver River, Blackstone
River, Chepachet River, Clear River, Falls River, Flat River, Hunt River, Moshassuck
River, Moosup River, Narrow River, Pawcatuck River, (also known as the Charles River)
and its tributaries, Pascoag River, Pawtuxet River and Wood River.
(c) Incinerators and resource recovery facilities shall be prohibited in the following
areas:
(1) Coastal high hazard areas;
(2) Wellhead protection areas as designated by the director;
(3) Areas designated by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration of the United
States Department of Commerce as a national estuarine sanctuary;
(4) Coastal barriers.
(d) The state planning council may, except for statutorily mandated sites, designate other
areas where solid waste landfills, incinerators, and resource recovery facilities
are prohibited.
(e) Where an existing solid waste management facility-landfill overlies the groundwater
reservoir or groundwater recharge area designated by the municipality in accordance
with subsection (b), the director is authorized to order cessation of solid waste
disposal operations and closure of the landfill under the following conditions:
(1) The municipality has, after notice and public hearing, by resolution to the director,
requested the director to determine whether the continued operation of any solid waste
management facility-landfill on or over the reservoir or recharge area presents a
hazard to the public drinking water source; and
(2) The director after investigation, notice, and hearing to the landfill, determines
that the existing solid waste management facility-landfill does present a hazard to
the public drinking water source.
(f) Any party aggrieved by a decision of the director under this section may obtain judicial
review of the decision in accordance with the provisions of §§ 42-35-15 and 42-35-16 of the Administrative Procedures Act. In addition, the owner of an existing solid
waste management facility-landfill, may bring a civil action in the superior court
in which the solid waste management facility-landfill is located that the decision
by the director of environmental management constitutes a taking under chapter 6 of title 37, as amended, and shall be entitled to petition the superior court to recover just
compensation.