Summary
The legislation would increase penalties for failure to comply with watershed rules and regulations and state sanitary code provisions.

Explanation

In order to ensure and protect the high quality of New York’s drinking water supply, the state needs stringent and intense penalties for violations of health law that put our water supplies at risk.  Presently, penalties for violation of water protection regulations are laughably low – they may not exceed $200 per violation, and based on the statutory language it is not even certain that the monetary penalty would apply for each day of violation.  This bill would make violators subject to a penalty of up to $25,000 per day of violation and authorize the attorney general to enjoin violations and recover penalties.

The laws governing violations and penalties have not been updated since 1909, and much has changed since then.  An increased penalty is necessary to assure compliance and attain rough parity with other, similar, laws.

Environmental Advocates of New York supports this bill.