CGS § 22a-416. (Formerly Sec. 25-26). Pollution of waterways. Qualifications of operators. Delegation of authority.

History: 1965 acts substituted commissioner of health for state department of health, gave commissioner power to examine refuse disposal areas, required that their plan and design be filed with commissioner, and required that methods of operation of disposal plants and areas be approved; 1967 act specified that plan or design and method of operation be approved by commissioner; 1969 act substituted “volume reduction” plants and areas for “disposal” plants and areas, required that qualifications of operators of such plants be subject to approval of health department and referred to “chapter 474a” rather than “part I”; 1971 acts clarified that sewage discharge points which may directly or indirectly cause pollution be investigated, deleted references to refuse volume reduction plants and areas, transferred duties of commissioner and department of health and of water resources commission to commissioner of environmental protection and deleted necessity for approval to build systems or plants and qualifying phrase characterizing systems or plants requiring approval as those “the effluent or discharge from which may directly or indirectly mingle or come into contact with the waters of the state”; P.A. 73-555 replaced references to sewage systems and plants with references to pollution abatement systems and plants, required operation of systems so as to conserve and protect natural resources and environment and public safety and welfare and deleted prohibition against discharge of “sewage prejudicial to the public health” into waters of the state, essentially rephrasing provisions for economy of expression; Sec. 25-26 transferred to Sec. 22a-416 in 1983; P.A. 86-239 deleted provision requiring commissioner to investigate points of existing or potential discharges which may cause water pollution; P.A. 90-69 added Subsec. (b) authorizing the delegation of certain authority to municipal and regional sewer authorities; P.A. 90-301 added Subsec. (c) re qualifications of approved operators; P.A. 93-428 made part of the former Subsec. (a) into a new Subsec. (b), adding exemptions from this section for certain disposal systems, and relettered former Subsecs. (b) and (c) accordingly, effective July 1, 1993; P.A. 94-89 added provision in Subsec. (d) requiring relevant national examination for operators; P.A. 95-34 amended Subsec. (d) to provide for qualifications of different classes of operators and to delete authority of the commissioner to adopt regulations re testing of facility operators, effective May 16, 1995; pursuant to P.A. 11-80, “Commissioner of Environmental Protection” and “Department of Environmental Protection” were changed editorially by the Revisors to “Commissioner of Energy and Environmental Protection” and “Department of Energy and Environmental Protection”, respectively, effective July 1, 2011; P.A. 18-97 amended Subsec. (d) by adding provision requiring certified operator to obtain not less than 6 hours of continuing education each year and requiring record of such education to be maintained by operator and facility employing operator and made available for inspection by commissioner; P.A. 22-143 amended Subsec. (d) to add provision re applicants for class III and class IV certificates to pass standardized national examinations, repeal provision for supplemental questions by the commissioner for such applicants, repeal re-exam exemption for certificate holders prior to May 16, 1995, repeal provision re all operators to complete a state-certified training course and added provision re continuing education units and associated courses be approved by the commissioner in consultation with the operator certification advisory board, effective May 31, 2022.