Colorado § 25-1.5-203 - Water - powers and duties of department - rules.

§ 25-1.5-203. Water - powers and duties of department - rules.

(1) The department has, in addition to all other powers and duties imposed upon it by law, the powers and duties provided in this section as follows:

(a) Construction of community water facilities. To examine plans, specifications, and other related data pertaining to the proposed construction of any publicly or privately owned community water facilities submitted for review of sanitary engineering features prior to construction of such facilities;

(b) Quality of drinking water.

(I) To adopt and enforce minimum general sanitary standards and regulations to protect the quality of drinking water supplied to the public, including the authority to require disinfection and treatment of such water.

(II) Standards and regulations adopted pursuant to this paragraph (b) may also include such minimum standards and regulations as are necessary to assume enforcement of the federal "Safe Drinking Water Act" with regard to public water systems, including, but not limited to, requirements for:

(A) Review and approval by the department, prior to initiation of construction, of the technical plans and specifications, long-term financial plans, and operations and management plans for any new waterworks or technical plans and specifications for substantial modifications to existing waterworks. For the purposes of this subparagraph (II), "waterworks" means the facilities that are directly involved in the production, treatment, or distribution of water for public water systems, as defined in section 141.2 of the national primary drinking water regulations. The department shall approve those new or substantially modified waterworks it determines are capable of complying with the Colorado primary drinking water regulations.

(B) Maintenance of records by the supplier of water relating to the results of tests and procedures required by the standards and regulations, including filing periodic reports with the department;

(C) Public notification by the supplier of water, pursuant to the provisions of the federal "Safe Drinking Water Act";

(D) Granting exemptions and variances from the minimum general sanitary standards to allow appropriate time for compliance, when such procedure can be effected without seriously jeopardizing the public health.

(c) Exemption of public water systems.

(I) To exempt a water supplier from any further documentation requirements for purposes of establishing that it does not meet the definition of a public water system and is not subject to the requirements of the federal "Safe Drinking Water Act", where such water supplier has provided to the department evidence of the following:

(A) An ordinance, resolution, contractual provision, or other similarly enforceable enactment that prohibits connection to the system for the purpose of obtaining water for human consumption; and

(B) Either an annual visual inspection of the water supply system for the purpose of determining the presence of any unauthorized connections to the water supply system, or an annual written survey of those individuals or entities with whom the supplier has a contractual relationship governing the uses to which such water is placed by the contracting parties.

(II) Nothing in subparagraph (I) of this paragraph (c) shall be construed to eliminate from the provisions of the federal "Safe Drinking Water Act" any exclusion that may otherwise be available under federal law or regulation.

(d) Lab certification program for testing drinking water.

(I) To establish and maintain a laboratory certification program for the purpose of ensuring competent testing of drinking water as required by the federal "Safe Drinking Water Act" and minimum general sanitary standards as set forth in section 25-1.5-202. Certification procedures shall, at a minimum, include water supply evaluation verification and on-site inspections. The laboratory certification program shall consist of certification levels which correspond to the testing capability and capacity of each laboratory. In addition to certifying laboratories for contaminants regulated as of May 11, 1988, the department shall adopt and implement a schedule for certifying sufficient laboratory capacity for the testing and analysis of contaminants for which reference methods are available and which are scheduled to be regulated under the federal "Safe Drinking Water Act".

(II) Upon request, the department shall refer a public water supplier to a laboratory, either the department's or one certified by the department, which is determined to be equipped to perform the required testing and analysis on a timely basis.

(III) To facilitate an effective laboratory certification program, the department shall work with local public water suppliers toward creating and maintaining a centralized database which:

(A) Quantifies the current and expected demands for the monitoring, testing, and analysis of each supplier, grouped according to the size of the supply system, the source of its supply, and the requirements imposed on each supplier;

(B) Includes an updated list of laboratories certified and available for the testing and analysis of specific contaminants; and

(C) Tracks violations of drinking water standards for the purpose of facilitating an exchange among public water suppliers in addressing similar problems posed by specific contaminants.

(e) Drinking water list. To cooperate with and assist the Colorado water resources and power development authority in the administration of the drinking water revolving fund created by section 37-95-107.8, C.R.S., including adopting rules governing the drinking water project eligibility list provided by said section and modifications to the eligibility list for submission to the general assembly, and to take any other actions necessary to assist the authority in complying with the requirements of the federal "Safe Drinking Water Act".

(f) Repealed.

Source: L. 2003: Entire article added with relocations, p. 689, § 2, effective July 1. L. 2017: (1)(f) added, (HB 17-1306), ch. 399, p. 2078, § 2, effective June 8.

Editor's note: (1) This section is similar to former § 25-1-107 (1)(r), (1)(x)(I), (1)(x)(II), (1)(x.2), (1)(x.5), and (1)(gg) as they existed prior to 2003.

(2) Subsection (1)(f)(VII) provided for the repeal of subsection (1)(f), effective September 1, 2021. (See L. 2017, p. 2078.)

Cross references: For the short title ("Safe Water in Schools Act") in HB 17-1306, see section 1 of chapter 399, Session Laws of Colorado 2017.