An Act To Ensure Safe Drinking Water in Public Buildings

Sec. 1. 22 MRSA §2604,  as enacted by PL 1975, c. 751, §4, is amended to read:

§ 2604. Public buildings, sampling and examination of water

Any school, which public building that takes water from a source other than a public water system and uses such water for drinking or culinary purposes , shall submit samples of such water to the department for analysis at least once during each school year. Such The samples shall must be analyzed by the department. If the water is found to violate the state primary drinking water regulations, the department shall issue an order prohibiting the use of the water for drinking or culinary purposes by the school, which order shall must remain in force until the water conforms to the state primary drinking water regulations. The department shall provide results of any analysis performed under this section to the Department of Environmental Protection. The Department of Environmental Protection shall make the results available on a publicly accessible website maintained and updated by the Department of Environmental Protection. For the purposes of this section, "public building" means any building or structure operated or maintained for use by the general public, including, but not limited to, buildings used for state, municipal or county purposes; education; health care, a residential care nursing home or any facility licensed by the department under section 1811; public assembly; a hotel, motel, inn or rooming or lodging house; or a restaurant.

In addition to any other requirement in this chapter that applies to a public building that is regulated as a public water system, the requirements of this section apply to a public building that takes water from a public water system and uses that water for drinking or culinary purposes if the public building is more than 10 years old.

Violation of this section shall is, on conviction, be punishable by a fine of not more than $500.

SUMMARY

Current law requires schools that take drinking water from sources other than public water systems to have that water tested. This bill expands this requirement to include all public buildings that take water from a source other than a public water system. This bill requires public buildings that take drinking water from public water systems to have the same tests performed on that water, except that public buildings less than 10 years old are exempt from this requirement. Under the bill, the Department of Health and Human Services must provide test results to the Department of Environmental Protection. After receiving the results, the Department of Environmental Protection must make the results available on the department's publicly accessible website.