This chapter and map shall be known as the "Non-Use Aquifer Ordinance
of the City of Butler, Pennsylvania," in accordance with and exercising the
authority of the Pennsylvania Land Recycling and Environmental Remediation
Standards Act (Act 2 of 1995), Pennsylvania Code 25, Chapters 109 (Safe Drinking
Water) and 250 (Administration of the Land Recycling Program); Section 301.4
of the International Plumbing Code of 2003; the City of Butler Ordinance No.
1549 enforcing the Pennsylvania Construction Code (Act 45 of 1999); and Chapter
2 of the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection Technical Guidance
Manual, among others, to prohibit, regulate, restrict and determine the use
of groundwater within specific geographical areas within the City.
This chapter shall have as its general purposes:
A.
To establish the prohibition of the use of groundwater
within specified area(s).
B.
To require all properties in the specified area(s) to
connect to a community water supply for drinking water and agricultural purposes,
and prohibit the use of groundwater for any purpose.
C.
To promote, protect, and facilitate public health, safety,
and welfare of the general public within the specified area(s) through the
implementation of appropriate procedures to implement and regulate the above
purposes.
A.
The Pennsylvania Land Recycling and Environmental Remediation
Standards Act (Act 2 of 1995), as part of the effort to eliminate public health
and environmental hazards on existing commercial and industrial land across
the commonwealth, establishes conditions and responsibilities for the use
and reuse of those lands as sources of employment, housing, recreation and
open space areas as a means to prevent the needless development of prime farmland,
open space areas, and natural areas and reduce public costs for installing
new water, sewer, and highway infrastructure.
B.
The Act recognizes that cleanup plans should be based
on the actual risk that contamination on site may pose to public health and
the environment and take into consideration its current and future use. As
such, the Act does not require that every site be returned to a pristine condition.
C.
The Act further establishes environmental responsibilities
and economic incentives for the redevelopment of the aforementioned land and
designates the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (PADEP)
as the overseeing agency for any environmental cleanup effort associated with
the Act.
D.
The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection
has, accordingly, established its Land Recycling Program and published its
Technical Guidance Manual, which provides background information and guidance
relative to remediation of sites possessing contaminated groundwater.
E.
That same manual provides options available to the remediator
of those sites and options and responsibilities of the municipalities and
authorities having jurisdictional control over those sites.
F.
One of the proactive institutional control options available
to a municipality for the protection of its citizens is the establishment
of an ordinance prohibiting groundwater use for drinking, agricultural or
other purposes in those areas.
G.
That ordinance must be site specific based on environmental
factors.
H.
Specifically, the manual sets forth five performance
criteria:
(1)
The establishment of a specific geographic area to which
the ordinance relates.
(2)
The establishment of the prohibition of use of groundwater.
(3)
The requirement that all properties in the specified
area connect to a community water supply.
(4)
The notification to water suppliers servicing the area
of the conditions of the ordinance.
(5)
The provision for notification of the Pennsylvania Department
of Environmental Protection of any modification or elimination of the ordinance.
I.
The Pennsylvania Code Title 25, Chapter 250 requires
that ordinances relating to the establishment of non-use aquifers must also
document that all downgradient properties within a one-thousand-foot radius,
plus any additional areas to which the contamination has migrated and might
reasonably migrate at concentrations that exceed the MSC for groundwater used
or currently planned for use, are connected to a community water system and
that the area described does not intersect a radius of 1/2 mile from a community
water well source or an area designated by the DEP as a zone 2 wellhead protection
area under Chapter 109.
A, The Official Non-Use Aquifer Map together with all explanatory matter
thereon, is hereby adopted by reference and declared to be a part of this
chapter.
A.
No changes of any nature shall be made in the Official Non-Use Aquifer Map or matters shown thereon except in conformity with the procedures set forth in this chapter. Any unauthorized change of whatever kind by any person shall be considered a violation of this chapter and punishable as provided under Article V.
B.
The Official Non-Use Aquifer Map, which shall be located
in the City Building, shall be the final authority as to the current status
of non-use aquifer areas within the City.
It is not intended by this chapter to repeal, abrogate, annul or interfere
with any existing ordinance or enactment, or with any rule, regulation or
permit adopted or issued thereunder, except insofar as the same may be inconsistent
or in conflict with any of the provisions of this chapter, provided that where
this chapter imposes greater restrictions upon the use of groundwater than
are required by the provisions of such ordinance, enactment, rule, regulation
or permit, then the provisions of this chapter shall control.
