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Second Class Township Code

 

Article XXVI

Water Supply

 

Section 2601. Contracts With Water Companies and Municipal Corporations and Acquisition of Water Systems.

 

(a) The board of supervisors may by contract with any private corporation or any adjacent municipal corporation owning a waterworks system provide water for public and private uses, to be delivered through lines owned by that company or municipal corporation within the township. The contract shall provide the manner by which the cost of the water service shall be paid by the consumers.

 

(b) The board of supervisors may purchase or acquire a privately owned water system to provide water for public and private uses. If a privately owned water company fails to render service as required by the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission, the board of supervisors may with the approval of the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission exercise the right of eminent domain to acquire the water system of the water company to provide water for public and private uses.

 

(c) Any township may by agreement connect with an existing water system owned by any adjacent municipal corporation. When any township desires to connect with the existing water system of any adjacent municipal corporation and no agreement has been reached between the township and the adjacent municipal corporation, a petition seeking approval of the connection shall be presented by the board of supervisors to the court of common pleas. The court shall set a day for hearing upon the petition and shall direct public notice be given to all interested parties. If the court is of the opinion that the connection can be made without impairing the usefulness of the existing water system, it shall appoint three viewers to view the premises, investigate the facts of the case, assess the necessary costs and expenses of making the connection and the proportionate part of the expense of building the original water system upon the township, determine the proportion of the expense for repairs which the municipal corporation and the township shall bear and determine all other questions likely to arise in connection therewith.

 

Section 2602. Water Lines and Connections.

 

The board of supervisors may contract with any private corporation or any adjacent municipal corporation owning a water system to provide water for public and private uses to be delivered into the lines of the township at or near the boundary thereof The board of supervisors may by contract lay water lines and extensions and regulate the making of connections therewith.

 

Section 2603. Connection to Water System.

 

The board of supervisors may by ordinance require that abutting property owners of a water system provided by the township or a municipality authority or a joint water board connect with and use the system. Those industries and farms which have their own supply of water for uses other than human consumption may continue to use their own water for that purpose but are required to use the township water system to provide water for human consumption. In the case of a water system provided by the township or a joint water board, the board of supervisors may impose and charge to property owners who desire to or are required to connect to the water system a connection fee, a customer facilities fee, a tapping fee and other similar fees as enumerated and defined by clause (t) of subsection B of section 4 of the act of May 2, 1945 (P.L.382, No. 164), known as the "Municipality Authorities Act of 1945." Whenever a water system or any part or extension thereof owned by a township has been constructed by the township at the expense of a private person or corporation or has been constructed by a private person or corporation under the supervision of the township at the expense of the private person or corporation, the board of supervisors shall have the right to charge a tapping fee, including a reimbursement component, and refund said reimbursement component to the person or corporation who has paid for the construction of said water system or any part or extension thereof. If any owner of property abutting the water system fails to connect with and use the system within ninety days after notice to do so has been served by the board of supervisors, the board of supervisors or their agents may enter the property and construct the connection. The board of supervisors shall send an itemized bill of the cost of construction of connection to the owner of the property to which connection has been made, which bill is payable immediately, or the board of supervisors may authorize the payment of the cost of construction of connections in equal installments under Article XXXIII.

 

Section 2604. Water Rents.

 

The board of supervisors may provide for the collection of water rents from users of water supplied by the township.

 

Section 2605. Distribution System; State Permit.

 

The board of supervisors may by ordinance provide, acquire, establish, regulate and protect any system of distribution of water for private and public use after a certified copy of the plans and surveys for the system, with a description of the sources from which it is proposed to derive the supply, are filed with the Department of Environmental Protection and a written permit for the construction of the system is obtained from the Department of Environmental Protection.

 

Section 2606. Occupation of Highways.

 

In regulating, protecting and extending its system of distribution of water, the township may occupy public highways, but no highway under the jurisdiction of the Department of Transportation shall be occupied until a permit therefor has been obtained from the department nor any highway under the jurisdiction of the county until a permit therefor has been obtained from the county commissioners.

 

Section 2607. Joint Construction, Acquisition or Maintenance of Water Systems.

 

Any township may join with any other municipal corporation in the construction or acquisition and maintenance of water systems. The construction of water systems shall be commenced only after plans for the systems have been filed with the Department of Environmental Protection and permits have been issued.

 

Section 2608. Joint Water Board.

 

The municipal corporations joining in the improvement, in order to facilitate the building of the water system and in securing preliminary surveys and estimates, may by ordinance provide for the appointment of a joint water board composed of one representative from each of the municipal corporations joining to act generally as the advisory and administrative agency in the construction of the improvement and its subsequent operation and maintenance. Members of the joint water board shall serve for terms of six years each from the dates of their respective appointments and until their successors are appointed. The joint water board shall organize by the election of a chairman, vice-chairman, secretary and treasurer. The municipal corporations may in the ordinances creating the joint water board authorize it to appoint an engineer, a solicitor and other necessary assistants and agree to the share of the compensation of those persons each municipal corporation is to pay. The members of the joint water board shall receive compensation for attending board meetings as established in the budget that is prepared by the joint water board and submitted to and adopted by the municipal corporations. The compensation to members for attending meetings shall not exceed a total of two hundred and fifty dollars ($250) for each member in each year, but the members shall be entitled to actual expenses to be paid by the respective municipal corporations the members represent.

 

Section 2609. Public Utility Law Saved.

 

Nothing contained in this article shall be construed to repeal or to supersede any of the provisions of 66 Pa. C.S. (relating to public utilities).

 

Section 2610. Cost of Construction; How Paid.

 

All or part of the cost of construction of any water system constructed by the authority of this article may be charged upon the properties accommodated or benefited thereby.

 

Section 2611. Water Districts.

 

The board of supervisors may designate, define and create one or more water districts within the township, and the board of supervisors shall determine the proportion of the cost of the water system which shall be equitably charged on each district and declare and establish the apportionment by resolution. No district shall be charged with more than its due proportion of the cost of the main pipe lines, pumping stations, et cetera, used jointly by more than one district.

 

Section 2612. Assessment.

 

The board of supervisors may provide for the payment of the cost of water lines or water systems in the township or in districts thereof by an assessment upon the properties accommodated or benefited by one of the following methods:

 

(1) By an assessment under a resolution or ordinance of the board of supervisors of each lot or piece of land in proportion to its frontage abutting on the water mains, allowing an equitable reduction in the case of corner properties and unusually shaped properties or in the case of properties abutting on more than one main as the resolution or ordinance may specify.

 

(2) By an equal assessment on all properties abutting on the mains in proportion to the total cost of construction. The amount of the charge on each property shall be determined by the board of supervisors.

 

Section 2613. Procedure for Assessment.

 

If any taxpayer or taxpayers, by petition, within three months of the adoption of a resolution or ordinance levying an assessment under section 2612, state to the court of common pleas that the assessment insufficiently represents the benefits accruing to abutting properties, they may include in the petition a request for the appointment of viewers to assess benefits. The court shall appoint three disinterested persons from the board of county viewers, none of whom shall be a resident of that portion of the township which is accommodated by the water system in question, and the viewers shall proceed under this act for the assessment of damages and benefits by viewers. Upon the filing of the petition by taxpayers, any assessment made by the board of supervisors and any proceedings shall be stayed pending the disposition of the petition by the court.

 

Section 2614. Liens for Assessments; Costs of Proceedings.

 

After the amount of the assessment charged upon the several properties has been established by resolution making assessments according to Section 2612 or by confirmation of any report of viewers, in whole or in part, the board of supervisors shall make out bills for the amounts charged against each property, which shall be sent to all property owners whose property will served by the water system. If the assessment is not paid within sixty days after the mailing of a bill therefor, the board of supervisors shall collect it by action of assumpsit or under law for the filing and recovery of municipal claims. (2614 amended Dec. 18, 1996, P.L.__, No. 172)