Senate Bill 422, introduced by State Sen. Beth Bye of West Hartford, was passed Tuesday by a 24-11 vote.

Connecticut State Capitol. Source: Wikipedia, use permitted

By Ronni Newton 

A bill introduced and co-sponsored by State Sen. Beth Bye, that was prompted by public concerns about the Metropolitan District Commission’s (MDC) arrangement with Niagara Water Bottling Company, passed Tuesday 24-11 on a bipartisan vote.

Over the past few months, many residents of Bloomfield, West Hartford, and other MDC member towns voiced outrage after learning – once the arrangements had been finalized – about plans for Niagara to build a water-bottling plant in Bloomfield where up to 2 million gallons of water would be withdrawn daily from MDC sources at a discounted price.

“I think it’s fabulous,” said Kim Green, founder and president of West Hartford Concerned Citizens, a grassroots organization formed in response to the Niagara-MDC and to increase citizen engagement. “When I’ve been at the Capitol the past two days I’ve been hearing about two things: the water bill and the budget,” Green said.

The bill passed Tuesday, according to a news release from Bye’s office, is “designed to limit the amount of water that commercial water bottling companies can withdraw from Connecticut water sources for sale out of state, what they are charged for that water, and how residential water customers take preference over water bottling companies during times of a public drinking water supply emergency.”

Specifically, according to Bye’s office, the bill: “requires the state water plan to make recommendations about water rates charged to commercial water bottlers in Connecticut; requires each water company in the state to recognize and implement uniform drought metrics and comply with all water restrictions ordered by the state department of Public health during a declared public drinking water supply emergency; and requires the Public health department – during a public drinking water supply emergency – to prioritize the sale of water to residential customers over commercial water bottling companies selling their products out of state.”

In addition, after June 1, 2017, the provisions of the bill will require a permit from the state’s public health department for any diversion of more than 500,000 of water per day for the sale or bottling of water. The requirement will apply to any previously-registered diversions as well as new arrangements.

“We don’t have big glossy ads, we don’t have high paid lobbyists. We just have concerned citizens – and lots of them,” Green said. The email list of West Hartford supporters has topped 1,600, and Green said that between West Hartford, Bloomfield, and Glastonbury she estimates there are at least 6,000-8,000 people who have been involved in the grassroots lobbying for SB422.

“Scores of citizens approached me months ago with concerns about who controls our water here in Connecticut, why some commercial water bottling companies have price advantages over those MDC residents who helped improve and pay for the MDC infrastructure, and also with concerns about the availability of water in a drought,” Bye said in a statement. “All of those concerns rang true to me, and resulted in today’s bill, which I am proud to say received broad and bipartisan support in the Senate.”

Last week, both the Democratic and Republican caucuses of the West Hartford Town Council also sent letters to Bye voicing their support for SB422.

Green said that the work began just 14 weeks ago by West Hartford Concerned Citizens has been transformative and she sees the passage of the bill by the State Senate as a major victory. “It’s huge,” she said. “We started out just wanting to make some buttons.”

The bill now heads to the State House of Representatives where several legislators have already signed on as sponsors.

The West Hartford Concerned Citizens and similar grassroots organization in other towns are ready to renew their lobbying efforts for passage of the House bill. “We will systematically and meticulously go to each legislator and speak to each person to educate them,” Green said. “We will do it calmly, based on education and facts.”

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