CT State Water Plan Submitted on 1-23-2018

Last minute Fight Preserves "Water As A Public Trust" in Document....Weakly

A furious letter-writing campaign to the Water Planning Council (WCP) and Department of Public Health (DPH)  prevented a last-minute push by water lobbyists, corporate interests, and-surprisingly- the DPH to remove all mention of "public trust" or to relegate it to the end of the  plan under "future topics to be considered". You can view the plan, its 26 page executive summary, and the compendium of responses to citizen comments at www.ct.gov/water/site/default.asp
 
Page 2 of the Executive summary contains references to "public trust", noting:

• "One related aspect to the the concept of balance, which was widely brought up during the public comment period following Plan development is water as a public trust.  Following Water Planning Council (WPC) discussion of this prevalent comment, it was noted that there is an existing statute as follows: "Sec. 22a-15. Declaration of policy.  It is hereby found and declared that there is a public trust in the air, water and other natural resources of the state of Connecticut and that each person is entitled to the protection, preservation and enhancement of the same.  It is further found and declared that it is in the public interest to provide all persons with an adequate remedy to protect the air, water and other natural resources from unreasonable pollution, impairment or destruction."
  

While the words "public trust"remain, and a citation to the 2014 statute is included, the WPC did not explicitly endorse the principle.  Our first ever state water plan may be one that sadly shied away from declaring the waters of the state to be a resource held in trust for the present and future generations.

The document now heads to the General Assembly where it will be presented to 4 committees of cognizance (Environment, Public Health, Energy and Technology, and Planning and Development). If approved, the Plan will move on to the General Assembly. If not approved, the Plan will go back to the WPC for revisions and then be re-submitted. At 24 months from the date of first submission, if the plan is not approved by the General Assembly, it will be forwarded to the Governor for adoption or rejection.