WILLIAM DONALD SCHAEFER, Governor                         S.B. 893

demolition and construction debris, household appliances, automobile bodies, offal,
paunch manure, methane or ANY other gases, sewage sludge and solid or gaseous waste
materials from INDIVIDUAL, commercial, agricultural, [or] industrial [activities], or
[from] community activities.

(q) "Wastewater purification project" means any service, facility, or property, real
or personal, used or useful or having present capacity for future use in connection with
the collection or treatment of liquid wastes.

(r) "Water supply project" means any service, facility, or property, real or
personal, used, useful, or having present capacity for future use in connection with water
supply and distribution, including any water treatment facility or property and rights
therein and appurtenances thereto.

3-102.

(a)     To assist with the preservation, improvement, and management of the quality
of air, land, and water resources, and to promote the health and welfare of the citizens of
the State, it is the intention of the General Assembly in enactment of this subtitle to
provide for dependable, effective, and efficient water supply and purification and disposal
of liquid and solid wastes, to encourage reductions in the amount of waste generated and
discharged to the environment and the generation of energy and the recovery of useable
resources from such waste to the extent practicable; TO ENCOURAGE PRIVATE SECTOR
PARTICIPATION IN ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION; and to serve its political
subdivisions and economic interests. For these purposes, the General Assembly creates
an instrumentality of the State constituted as a body politic and corporate to provide
water supply and waste purification and disposal services in compliance with State laws,
regulations, and policies governing air, land, and water pollution to public and private
instrumentalities, and with safeguards to protect the autonomy of the political
subdivisions and the rights of the private entities it serves. IT IS ALSO THE INTENT OF
THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY THAT THE INSTRUMENTALITY MAY NOT PARTICIPATE IN
COMPETITIVE BIDDING WITH THE PRIVATE SECTOR TO PROVIDE ITS SERVICES.

(b)     This subtitle shall be liberally construed to effect its purposes. However,
nothing contained in it shall restrict any control which the Departments of the
Environment and Natural Resources, or of their units, are empowered to exercise over
any water supply, wastewater purification or solid waste disposal project authorized by
this subtitle, [except as provided in § 3-103(i) of this subtitle;] nor interfere with or
affect the operation of existing wastewater purification, water supply, or solid waste
disposal projects found by the Secretary of the Environment to be adequately and lawfully
operated by municipalities having jurisdiction or responsibility for them, except by their
express consent and agreement.

(c)     Nothing in this subtitle shall be construed to alter, change, OR modify[, or
restrict] the zoning or land use planning authority of any municipality or public
instrumentality or cause a municipality or public instrumentality to take action
inconsistent with the county solid waste management plan required under Title 9, Subtitle
5 of the Environment Article.

3-103.

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