(45 ILCS 60/1) (from Ch. 111 1/2, par. 117)
Sec. 1.
The following Ohio River Valley Water Sanitation Compact, which
has been negotiated by representatives of the States of Illinois, Indiana,
Kentucky, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee and West Virginia, is
hereby approved, ratified, adopted, enacted into law, and entered into by
the State of Illinois as a party thereto and signatory state, namely:
OHIO RIVER VALLEY WATER SANITATION COMPACT
WHEREAS a substantial part of the territory of each of the signatory States
is situated within the drainage basin of the Ohio River; and
WHEREAS the rapid increase in the population of the various metropolitan
areas situated within the Ohio drainage basin, and the growth in industrial
activity within that area, have resulted in recent years in an
increasingly serious pollution of the waters and streams within the said
drainage basin, constituting a grave menace to the health, welfare and recreational
facilities of the people living in such basin, and occasioning great economic loss; and
WHEREAS the control of future pollution and the abatement of existing pollution
in the waters of said basin are of prime importance to the people thereof,
and can best be accomplished through the cooperation of the States situated
therein, by and through a joint or common agency;
NOW, THEREFORE, The States of Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, New York, Ohio,
Pennsylvania, Tennessee and West Virginia do hereby covenant and agree as follows:
ARTICLE I
Each of the signatory States pledges to each of the other signatory States
faithful cooperation in the control of future pollution in and abatement
of existing pollution from the rivers, streams and waters in the Ohio River
basin which flow through, into or border upon any of such signatory States,
and in order to effect such object, agrees to enact any necessary legislation
to enable each such State to place and maintain the waters of said basin
in a satisfactory sanitary condition, available for safe and satisfactory
use as public and industrial water supplies after reasonable treatment,
suitable for recreational usage, capable of maintaining fish and other aquatic
life, free from unsightly or malodorous nuisances due to floating solids
or sludge deposits, and adaptable to such other uses as may be legitimate.
ARTICLE II
The signatory States hereby create a district to be known as the "Ohio
River Valley Water Sanitation District," hereinafter called the District,
which shall embrace all territory within the signatory States, the water
in which flows ultimately into the Ohio River, or its tributaries.
ARTICLE III
The signatory States hereby create the "Ohio River Valley Water Sanitation
Commission," hereinafter called the Commission, which shall be a body corporate,
with the powers and duties set forth herein, and such additional powers
as may be conferred upon it by subsequent action of the respective legislatures
of the signatory States or by act or acts of the Congress of the United States.
ARTICLE IV
The Commission shall consist of three commissioners from each State, each
of whom shall be a citizen of the State from which he is appointed, and
three commissioners representing the United States Government. The commissioners
from each State shall be chosen in the manner and for the terms provided
by the laws of the State from which they shall be appointed, and any commissioner
may be removed or suspended from office as provided by the law of the State
from which he shall be appointed. The commissioners representing the United
States shall be appointed by the President of the United States, or in such
other manner as may be provided by Congress. The commissioners shall serve
without compensation, but shall be paid their actual expenses incurred in
and incident to the performance of their duties; but nothing herein shall
prevent the appointment of an officer or employee of any State or of the
United States Government.
ARTICLE V
The Commission shall elect from its number a chairman and vice-chairman,
and shall appoint, and at its pleasure remove or discharge, such officers
and legal, clerical, expert and other assistants as may be required to carry
the provisions of this compact into effect, and shall fix and determine
their duties, qualifications and compensation. It shall adopt a seal and
suitable by-laws, and shall adopt and promulgate rules and regulations for
its management and control. It may establish and maintain one or more offices
within the District for the transaction of its business, and may meet at
any time or place. One or more commissioners from a majority of the member
states shall constitute a quorum for the transaction of business.
The Commission shall submit to the Governor of each State, at such time
as he may request, a budget of its estimated expenditures for such period
as may be required by the laws of such State for presentation to the legislature
thereof.
The Commission shall keep accurate books of account, showing in full its
receipts and disbursements, and said books of account shall be open at any
reasonable time to the inspection of such representatives of the respective
signatory States as may be duly constituted for that purpose.
On or before the first day of December of each year, the Commission shall
submit to the respective governors of the signatory States a full and complete
report of its activities for the preceding year.
The Commission shall not incur any obligations of any kind prior to the
making of appropriations adequate to meet the same; nor shall the Commission
pledge the credit of any of the signatory States, except by and with the
authority of the legislature thereof.
ARTICLE VI
It is recognized by the signatory States that no single standard for the
treatment of sewage or industrial wastes is applicable in all parts of the
District due to such variable factors as size, flow, location, character,
self-purification and usage of waters within the District. The guiding principle
of this compact shall be that pollution by sewage or industrial wastes originating
within a signatory State shall not injuriously affect the various uses of
the interstate waters as hereinbefore defined.
All sewage from municipalities or other political subdivisions, public
or private institutions, or corporations, discharged or permitted to flow
into these portions of the Ohio River and its tributary waters which form
boundaries between, or are contiguous to, two or more signatory States,
or which flow from one signatory State into another signatory State, shall
be so treated, within a time reasonable for the construction of the necessary
works, as to provide for substantially complete removal of settleable solids,
and the removal of not less than forty-five percent (45%) of the total suspended
solids; provided that, in order to protect the public health or to preserve
the waters for other legitimate purposes, including those specified in Article
I, in specific instances such higher degree of treatment shall be used as
may be determined to be necessary by the Commission after investigation,
due notice and hearing.
All industrial wastes discharged or permitted to flow into the aforesaid
waters shall be modified or treated, within a time reasonable for the construction
of the necessary works, in order to protect the public health or to preserve
the waters for other legitimate purposes, including those specified in Article
I, to such degree as may be determined to be necessary by the Commission
after investigation, due notice and hearing.
All sewage or industrial wastes discharged or permitted to flow into tributaries
of the aforesaid waters situated wholly within one State shall be treated
to that extent, if any, which may be necessary to maintain such waters in
a sanitary and satisfactory condition at least equal to the condition of
the waters of the interstate stream immediately above the confluence.
The Commission is hereby authorized to adopt, prescribe and promulgate
rules, regulations and standards for administering and enforcing the provisions
of this Article.
ARTICLE VII
Nothing in this compact shall be construed to limit the powers of any signatory
State, or to repeal or prevent the enactment of any legislation or the enforcement
of any requirement by any signatory State, imposing additional conditions
and restrictions to further lessen or prevent the pollution of waters within
its jurisdiction.
ARTICLE VIII
The Commission shall conduct a survey of the territory included within
the District, shall study the pollution problems of the District, and shall
make a comprehensive report for the prevention or reduction of stream pollution
therein. In preparing such report, the Commission shall confer with any
national or regional planning body which may be established, and any department
of the Federal Government authorized to deal with matters relating to the
pollution problems of the District. The Commission shall draft and recommend
to the governors of the various signatory States uniform legislation dealing
with the pollution of rivers, streams and waters and other pollution problems
within the District. The Commission shall consult with and advise the various
States, communities, municipalities, corporations, persons, or other entities
with regard to particular problems connected with the pollution of waters,
particularly with regard to the construction of plants for the disposal
of sewage, industrial and other waste. The Commission shall, more than one
month prior to any regular meeting of the
legislature of any State which is a party thereto, present to the Governor
of the State its recommendations relating to enactments to be made by any
legislature in furthering the intents and purposes of this compact.
ARTICLE IX
The Commission may from time to time, after investigation and after a hearing,
issue an order or orders upon any municipality, corporation, person, or
other entity discharging sewage or industrial waste into the Ohio River
or any other river, stream or water, any part of which constitutes any part
of the boundary line between any two or more of the signatory States, or
into any stream any part of which flows from any portion of one signatory
State through any portion of another signatory State. Any such order or
orders may prescribe the date on or before which such discharge shall be
wholly or partially discontinued, modified or treated or otherwise disposed
of. The Commission shall give reasonable notice of the time and place of
the hearing to the municipality, corporation or other entity against which
such order is proposed. No such order shall go into effect unless and until
it receives the assent of at least a majority of the commissioners from
each of not less than a majority of the signatory States; and no such order
upon a municipality, corporation, person or entity in any State
shall go into effect unless and until it receives the assent of not less
than a majority of the commissioners from such State.
It shall be the duty of the municipality, corporation, person or other
entity to comply with any such order issued against it or him by the Commission,
and any court of general jurisdiction or any United States district court
in any of the signatory States shall have the jurisdiction, by mandamus,
injunction, specific performance or other form of remedy, to enforce any
such order against any municipality, corporation or other entity domiciled
or located within such State or whose discharge of the waste takes place
within or adjoining such State, or against any employe, department or subdivision
of such municipality, corporation, person or other entity; provided, however,
such court may review the order and affirm, reverse or modify the same upon
any of the grounds customarily applicable in proceedings for court review
of administrative decisions. The Commission or, at its request, the Attorney
General or other law enforcing official, shall have power to institute in
such court any action for the enforcement of such order.
ARTICLE X
The signatory States agree to appropriate for the salaries, office and
other administrative expenses, their proper proportion of the annual budget
as determined by the Commission and approved by the Governors of the signatory
States, one-half of such amount to be prorated among the several States
in proportion to their population within the District at the last preceding
federal census, the other half to be prorated in proportion to their land
area within the District.
ARTICLE XI
This compact shall become effective upon ratification by the legislatures
of a majority of the States located within the District and upon approval
by the Congress of the United States; and shall become effective as to any
additional States signing thereafter at the time of such signing.
IN WITNESS WHEREOF, The various signatory States have executed this compact
through their respective compact commissioners.
(Source: P.A. 81-1509.)
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