OCR Text |
Show 642 PENNSYLVANIA thereto the sum of $500 for each day of continuing violation, and these penalty assessments may be collected in any manner provided by law for the collection of depts, including foreclosure of a lien against the lands of the violators.27 An additional statute, the Pennsylvania Sewage Facilities Act, was passed in 1966, and it requires municipalities to prepare official plans for sewage systems and submit them to the department of environmental resources for approval. While this provision overlaps with the Clean Streams Act, the Sewage Facilities Act further pro- vides for State financial assistance to the municipalities.28 Apart from the statutory water control measures discussed above, it should be noted that common law principles may protect water quality. The Pennsylvania courts have held that a riparian land- owner's right in the watercourse extends to quality as well as quan- tity,29 and pollution of a stream by an upper riparian may be en- joined and damages awarded in order to protect the lower riparian owner's interests.30 C. OTHER FUNCTIONS OF THE DEPARTMENT The department of environmental resources also was assigned cer- tain powers and duties previously exercised by the department of forests and waters,31 including authority to study and determine public policy with regard to the conservation, marketing, and equi- table distribution of the State's water resources; collect information as to the existing conditions of the State's water resources, and main- tain a complete inventory of all the water resources of the State; establish and maintain gaging stations on rivers and their tribu- taries ; and construct and operate works for water storage, flood con- trol, channel improvement, or other purposes.32 The department also has jurisdiction over any construction or alteration of obstructions in streams or bodies of waters in the State, except for the Delaware River and the tidal portions of the Delaware River tributaries;33 over applications for charters to public water supply corporations; and over agreements for the merger or con- solidation of two or more such corporations. The department may also sell or lease natural resources found on State lands covered by waters,34 and, in general, is authorized to hold hearings on and decide all matters within its jurisdiction relating to waters.35 d. REGULATION OF WELL DRILLERS One of the few areas of administrative control over water that is not presently administered by the department of environmental re- sources is the licensing and regulating of well drillers, and this re- sponsibility was vested in the Pennsylvania Department of Internal 27 35 P.S., sec. 691.605. 28 35 P.S., sec. 750.1 through 750.12(a). 29Daniels v. Bethlehem Mines Corp., 391 Pa. 195, 137 A. 2d 304 (1958). ™Keppel v. Lehigh Goal & Navigation Co., 200 Pa. 649, 50 Atl. 302 (1901). 8171 P.S., sec. 510.1. 32 71 P.S., sec. 510.4. 83 32 P.S., sec. 682. 8*71 P.S., sec. 510.8. 85 71 P.S., sec. 468(b). |