                                 CODE OF VIRGINIA

OBSTRUCTING TRIBUTARIES OF BIG SANDY RIVER; DUMPING REFUSE, ETC., INTO BIG SANDY
RIVER OR ITS TRIBUTARIES (§ 62.1-194.3)

a. If any person place any dam or other obstruction in any tributary of Big
Sandy River so as to prevent the free passage of timber, or any raft or boat, he
shall be fined not less than $50 nor more than $500; and, upon conviction
thereof, the court or judge of the county court shall order the dam or other
obstruction to be removed at his expense.

b. It shall also be unlawful for any person to dump, place or put, or cause to
be dumped, placed, or put into, upon the banks of or into the channels of Big
Sandy River or any of its tributaries, any dirt, stone, coal, slate, cinders,
mine refuse, trees, timber, logs, garbage or any other material or substance so
as to in anywise narrow, fill or restrict or partially narrow, fill or restrict
the channels of said streams or impede the natural flow of the waters of said
river or any of its tributaries or dump, place or put, or cause to be dumped,
placed or put any dirt, stone, coal, slate, cinders, mine refuse, trees, timber,
logs, garbage or any other material, or substance where the same does by natural
rainfall or flow of water become washed or otherwise carried into, upon the
banks of, or into the channels of, such river or any of its tributaries so as to
in anywise narrow, fill or restrict or partially narrow, fill or restrict the
channels of any of said streams or impede the natural flow of the waters
thereof. Any person who violates any provision of this law shall be guilty of a
misdemeanor and upon conviction be punished by a fine of not less than $100 nor
more than $500 or by confinement in jail not more than twelve months or both
such fine and imprisonment. Each day that any of said materials or substances so
dumped, placed or put, or caused to be dumped, placed or put into or so allowed
to be washed or otherwise so carried into, upon the banks of or into the
channels of, said streams shall constitute a separate offense and be punished as
such.

c. In addition to the foregoing penalties for violation of this law, the judge
of the circuit court of the county wherein any such violation occurs, whether
there be a criminal conviction therefor or not shall, upon a bill in equity,
filed by the attorney for the Commonwealth of such county or by any person whose
property is damaged or whose property is threatened with damage from any such
violation, award an injunction enjoining any violation of this law by any person
found by the court in such suit to have violated this law or causing the same to
be violated, when made a party defendant to such suit.

d. This section shall not be construed to restrict the construction or
reconstruction of highways, or the construction or reconstruction of the
right-of-way of any company subject to the Commonwealth Corporation Commission,
or the maintenance thereof in either case, provided the channel thereafter
continues to permit a flow of water in such stream at least as large as that
prevailing theretofore, provided that if the channel above the point of such
work be widened or deepened subsequently then such company may be required by
the circuit court of the county on petition of any interested person to change
its right-of-way where practicable so as to permit the increased flow of water.

HISTORY: Code 1950, § 62-190; 1960, c. 257; 1968, c. 169.