                                 CODE OF VIRGINIA

FORM AND TERMS OF COMPACT (§ 62.1-71)

Whereas, a substantial part of the territory of each of the signatory states is
situated within the drainage basin of the Ohio River;
		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 police and maintain the waters of that 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 &#8220;Ohio
River Valley Water Sanitation District,&#8221; 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 &#8220;Ohio River Valley Water
Sanitation Commission,&#8221; 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 bylaws, 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 such books of account shall be open at any
reasonable time to the inspection of such representatives of the respective
signatory states as are 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 per centum 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 or 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 employee, department or subdivision of such municipality,
corporation, person or other entity; provided, that 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 of 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.

HISTORY: Code 1950, § 62-67.2; 1968, c. 659.