KRS 65.8901: Legislative findings -- Statutory authority for regional wastewater

commission.

(1) The General Assembly finds that regionalization of utility services can benefit

Kentuckians by sharing the capital and operating costs of facilities among many

users w hile protecting and enhancing the water quality of the Commonwealth's

watersheds, creeks, lakes, and rivers. The General Assembly additionally finds and

declares that:

(a) Continued economic growth in the Commonwealth is dependent upon the

expansion of infrastructure to promote industrial, commercial, and residential

development;

(b) Industrial, commercial, institutional, and residential development must be

undertaken in a manner consistent with applicable planning, and in a manner

that safeguards the waters of the Commonwealth from pollution;

(c) The challenges of improving and safeguarding the quality of the

Commonwealth's watersheds, creeks, streams, lakes, and rivers through

improvements in wastewater infrastructure and expanded wastewater

treatment capacity favor a cooperative, regional approach;

(d) The Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) Commission has realigned the

mission at Fort Knox, a one hundred nine thousand (109,000) acre military

reservation located in three (3) counties of the Commonwealth, r esulting in

significant economic expansion in the region encompassing the post;

(e) The ongoing regional economic expansion in the Fort Knox area of Hardin,

Bullitt, and Meade counties resulting from BRAC, and the industrial,

commercial and residential dev elopment throughout the Salt River Basin,

including expansion in the adjacent counties of Oldham and Jefferson, provide

a unique opportunity to illustrate the advisability of adopting a regionally

integrated approach to wastewater management as a cost -effective and more

affordable way to preserve Kentucky's water resources; and

(f) It is, therefore, the intent of the General Assembly to authorize the creation of

a regional wastewater commission in accordance with KRS 65.8901 to

65.8923, within the counties of Bullitt, Hardin, Jefferson, Meade, and

Oldham, or portions of those counties, for the purposes of preserving water

quality and developing infrastructure in the Salt River Basin sufficient to

promote and sustain industrial, commercial, and residential development.

(2) KRS 65.8901 to 65.8923 shall constitute full and complete authority for the creation

of a regional wastewater commission and for carrying out the powers and duties of

the commission.