{"data":{"id":"us-ky/krs-224.18-780","jurisdiction":"us-ky","citation":"KRS 224.18-780","heading":"Tennessee River Basin Water Pollution Control Compact.","body":"The Tennessee River Basin Water Pollution Control Compact is enacted and entered into\nby the Commonwealth of Kentucky as a party and is of full force and effect as between\nthe Commonwealth of Kentucky and any other state of the Tennessee River Basin Water\nPollution Control District that has entered into the compact. The compact is as follows:\nARTICLE I\nThe purpose of this Compact is to promote effective control and reduction of\npollution in the waters of the Tennessee River Basin through increased cooperat ion of the\nstates of the Basin, coordination of pollution control activities and programs in the Basin,\nand the establishment of a joint interstate commission to assist in these efforts.\nARTICLE II\nThe party states hereby create the \"Tennessee River Basin  Water Pollution Control\nCommission,\" hereinafter referred to as the \"Commission,\" which shall be an agency of\neach party state with the powers and duties set forth herein, and such others as shall be\nconferred upon it by the party states or by the Congres s of the United States concurred in\nby the party states.\nARTICLE III\nA. The party states hereby create the \"Tennessee River Basin Water Pollution\nControl District,\" hereinafter called the \"District,\" which consists of the area drained by\nthe Tennessee River and its tributaries.\nB. From time to time the Commission may conduct surveys of the Basin, study\nthe pollution problems of the Basin, and make comprehensive reports concerning the\nprevention or reduction of water pollution therein. The Commission may d raft and\nrecommend to the parties hereto suggested legislation dealing with the pollution of waters\nwithin the Basin or any portion thereof. Upon request of a state water pollution control\nagency, and in a manner agreed upon by such agency and the Commissi on, the\nCommission shall render advice concerning the various governments, communities,\nmunicipalities, persons, corporations or other entities with regard to particular problems\nconnected with the pollution of waters. The Commission shall present to the a ppropriate\nofficials of any government or agency thereof its recommendations relating to enactments\nto be made by any legislature in furthering the intents and purposes of this Article. The\nCommission, upon request of a member state or upon its own instanc e may, after proper\nstudy, and after conducting public hearings, recommend minimum standards of water\nquality to be followed in the several areas of the District.\nARTICLE IV\nThe Commission shall consist of three Commissioners from each state, each of\nwhom shall be a resident voter of such state. The Commissioners shall be chosen in the\nmanner and for the terms provided by the laws of the state from which they are appointed,\nand each Commissioner may be removed or suspended from office as provided by the law\nof the state from which he is appointed.\nARTICLE V\nA. The Commission shall elect annually from its members a Chairman and a\nVice Chairman to serve at its pleasure. It shall adopt a seal and suitable bylaws for its\nmanagement and control. The Commission is hereby authorized to adopt, prescribe and\npromulgate rules and regulations for administering and enforcing all provisions of this\nCompact. It may maintain one or more offices for the transaction of its business.\nMeetings shall be held at least once each year. It may determine duties, qualifications and\ncompensation for and appoint such employees and consultants as may be necessary and\nremove or replace them.\nB. The Commission shall not compensate the Commissioners for their services\nbut shall pay their actual expenses incurred in and incidental to the performance of their\nduties.\nC. The Commission may acquire, by gift or otherwise, and may hold and dispose\nof such real and personal property as may be appropriate to the performance of its\nfunctions. In the event of sale of real property, proceeds may be distributed among the\nseveral party states, each state's share being computed in a ratio t o its contributions; and\nin the event of dissolution of the Commission, the property and assets shall be disposed\nof and proceeds distributed in a like manner.\nD. Each Commissioner shall have one vote. One or more Commissioners from a\nmajority of the part y states shall constitute a quorum for the transaction of business, but\nno action of the Commission imposing any obligation on any party state or any\nmunicipality, person, corporation or other entity therein shall be binding unless a majority\nof all of the  members from such party state shall have voted in favor thereof. The\nCommission shall keep accurate accounts of all receipts and disbursements, and shall\nsubmit to the Governor and the legislature of each party state an annual report concerning\nits activi ties, and shall make recommendations for any legislative, executive or\nadministrative action deemed advisable.\nE. The Commission shall at the proper time submit to the Governor of each party\nstate for his approval an estimate of its proposed expenditures.  The Commission shall\nsubsequently adopt a budget and submit appropriation requests to the party states in\naccordance with the laws and procedures of such states.\nF. The Commission shall not pledge the credit of any of the party states. The\nCommission may meet any of its obligations in whole or in part with funds available to it,\nfrom gifts, grants, appropriations or otherwise, provided that the Commission takes\nspecific action setting aside such funds prior to the incurring of any obligation to be met\nin whole or in part in this manner. Except where the Commission makes use of funds\nalready available to it, the Commission shall not incur any obligations prior to the making\nof appropriations adequate to meet the same.\nG. The accounts of the Commission shal l be open at any reasonable time to the\ninspection of such representatives of the respective party states as may be duly constituted\nfor that purpose. All receipts and disbursements of funds handled by the Commission\nshall be audited yearly by a qualified public accountant, and the report of the audit shall\nbe included in and become a part of the annual report of the Commission. The\nCommission shall appoint an Executive Director. The Commission shall also appoint a\nTreasurer who may be a member of the Commi ssion. The Executive Director shall be\ncustodian of the records of the Commission with authority to attest to and certify such\nrecords and copies thereof under the seal of the Commission. The Commission shall\nrequire bonds of its Executive Director and Tre asurer in the amount of at least twenty -\nfive percent (25%) of the annual budget of the Commission.\nARTICLE VI\nEach of the Commission's budgets of estimated expenditures shall contain specific\nrecommendations of the amount or amounts to be appropriated by each of the party states.\nIn determining these amounts, the Commission shall prorate one -half (1/2) of its budget\namong the several states in proportion to their land area within the District, and shall\nprorate the other half among the several states in proportion to their population within the\nDistrict at the last preceding Federal census.\nARTICLE VII\nA. It is recognized, owing to such variable factors as location, size, character and\nflow and the many varied uses of the waters subject to the terms of thi s Compact, that no\nsingle standard of sewage and waste treatment and no single standard of quality of\nreceiving waters is practical and that the degree of treatment of sewage and industrial\nwastes should take into account the classification of the receivin g waters according to\npresent and proposed highest use, such as for drinking water supply, industrial and\nagricultural uses, bathing and other recreational purposes, maintenance and propagation\nof fish life, navigation and disposal of wastes.\nB. The Commi ssion may establish reasonable physical, chemical and\nbacteriological standards of water quality satisfactory for various classifications of use. It\nis agreed that each of the signatory states through appropriate agencies will prepare a\nclassification of its interstate waters in the District in entirety or by portions according to\npresent and proposed highest use, and for this purpose technical experts employed by\nappropriate state water pollution control agencies are authorized to confer on questions\nrelating to classification of interstate waters affecting two (2) or more states. Each\nsignatory state agrees to submit its classification of its interstate waters to the\nCommission for approval. It is agreed that after such approval, all signatory states\nthrough their appropriate state water pollution control agencies will work to establish\nprograms of treatment of sewage and industrial wastes which will meet standards\nestablished by the Commission for classified waters. The Commission may from time to\ntime mak e such changes in definitions of classifications and in standards as may be\nrequired by changed conditions or as may be necessary for uniformity and in a manner\nsimilar to that in which these standards and classifications were originally established.\nARTICLE VIII\nA. A state pollution control agency of any party state may certify to the\nCommission an alleged violation of the Commission's standards of quality of water\nentering said state. Upon such certification the Commission may call a hearing at which\nthe appropriate state pollution agencies shall be represented. If the Commission finds a\nviolation has occurred, is occurring or is likely to recur, it shall make recommendations as\nto the manner of abatement of the pollution to the appropriate water pollutio n control\nagency of the party state within which the violation has occurred, is occurring or is likely\nto recur. In the event that Commission recommendations made pursuant to the preceding\nprovisions of this Article do not result in compliance within a rea sonable time, the\nCommission may, after such further investigation if any as is deemed necessary and\nproper and after a hearing held in the state where a violation occurs or has occurred, issue\nan order or orders upon any municipality, person, corporation or other entity within said\nparty state violating provisions of this Compact by discharging sewerage or industrial\nwastes into the waters of the District which flow through, into or border upon any party\nstate. Such order or orders may prescribe the date on or before which such discharge shall\nbe wholly or partially discontinued, modified or treated or otherwise disposed of. The\nCommission shall give reasonable and proper notice in writing of the time and place of\nthe hearing to the municipality, person, co rporation or other entity against which such\norder is proposed except that when the Commission shall find that a public health\nemergency exists, it may issue such an order pending hearing. In all such instances, the\nhearing shall be promptly held and the o rder shall be withdrawn, modified or made\npermanent within thirty days after hearing. No order prescribing the date on or before\nwhich such discharge shall be wholly or partially discontinued, modified or treated or\notherwise disposed of shall go into effe ct upon a municipality, person, corporation or\nother entity in any state unless and until it receives the approval of a majority of the\nCommissioners from each of not less than a majority of the party states, provided that\nsuch order receives the assent of not less than a majority of the Commissioners from such\nstate.\nB. It shall be the duty of the municipality, person, corporation or other entity\nwithin a party state to comply with any such order against it or him by the Commission,\nand any court of compe tent jurisdiction in any of the party states shall have jurisdiction,\nby mandamus, injunction, specific performance or other form of remedy, to enforce any\nsuch order against any municipality, person, corporation or other entity domiciled, located\nor doing business within such state; provided, however, such court may review the order\nand affirm, reverse or modify the same in any appropriate proceeding brought and upon\nany of the grounds customarily applicable in proceedings for court review of\nadministrative decisions. The Commission or, at its request, the Attorney General or other\nlaw enforcing official of the appropriate state shall have power to institute in such court\nany action for the enforcement of such order.\nARTICLE IX\nNothing in this Compact shall be construed to limit the powers of any party state, or\nto repeal or prevent the enactment of any legislation, or the enforcement of any\nrequirement by any party state, imposing any additional conditions and restrictions to\nfurther reduce or prevent the pollution of waters within its jurisdiction.\nARTICLE X\nA. Nothing contained in this Compact shall be construed so as to conflict with\nany provision of the Ohio River Valley Water Sanitation Compact or to impose\nobligations on any state inconsistent with those which it has undertaken or may undertake\nby virtue of its membership in said Compact; provided that nothing contained in this\nArticle shall be deemed to limit the Commission's power to set higher standards for the\nwaters of the Tennessee River Basin W ater Pollution Control District or any portion\nthereof than those required for the Ohio River Valley Water Sanitation District.\nB. Nothing contained in this Compact shall be deemed to give the Commission\nany regulatory power or jurisdiction over any aspec t of pollution abatement or control\nwithin the District unless existing or future pollution of such waters does or is likely to\naffect adversely the quality of water flowing among, between, into or through the territory\nof more than one party state.\nARTICLE XI\nAny two (2) or more of the party states by legislative action may enter into\nsupplementary agreements for further regulation and abatement of water pollution in\nother areas within the party states and for the establishment of common or joint services\nor facilities for such purpose and designate the Commission to act as their joint agency in\nregard thereto. Except in those cases where all member states join in such supplementary\nagreement and designation, the representatives in the Commission of any gr oup of such\ndesignating states shall constitute a separate section of the Commission for the\nperformance of the function or functions so designated and with such voting rights for\nthese purposes as may be stipulated in such agreement; provided that, if any  additional\nexpense is involved, the member states so acting shall appropriate the necessary funds for\nthis purpose. No supplementary agreement shall be valid to the extent that it conflicts\nwith the purposes of this Compact and the creation of such a sect ion as a joint agency\nshall not affect the privileges, powers, responsibilities or duties of the member states\nparticipating therein as embodied in the other articles of this Compact.\nARTICLE XII\nThis Compact shall enter into force and become effective an d binding when it has\nbeen enacted by the legislature of Tennessee and by the legislatures of any one or more of\nthe states of Alabama, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, North Carolina and Virginia and\nupon approval by the Congress of the United States and t hereafter shall enter into force\nand become effective and binding as to any other of said states when enacted by the\nlegislature thereof.\nARTICLE XIII\nThis Compact shall continue in force and remain binding upon each party state until\nrenounced by act of the legislature of such state, in such form and manner as it may\nchoose; provided that such renunciation shall not become effective until six (6) months\nafter the effective date of the action taken by the legislature. Notice of such renunciation\nshall be g iven to the other party states by the Secretary of State of the party state so\nrenouncing upon passage of the act.\nARTICLE XIV\nThe provisions of this Compact or of agreements thereunder shall be severable and\nif any phrase, clause, sentence or provision o f this Compact, or such agreement, is\ndeclared to be contrary to the Constitution of any participating state or of the United\nStates or the applicability thereof to any state, agency, person or circumstance is held\ninvalid, the constitutionality of the rem ainder of this Compact or of any agreement\nthereunder and the applicability thereof to any state, agency, person or circumstance shall\nnot be affected thereby, provided further that if this Compact or any agreement thereunder\nshall be held contrary to the Constitution of the United States or of any state participating\ntherein, the Compact or any agreement thereunder shall remain in full force and effect as\nto the remaining states and in full force and effect as to the state affected as to all\nseverable matters. It is the legislative intent that the provisions of this Compact shall be\nreasonably and liberally construed.","path":[],"source_url":"https://apps.legislature.ky.gov/law/statutes/statute.aspx?id=10346","current_through":"Includes enactments through the 2026 Regular Session","vintage":"09/05/2026","retrieved_at":"2026-09-05T20:52:39Z","sha256":"bae48771ad6879bcd32f94a4cf61dbf4e810719c9dccf12ad70ba0935fc8bd11","source_id":"us-ky","stale":false,"prev":"us-ky/krs-224.18-760","next":"us-ky/krs-224.18-785"},"notice":"GroundRules: Original legal text. Not legal advice."}