46-654.

Public water supplier; protections applicable; procedure.

(1) Any public water supplier having a permit under the Municipal and Rural Domestic Ground Water Transfers Permit Act is hereby granted the protection of sections 46-651 to 46-655 for all water wells for which a permit has been or in the future is granted by the Department of Natural Resources under such act.

(2) If in its application for a permit pursuant to such act a public water supplier requests the protection of the spacing requirements of section 46-651 for test holes and water wells under construction and if the permit is granted, the Director of Natural Resources shall identify in the permit the area to which the spacing protection will apply and the spacing protection of section 46-651 shall then apply to such area for a period of one year from the date the permit is granted. The director shall notify, by certified or registered mail, owners and occupiers of land affected by the granting of such spacing protection, according to information supplied by the applicant. Costs of providing such notice shall be borne by the applicant. Owners or occupiers of land not receiving the notice required by this subsection shall not be bound by the spacing requirements until the applicant's water wells are completed. Such protection may be extended by the director, by a similar procedure, upon application by the public water supplier and good cause shown, for additional one-year periods.