Massachusetts. Division of Water Pollution Control

State responsibility for water pollution control has been exercised successively by the State Board of Health (1886-1914), the State Department of Health (1914-1919), and until 1975 by the Department of Public Health, specifically from 1945 by its Division of Sanitary Engineering; also since 1966 by the Division of Water Pollution Control, established in the Department of Natural Resources and transferred to 1974 to the Department of Environmental Quality Engineering (Department of Environmental Protection since 1989).

The Division of Water Pollution Control was established in 1966 within the Department of Natural Resources and was transferred in 1974 to the Department of Environmental Quality Engineering (Department of Environmental Protection since 1989), where it is part of the Bureau of Resource Protection.

The Division of Water Pollution Control was established in 1966 within the Dept. of Natural Resources and was transferred in 1974 to the Dept. of Environmental Quality Engineering (Dept. of Environmental Protection since 1989), where it is part of the Bureau of Resource Protection.

State responsibility for water pollution control has been exercised successively by the State Board of Health (1886-1914), the State Department of Health (1914-1919), and until 1975 by the Department of Public Health, specifically by its Division of Sanitary Engineering (1945-1950), and then its Bureau of Environmental Sanitation; also since 1966 by the Division of Water Pollution Control, established in the Department of Natural Resources and transferred to 1974 to the Department of Environmental Quality Engineering (Department of Environmental Protection since 1989).

St 1886, 274, ss 2-3 and St 1888 c 375, ss 2-4 gave the State Board of Health consultative and advisory powers over municipalities and manufacturers and other businesses regarding drainage and sewage, and the prevention of pollution of inland water from them. The function was transferred suceesively to the State Department of Health (St 1914, c 792, s 1) and the Department of Public Health (St 1919, c 350, s 96). The department's authority over municipalities in this regard was assigned from 1945 to its Division of Sanitary Engineering (from 1950 part of the Bureau of Environmental Sanitation).

Meanwhile the Division of Water Pollution Control was established in the Deparmtnet of Natural Resources, subject to the Water Resources Commission; it had to establish a program for the prevention, control and abatement of water pollution (St. 1966, c 685). St. 1974, c 806 transferred the division to the new Department of Environmental Quality Engineering (called the Department of Environmental Protection since 1989); it also transferred to that deparmtent the Bureau of Environmental Sanitation (actually known at this point as the Division of Environmental Health) from the Department of Public Health (whose responsibilities for drainage and sewage were also transferred by St 1975, c 706, c 167), thus allowing for the consolidation of functions in the Division of Water Pollution Control.

The division, currently under the department's Bureau of Resource Protection, develops and implements programs to prevent or clean up the pollution of surface water and ground water. It administers programs to improve and update the maintenance and operation of wastewater facilities, and it researches new technologies concerning water pollution control and abatement. Its permit programs for industrial sources of water pollution were transferred in 1989 to the Division of Industrial Waste Water Management in the Bureau of Waste Prevention, and most of its grant programs to the Bureau of Municipal Facilities.

The division functions are defined in MGLA, c 21, ss 26-53.

The Division of Water Pollution Control was established in 1966 within the Department of Natural Resources and was transferred in 1974 to the Department of Environmental Quality Engineering (Department of Environmental Protection since 1989), where it is part of the Bureau of Resource Protection.

Agency history record (CStRLIN)MASVAH0180-A describes the history and functions of the Division of Water Pollution Control.