(a) Drilling is prohibited from any property located in the Restricted Use District for the purposes of gaining access to groundwater at or beneath such property for potable use or other purposes.
(b) Groundwater is defined as water occurring in the zone of saturation beneath the seasonal high water table, or any perched water zone.
(Ord. 2055. Passed 12-18-04.)
(c)
The Restricted Use District for the purpose of this article is defined as that area bounded by the Kanawha River on the north; corporate limits of the City of South Charleston on the east; southerly right-of-way line of Kanawha Turnpike on the south; and westerly right- of-way of Chestnut Street on the west.
(Ord. 2235. Passed 9-15-16.)
(d) Expressly excepted from the prohibition and thereby not prohibited is extraction of groundwater from installation, modification, operation, repair or removal of monitoring and/or remediation wells operated pursuant to the authorization of or at the direction, request or in cooperation with federal or state environmental officials. Further, nothing in this article should be interpreted to prohibit construction activity where access to or contact with groundwater is unintended and/or incidental to and not otherwise for the purpose of using the groundwater. Furthermore, nothing in this article requires property owners to obtain approval prior to commencing any drilling or construction activity that may unintentionally encounter groundwater and where any groundwater that may be impacted will not be used for any purpose. Nothing in this article prohibits use of groundwater in the designated area if the groundwater has been treated to meet state standards appropriate for its intended use prior to use; and
(e) Extraction of groundwater at or beneath any property located in the Restricted Use District is prohibited except as noted in the above subsection (d) hereof. In addition to the requirements set forth in Part Thirteen of the Codified Ordinances and as otherwise provided under applicable law, this Article 1353 may not be amended or repealed without providing at least ninety days’ prior written notice of the proposed action to the Director of the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection, Division of Land Restoration or to its respective statutory successor, addressed to such individual at the main office for such governmental agency.
(f) Where submitted, City Council or other appropriately designated authority will not unreasonably deny variance requests where use of groundwater is not the intent of the activity. (Ord. 2055. Passed 12-18-04.)