Chap. 0462 An Act relative to the williamstown water company.

Be it enacted, etc., as follows:

Section 1. Section two of chapter three hundred and eleven of the acts of the year eighteen hundred and eighty-five is hereby amended by adding at the end thereof the words: - provided, however, that no source of water supply for domestic purposes and no lands shall be acquired or used under this act without the advice and consent of the state board of health, and that the location of all dams, reservoirs, wells or other works for collecting or storing water shall be subject to the approval of said board, - so as to read as follows: - Section 2. The said corporation, for the purposes aforesaid, may take, by purchase or otherwise, and hold the water of any springs or brooks in the town of Williamstown and the water rights connected with any such water sources and any water procured from any other source under the authority of this act; and also all lands, rights of way and easements, necessary for holding and preserving such water and for conveying the same to any part of said town; and may erect on the land thus taken or held proper dams, buildings, fixtures and other structures; and may make excavations, procure and operate machinery and provide such other means and appliances as may be necessary for the establishment and maintenance of complete and effective water works; and may construct and lay down conduits, pipes and other works, under or over any lands, water courses, railroads or public or private ways and along any such ways in such manner as not unnecessarily to obstruct the same; and for the purpose of constructing, maintaining and repairing such conduits, pipes and other works, and for all proper purposes of this act, said corporation may dig up any such lands and, under the direction of the board of selectmen of the town in which any such ways are situated, may enter upon and dig up any such ways in such manner as to cause the least hindrance to public travel on such ways: provided, however, that no source of water supply for domestic purposes and no lands shall be acquired or used under this act without the advice and con-
sent of the state board of health, and that the location of all dams, reservoirs, wells or other works for collecting or storing water shall be subject to the approval of said board.
Section 2. Said chapter three hundred and eleven is hereby further amended by striking out section six and inserting in place thereof the following: - Section 6. The said corporation may, for the purposes set forth in this act, hold lands not exceeding in value fifty thousand dollars; and the whole capital stock of said corporation shall not exceed one hundred thousand dollars to be divided into shares of one hundred dollars each; and said corporation may issue bonds to an amount not exceeding one hundred and sixty thousand dollars, and may secure the same at any time by a mortgage on its franchise and property.
Section 3. The purchase by the said Williamstown Water Company of lands, water rights and easements situated in the town of Pownal in the county of Bennington in the state of Vermont, bordering on or near to Rattlesnake brook, is hereby ratified and confirmed, and the said company may hold said lands, water rights and easements for the purposes for which it was incorporated, and may purchase and hold such other lands, water rights and easements situated in said Pownal, and bordering on or near to the said brook, as in the opinion of the state board of health may be necessary for the purposes aforesaid ; and no lands or waters shall hereafter be acquired by said company except with the advice and consent of the state board of health.
Section 4. Within sixty days after the passage of this act the Williamstown Water Company shall file with the board of selectmen of the town of Williamstown a sworn statement of the cost of the lands, waters, water rights and other property acquired by said company in connection with the introduction of water from Rattlesnake brook; and in case the town of Williamstown shall at any time thereafter acquire the works of the Williamstown Water Company the value of the lands, waters, water works, rights and privileges acquired in connection with the said Rattlesnake brook shall not be held to exceed the amount paid therefor, nor shall the right to use water from Rattlesnake brook herein granted be held to increase
the value of the franchise of said Williamstown Water Company.
Section 5.   This act shall take effect upon its passage.
Approved June 1, 1909.