Connecticut Public Act No. 25-33 (2025), Sections 19-20: Water Supply and Infrastructure

Connecticut Public Act No. 25-33, signed by the Governor on June 10, 2025, is a wide-reaching environmental and climate adaptation law that creates new standards and requirements for state and local government as well as the private sector. The Act establishes new obligations and frameworks across several different policy areas: flood risk disclosure, municipal and regional climate planning, local resilience financing, water and infrastructure climate proofing, and pesticide restrictions to protect pollinators and wildlife. Sections 19-20 of the Act affect adaptation planning requirements for water supply and infrastructure. 

Where prior law treated water planning largely as a static resource management exercise, these sections require that future-looking climate data (including precipitation variability, temperature change, flooding, and sea level rise) become embedded in the regulatory and planning frameworks that govern how Connecticut manages its water resources. The obligations created here fall primarily on state agencies rather than municipalities or private parties, but the downstream effects (like updated regulations, revised permits, and a climate-informed state water plan) will affect utilities, municipalities, developers, and environmental professionals across the state.

Section 19 of the Act directs state agencies and the Water Planning Council to incorporate climate projections into water resource planning and regulation. The Water Planning Council must, in its next periodic update to the State Water Plan, consider climate change impacts on water quality, account for past and projected temperatures and precipitation in identifying available water supplies, and include an implementation plan to reduce climate and extreme weather impacts on water quality and quantity.

By December 31, 2028, and every ten years thereafter, the Departments of Public Health (DPH) and Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP) and the Public Utilities Regulatory Authority must update state water plan’s water supply regulations to incorporate current climate projections on precipitation, temperature, and other conditions affecting water quality, quantity, and distribution.

On the same schedule, Section 20 of the Act requires DEEP and DPH to review and revise permitting processes for sewage disposal systems to reflect projections on precipitation, flooding, and sea level rise every ten years. The Act applies broadly to sewage disposal systems of all types. Sewage disposal systems are often designed based on assumptions about soil conditions, groundwater levels, and flood frequency, all of which are affected by climate change. For example, a septic system permitted and installed under historical groundwater assumptions may fail to function safely as rising groundwater levels reduce the soil’s capacity to treat wastewater. Similarly, low-lying municipal wastewater infrastructure designed to handle historical storm flows may become overwhelmed more frequently as precipitation intensifies. The Act proactively addresses the public health and environmental risks for the property owner and surrounding community by requiring the agencies to incorporate updated climate projections into their permitting standards. 

 

Sections 19-20 of Public Act 25-33 operationally require state agencies to embed climate science into the regulatory instruments that govern water supply and sewage disposal; the Act ensures that Connecticut's infrastructure standards keep pace with a changing climate rather than remaining anchored to historical conditions that no longer reliably predict future risk. Section 20 of the Act is codified at Conn. Gen. Stat. § 22a-352c, while Section 19 is uncodified.

Publication Date: June 10, 2025

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  • State of Connecticut

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