(1) Nothing in this chapter shall be construed as affecting in any way the right of any person to enforce or protect, under applicable law, his interest in water resources affected by a surface coal mining operation or an underground coal mine.
(2) Each permittee or operator of a surface or underground coal mine shall replace the water supply of an owner of interest in real property who obtains all or part of his supply of water for domestic, agricultural, industrial, or other legitimate use from an underground or surface source where the supply has been affected by contamination, diminution, or interruption proximately resulting from the surface or underground coal mine.
Effective: July 15, 1994
History: Amended 1994 Ky. Acts ch. 311, sec. 1, effective July 15, 1994. – Amended
1992 Ky. Acts ch. 429, sec. 27, effective July 14, 1992. — Created 1980 Ky. Acts ch.
62, sec. 37.
Legislative Research Commission Note. The provisions of this section became operative on May 18, 1982, when the conditional approval granted by the United States Secretary of the Interior appeared in the Federal Register.