(a) The Commissioner of Energy and Environmental Protection may make regulations and orders concerning the elimination of mosquitoes and mosquito-breeding places, and said commissioner or his agent may enter upon any land, tidal wetland, inland wetland or watercourse to ascertain if mosquitoes breed thereon or to survey, drain, fill or otherwise treat, or make any excavation or structure necessary to eliminate mosquito breeding on such land. When funds have been provided by appropriation by the state for the elimination of mosquitoes or mosquito-breeding places, said commissioner may conduct or cause the conducting of such work provided no filling, draining, excavation, installation or erection of any structure, or any other permanent alteration of private property shall be conducted without the consent of the landowner on whose property such work is to be conducted. The commissioner may take and hold, by purchase, condemnation or otherwise, any real property or interest in real property as he determines is necessary to abate a threat of disease to humans or animals from insect vectors. Whenever the commissioner is unable to agree with the owner of any such property as to the compensation to be paid for the taking thereof, the commissioner may bring condemnation proceedings in accordance with the procedure provided by part I of chapter 835 for condemnation by municipal corporations generally. In such case, the court may permit immediate possession of such property by the commissioner in accordance with the procedure provided by said part I of chapter 835.

(b) The Commissioner of Energy and Environmental Protection, in coordination with the Commissioner of Public Health and local health departments, shall survey land, tidal wetlands, inland wetlands or watercourses in any municipality with a population over one hundred thousand where there has been a documented death of a human from West Nile virus, to ascertain if mosquitoes breed thereon and may conduct any work, as provided for in subsection (a) of this section, necessary to eliminate mosquito breeding on such land.

(c) No private property, in any municipality with a population over one hundred thousand where there has been a documented death of a human from West Nile virus, may contain standing water that the Commissioner of Energy and Environmental Protection determines, in consultation with the Commissioner of Public Health and local health departments, creates a risk of mosquito-borne illness. The Commissioner of Energy and Environmental Protection shall enforce the provisions of this subsection.

(d) The Commissioner of Energy and Environmental Protection, in coordination with the Commissioner of Public Health and local health departments, shall encourage public outreach programs instructing residents and private property owners of the risks of standing water and the signs and symptoms of West Nile virus.