Executive Order  No. 43: (1st Series) Authorizing the Metropolitan District Commission to sell water to certain war industries

WHEREAS, certain operations vital to the successful prosecution of the war are being or hereafter may be conducted in industrial plants and other establishments and on premises or locations occupied by agencies of the Government of the United States within this Commonwealth; and

WHEREAS, the constant availability of an adequate supply of water is essential to the performance of said operations; and

WHEREAS, in the event that the supply of water nor or hereafter furnished said plants, establishments, premises or locations is inadequate, interfered with, interrupted or otherwise discontinued, the said operations vital to the prosecution of the war would be drastically affected; and

WHEREAS, the operators of certain of such plants and establishments and the Government of the United States have heretofore requested and may hereafter request that adequate connections be made between such plants, establishments, premises or locations and the water system of the Metropolitan District Commission, either to provide an adequate water supply or to provide against the possibility that the existing water supply be rendered unavailable by enemy action; and

WHEREAS, in certain cases it may be that the water system maintained by the Metropolitan District Commission can be connected conveniently with the water systems of said plants, establishments, premises or locations, thereby safeguarding said operations by providing an additional or more adequate water supply:

NOW, THEREFORE, I, LEVERETT SALTONSTALL, Governor of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, acting under the authority of Acts of 1941, chapter 719, section 7, Acts of 1942, chapter 13, section 2 (2), and section 3, and of all other authority vested in me, do hereby issue this order as a measure necessary and expedient for meeting the supreme emergency of the existing state of war between the United States and certain foreign countries.

1. The Metropolitan District Commission, subject to the approval of the Governor, is hereby authorized and empowered upon application of the Government of the United States, or any agency thereof, and of the operators or owners of any industrial plant or establishment within the Commonwealth engaged in operations vital to the prosecution of the war as certified by the War Department of the Government of the United States, to provide at the expense of the operators or owners of such industrial plant or establishment a connection or connections between the water supply system maintained by said Commission and such industrial plant or establishment. The metropolitan District Commission is authorized and empowered to sell and deliver water through such connection or connections to the operators or owners of any such industrial plant or establishment referred to in this paragraph at such rates and upon such terms and conditions as may be fixed by agreement between the said Metropolitan District Commission and the operators or owners of such industrial plant or establishment, subject to the approval of the Governor. No such connection or connections shall be provided by the Metropolitan District Commission pursuant to the authority of this order until contracts for the sale and delivery of water through the proposed connection or connections have been executed by and between the Metropolitan District Commission and the applicant or applicants for said connection or connections and approved by the Governor.

2. The Metropolitan District Commission, subject to the approval of the Governor, is hereby authorized and empowered upon application of the Government of the United States, or any agency thereof, to provide at the expense of said Government a connection or connections between the water supply system maintained by said Commission and any premises or location within the Commonwealth occupied by the Government of the United States, or any agency thereof, on which operations vital to the prosecution of the war are being performed as certified by the War or Navy Departments of the Government of the United States. The Metropolitan District Commission is authorized and empowered to sell and deliver water through such connection or connections to the Government of the United States or any agency thereof at such premises or location referred to in this paragraph at such rates and upon such terms and conditions as may be fixed by agreement between the said Metropolitan District Commission and the Government of the United States, or its duly authorized agent, subject to the approval of the Governor. No such connection or connections shall be provided by the Metropolitan District Commission pursuant to the authority of this order until contracts for the sale and delivery of water through the proposed connection or connections have been executed by and between the Metropolitan District Commission and the applicant or applicants for said connection or connections and approved by the Governor.

3. The installation of said connection or connections and the sale and delivery of water as authorized by this order shall not constitute the applicant therefor or the recipient thereof a member of the Metropolitan Water District, nor shall the provisions of General Laws (Ter. Ed.), chapter 92, section 10, or of Acts of 1941, chapter 27, be deemed to apply to such applicant or recipient.

GIVEN at the Executive Chamber in Boston, this fifth day of December, in the year of our Lord one thousand nine hundred and forty-two, and of the Independence of the United States of America, the one hundred and sixty-seventh.

By His Excellency the Governor,
Leverett Saltonstall