{"formats":[{"name":"JSON","format":"json","url":"\/downloads\/2026\/code-json\/21-287.json"},{"name":"Plain Text","format":"text","url":"\/downloads\/2026\/code-text\/21-287.txt"},{"name":"XML","format":"xml","url":"\/downloads\/2026\/code-xml\/21-287.xml"},{"name":"HTML","format":"html","url":"\/downloads\/2026\/code-html\/21-287.html"}],"law_id":354023,"edition_id":2,"section_id":354023,"structure_id":50677,"section_number":"21-287","catch_line":"Discharge into waters of matter causing pollution","history":"1946, p. 363; Michie Suppl. 1946, \u00a7 1560iii22.","full_text":"No county, city, town or other public body, or person shall discharge, or suffer to be discharged, directly or indirectly into any waters of the district any sewage, industrial wastes or other refuse which may or will cause or contribute to pollution of any waters of the district, provided, that this provision shall be applicable only to such part or parts of the waters of a district as shall be bounded and described in a notice, published in a newspaper or newspapers having, in the aggregate, general circulation in all of the counties and cities within which or bordering upon which such part or parts of the waters of the district are located, to the effect that the commission has provided facilities reasonably sufficient in its opinion for the disposal of sewage, which by discharge from public sewer systems might cause or contribute to pollution of the bounded and described part or parts of such waters, and that pollution of the same is forbidden by law. Such a notice shall constitute prima facie evidence of the existence of facilities sufficient for the disposal of such sewage. The provisions of this section shall not prohibit the disposal of sewage and industrial wastes in the manner in which the same is now being disposed of, or in any other reasonable manner, by any county, city or town, no part of which constitutes a part of any district, or by any person in any such county, city or town, no part of which constitutes a part of any district.\n\n","order_by":null,"text":{"0":{"id":1318520,"text":"No county, city, town or other public body, or person shall discharge, or suffer to be discharged, directly or indirectly into any waters of the district any sewage, industrial wastes or other refuse which may or will cause or contribute to pollution of any waters of the district, provided, that this provision shall be applicable only to such part or parts of the waters of a district as shall be bounded and described in a notice, published in a newspaper or newspapers having, in the aggregate, general circulation in all of the counties and cities within which or bordering upon which such part or parts of the waters of the district are located, to the effect that the commission has provided facilities reasonably sufficient in its opinion for the disposal of sewage, which by discharge from public sewer systems might cause or contribute to pollution of the bounded and described part or parts of such waters, and that pollution of the same is forbidden by law. Such a notice shall constitute prima facie evidence of the existence of facilities sufficient for the disposal of such sewage. The provisions of this section shall not prohibit the disposal of sewage and industrial wastes in the manner in which the same is now being disposed of, or in any other reasonable manner, by any county, city or town, no part of which constitutes a part of any district, or by any person in any such county, city or town, no part of which constitutes a part of any district.","type":"section","prefixes":[""],"prefix":"","entire_prefix":"","prefix_anchor":"","level":1}},"ancestry":[{"id":50677,"edition_id":2,"name":"Prohibitions and Penalties","identifier":"7","label":"article","depth":3,"order_by":7,"parent_id":50670,"metadata":{"child_laws":4,"child_structures":0},"date_created":"2026-08-02 02:31:12","date_modified":"2026-08-02 12:30:57","permalink":{"id":1407337,"object_type":"structure","relational_id":50677,"identifier":"7","token":"21\/4\/7","url":"\/21\/4\/7\/","edition_id":2,"permalink":0,"preferred":1}},{"id":50670,"edition_id":2,"name":"Sanitation Districts Law of 1946 -- Nontidal Waters","identifier":"4","label":"chapter","depth":2,"order_by":4,"parent_id":50656,"metadata":{"child_laws":68,"child_structures":7},"date_created":"2026-08-02 02:31:06","date_modified":"2026-08-02 12:30:55","permalink":{"id":1407067,"object_type":"structure","relational_id":50670,"identifier":"4","token":"21\/4","url":"\/21\/4\/","edition_id":2,"permalink":0,"preferred":1}},{"id":50656,"edition_id":2,"name":"Drainage, Soil Conservation, Sanitation and Public Facilities Districts","identifier":"21","label":"title","depth":1,"order_by":58,"parent_id":null,"metadata":{"child_laws":358,"child_structures":25},"date_created":"2026-08-02 02:30:49","date_modified":"2026-08-02 12:30:54","permalink":{"id":1406467,"object_type":"structure","relational_id":50656,"identifier":"21","token":"21","url":"\/21\/","edition_id":2,"permalink":0,"preferred":1}}],"structure_contents":[{"id":354023,"structure_id":50677,"section_number":"21-287","catch_line":"Discharge into waters of matter causing pollution","url":"\/21-287\/","token":"21\/4\/7\/21-287","metadata":false},{"id":354024,"structure_id":50677,"section_number":"21-288","catch_line":"Discharge of matter injurious to system","url":"\/21-288\/","token":"21\/4\/7\/21-288","metadata":false},{"id":354025,"structure_id":50677,"section_number":"21-289","catch_line":"Jurisdiction","url":"\/21-289\/","token":"21\/4\/7\/21-289","metadata":false},{"id":354026,"structure_id":50677,"section_number":"21-290","catch_line":"Punishment of violations","url":"\/21-290\/","token":"21\/4\/7\/21-290","metadata":false}],"next_section":{"id":354024,"structure_id":50677,"section_number":"21-288","catch_line":"Discharge of matter injurious to system","url":"\/21-288\/","token":"21\/4\/7\/21-288","metadata":false},"metadata":false,"official_url":"https:\/\/law.lis.virginia.gov\/vacode\/21-287\/","history_text":false,"references":false,"refers_to":false,"permalink":{"id":1407339,"object_type":"law","relational_id":354023,"identifier":"21-287","token":"21\/4\/7\/21-287","url":"\/21-287\/","edition_id":2,"permalink":0,"preferred":1},"url":"\/21-287\/","token":"21\/4\/7\/21-287","dublin_core":{"Title":"Discharge into waters of matter causing pollution","Type":"Text","Format":"text\/html","Identifier":"\u00a7 21-287","Relation":"Code of Virginia"},"html":"\n\t\t\t\t\t\t

No county<\/span>, city, town<\/span> or other public body, or person<\/span> shall discharge, or suffer to be discharged, directly or indirectly into any waters of the district<\/span> any sewage<\/span>, industrial wastes<\/span> or other refuse which may or will cause or contribute to pollution<\/span> of any waters of the district<\/span>, provided, that this provision shall be applicable only to such part or parts of the waters of a district as shall be bounded and described in a notice, published in a newspaper or newspapers having, in the aggregate, general circulation in all of the counties and cities within which or bordering upon which such part or parts of the waters of the district<\/span> are located, to the effect that the commission has provided facilities reasonably sufficient in its opinion<\/span> for the disposal of sewage<\/span>, which by discharge from public sewer systems might cause or contribute to pollution<\/span> of the bounded and described part or parts of such waters, and that pollution<\/span> of the same is forbidden by law<\/span>. Such a notice shall constitute prima facie evidence<\/span> of the existence of facilities sufficient for the disposal of such sewage<\/span>. The provisions of this section shall not prohibit the disposal of sewage<\/span> and industrial wastes<\/span> in the manner in which the same is now being disposed of, or in any other reasonable manner, by any county<\/span>, city or town<\/span>, no part of which constitutes a part of any district, or by any person<\/span> in any such county<\/span>, city or town<\/span>, no part of which constitutes a part of any district.<\/p><\/section>","plain_text":" CODE OF VIRGINIA\n\nDISCHARGE INTO WATERS OF MATTER CAUSING POLLUTION (\u00a7 21-287)\n\nNo county, city, town or other public body, or person shall discharge, or suffer\nto be discharged, directly or indirectly into any waters of the district any\nsewage, industrial wastes or other refuse which may or will cause or contribute\nto pollution of any waters of the district, provided, that this provision shall\nbe applicable only to such part or parts of the waters of a district as shall be\nbounded and described in a notice, published in a newspaper or newspapers\nhaving, in the aggregate, general circulation in all of the counties and cities\nwithin which or bordering upon which such part or parts of the waters of the\ndistrict are located, to the effect that the commission has provided facilities\nreasonably sufficient in its opinion for the disposal of sewage, which by\ndischarge from public sewer systems might cause or contribute to pollution of\nthe bounded and described part or parts of such waters, and that pollution of\nthe same is forbidden by law. Such a notice shall constitute prima facie\nevidence of the existence of facilities sufficient for the disposal of such\nsewage. The provisions of this section shall not prohibit the disposal of sewage\nand industrial wastes in the manner in which the same is now being disposed of,\nor in any other reasonable manner, by any county, city or town, no part of which\nconstitutes a part of any district, or by any person in any such county, city or\ntown, no part of which constitutes a part of any district.\n\nHISTORY: 1946, p. 363; Michie Suppl. 1946, \u00a7 1560iii22.","edition":{"id":2,"name":"2026","slug":"2026","date_created":"2026-07-16 18:40:23","date_modified":"2026-08-02 15:14:36","current":1,"order_by":2,"last_import":"2026-08-02 12:37:30"}}