SECTIONS 30901-30909 - California Statutes

PUBLIC RESOURCES CODE

SECTION 30901-30909

30901. This act shall be known, and may be cited, as the Watershed,
Clean Beaches, and Water Quality Act.

30902. The purpose of this division is to establish a statutory
framework for funding water quality, clean beaches, and watershed
protection projects from the proceeds derived from the issuance and
sale of bonds and other revenue sources, and to specify how the
Resources Agency and its constituent departments and boards,
including the State Coastal Conservancy, and the California
Environmental Protection Agency, and that agency's constituent
departments, including the State Water Resources Control Board, will
coordinate and integrate programs to fund projects.

30903. The Legislature hereby finds and declares all of the
following:
(a) Clean beaches, clean water, and healthy watersheds are
necessary to support both human communities and the state's native
fish and wildlife, and are part of the legacy of California. Each
generation has an obligation to be good stewards of those resources
in order to pass them on to their children.
(b) California's 1,100-mile coastline is world-renowned.
Coastal-related businesses provide seventeen billion dollars
($17,000,000,000) annually to the state's economy and depend on the
restoration and health maintenance of beaches.
(c) Clean water is essential to the state's communities and
economy.
(d) Watershed management is a valuable approach to meeting
comprehensive resource management and water quality objectives.
Watersheds provide a useful, natural unit to integrate and coordinate
the many natural resource functions of state agencies.
(e) Multiple state entities within the California Environmental
Protection Agency and the Resources Agency are currently
administering programs that provide technical assistance or financial
support for various aspects of watershed management or restoration.
Hundreds of watershed partnerships exist in the state, dedicated to
the restoration and management of the state's streams, rivers, and
lands, and the use of watershed management principles and practices.
Coordinated watershed management implementation is crucial to
addressing critical problems and the efficient use of public funds.
The California Environmental Protection Agency and the Resources
Agency are developing a strategic plan for fully integrated watershed
investments.

30904. It is the intent of the Legislature that the purpose of
maintaining clean beaches, clean water, and an integrated and
coordinated watershed program is to protect beaches, coastal waters,
rivers, lakes, and streams from contaminants, pollution, and other
environmental threats.

30905. It is the intent of the Legislature to invest in projects
that will reduce beach contamination and increase visitor days,
including, but not limited to, developing the comprehensive
capability to monitor and analyze water quality and pollutant
transport in coastal waters. This will be demonstrated by measurable
improvements in water quality on and near the state's beaches.

30906. It is the intent of the Legislature to invest in clean water
projects that will do all of the following:
(a) Assist small local communities in meeting water pollution
control requirements.
(b) Improve agricultural water quality and reduce pollutants in
agricultural drainage water.
(c) Implement urban stormwater treatment programs and reduce
nonpoint sources of pollution.
(d) Provide comprehensive capability to monitor and analyze water
quality in groundwater basins throughout the state.
(e) Improve water quality in coastal and marine waters,
particularly those waters that affect marine protected areas and
marine managed areas.

30907. It is the intent of the Legislature to require state
agencies to encourage and support both of the following:
(a) The development of coordinated and complementary strategies
and solutions for watershed management across land ownership and
agency jurisdictional boundaries.
(b) Coordinated program delivery from state and federal agencies
to fit the needs of individual watersheds.

30908. It is the intent of the Legislature that the state should
coordinate and integrate its watershed programs and implement those
programs by working with diverse interests at the local level. The
state's watershed management goals should include, but need not be
limited to, maintaining and restoring healthy watersheds that support
thriving communities, provide clean water, and sustain natural
habitats for future generations.

30909. It is the intent of the Legislature to invest in watershed
management partnerships that use a community-based collaborative
approach to meeting the state's watershed management goals.
Allocation of funding should be balanced among large and small
watersheds, coastal and inland watersheds, and effluent reduction and
source protection, and should be geographically balanced. Priority
should be given to projects and programs that implement programs that
have multiple benefits.