SECTIONS 14050-14052 - California Statutes

WATER CODE

SECTION 14050-14052

14050. This chapter shall be known and may be cited as the Clean
Water and Water Reclamation Bond Law of 1988.

14051. The Legislature finds and declares as follows:
(a) Clean water is essential to the public health, safety, and
welfare.
(b) Clean water fosters the beauty of California's environment,
the expansion of industry and agriculture, maintains fish and
wildlife, and supports recreation.
(c) California's abundant lakes and ponds, streams and rivers,
coastline, and groundwater are threatened with pollution, which could
threaten public health and impede economic and social growth if left
unchecked.
(d) The state's growing population has increasing needs for clean
water supplies and adequate treatment facilities.
(e) It is of paramount importance that the limited water resources
of the state be protected from pollution, conserved, and reclaimed
whenever possible to ensure continued economic, community, and social
growth.
(f) The chief cause of water pollution is the discharge of
inadequately treated waste into the waters of the state.
(g) Local agencies have the primary responsibility for
construction, operation, and maintenance of facilities to cleanse our
waters.
(h) Rising costs of construction and technological changes have
pushed the cost of constructing treatment facilities beyond the reach
of many small communities.
(i) Because water knows no political boundaries, it is desirable
for the state to contribute to construction of needed facilities in
order to meet its obligations to protect and promote the health,
safety, and welfare of its people and environment.
(j) The people of California have a primary interest in the
development of facilities to reclaim water to supplement existing
water supplies and to assist in meeting the future water needs of the
state.
(k) A significant portion of the future water needs of California
may be met by the use of reclaimed water.
(l) Local public agencies have the primary responsibility for the
construction, operation, and maintenance of water reclamation
facilities.
(m) Local public agencies need financial assistance to make
cost-effective reclamation projects financially feasible.
(n) (1) It is also the intent of this chapter to provide special
assistance to small communities to construct facilities necessary to
eliminate water pollution and public health hazards.
(2) It is also the intent of this chapter to provide funds for the
design and construction of eligible water reclamation projects and
for the development and implementation of programs and activities
that lead to increased use of reclaimed water in California.

14052. As used in this chapter, the following words have the
following meanings:
(a) "Board" means the State Water Resources Control Board.
(b) "Committee" means the Clean Water and Water Reclamation
Finance Committee created by Section 14067.
(c) "Construction" has the same meaning as in the Federal Clean
Water Act.
(d) "Eligible project" means a project for a small community for
the construction of treatment works which is all of the following:
(1) Necessary to prevent pollution.
(2) Eligible for federal assistance pursuant to Title VI of the
Federal Clean Water Act.
(3) Certified by the board as entitled to priority over other
treatment works, and complies with applicable water quality
standards, policies, and plans.
(e) "Eligible reclamation project" means a water reclamation
project which is cost-effective when compared with the cost of
alternative new freshwater supplies, and for which no federal
assistance is currently available. These projects shall comply with
applicable water quality standards, policies, and plans.
(f) "Federal assistance" means funds available to a local agency
pursuant to the Federal Clean Water Act.
(g) "Federal Clean Water Act" or "federal act" means the Federal
Water Pollution Control Act (33 U.S.C. Sec. 1251 et seq.) and any
acts amendatory thereof or supplementary thereto.
(h) "Fund" means the 1988 Clean Water and Water Reclamation Fund
created pursuant to Section 14055.
(i) "Local public agency" means any city, county, district, joint
powers authority, or any other local public body or political
subdivision of the state created by or pursuant to state law and
involved with water or waste water management.
(j) "Municipality" has the same meaning as in the Federal Clean
Water Act and also includes the state or any agency, department, or
political subdivision thereof.
(k) "Small community" means a municipality with a population of
3,500 persons or less, or a reasonably isolated and divisible segment
of a larger municipality encompassing 3,500 persons or less, with a
financial hardship as defined by the board.
(l) "State grant" means a grant given to a qualifying small
community eligible for federal assistance under Title VI of the
Federal Clean Water Act.
(m) "State Water Pollution Control Revolving Fund" means a
revolving fund created under state law for the purpose of issuing
loans for the construction of eligible treatment works in accordance
with the federal act.
(n) "Treatment works" has the same meaning as in the Federal Clean
Water Act.