(a) Because the federal Safe Drinking Water Act (42 U.S.C. Sec. 300j et seq.) provides for establishment of a perpetual drinking water revolving fund, which will be partially capitalized by federal contributions, it is in the interest of the people of the state, in order to ensure full participation by the state under the federal Safe Drinking Water Act, to enact this chapter to authorize the state to establish and implement a state drinking water revolving fund that will meet federal conditions for receipt of federal funds. The primary purpose of this chapter is to enable receipt of funds under the federal Safe Drinking Water Act. It is the intent of the Legislature that the terms of this chapter shall be liberally construed to achieve this purpose.
(b) Toxic contaminants and new pathogenic organisms, including cryptosporidium, have been discovered in many of California’s public drinking water systems.
(c) Many of the contaminants in California’s drinking water supplies are known to cause, or are suspected of causing, cancer, birth defects, and other serious illnesses.
(d) It is unlikely that the contamination problems of small public water systems can be solved without financial assistance from the state.
(e) The protection of the health, safety, and welfare of the people of California requires that the water supplied for domestic purposes be at all times pure, wholesome, and potable. It is in the interest of the people that the State of California provide technical and financial assistance to ensure a safe, dependable, and potable supply of water for domestic purposes and that water is available in adequate quantity at sufficient pressure for health, cleanliness, and other domestic purposes.
(f) It is the intent of the Legislature to provide for the upgrading of existing public water supply systems to ensure that all domestic water supplies meet safe drinking water standards and other requirements established under Chapter 4 (commencing with Section 116270).
(g) The extent of the current risk to public health from contamination in drinking water creates a compelling need to upgrade existing public water systems. The demand for financial assistance to enable public water systems to meet drinking water standards and regulations exceeds funds available from the Safe Drinking Water State Revolving Fund.
(h) The Legislature further finds and declares that regional solutions to water contamination problems are often more effective, efficient, and economical than solutions designed to address solely the problems of a single small public water system, and it is in the interest of the people of the State of California to encourage the consolidation of the management and the facilities of small water systems to enable those systems to better address their water contamination problems.
(i) The protection of drinking water sources is essential to ensuring that the people of California are provided with pure, wholesome, and potable drinking water.
(j) That coordination among local, state, and federal public health and environmental management programs be undertaken to ensure that sources of drinking water are protected while avoiding duplication of effort and reducing program costs.
(k) It is necessary that a source water protection program be implemented for the purposes of delineating, assessing, and protecting drinking water sources throughout the state and that federal funds be utilized pursuant to the federal Safe Drinking Water Act to carry out that program.
(l) It is in the interest of the people of the state to provide funds for a perpetual Safe Drinking Water State Revolving Fund that may be combined with similar federal funding to the extent the funding is authorized pursuant to the federal Safe Drinking Water Act.
(m) This chapter shall govern implementation of the Safe Drinking Water State Revolving Fund, and shall be implemented in a manner that is consistent with the federal Safe Drinking Water Act, and, to the extent authorized under the federal act, in a manner that is consistent with the California Safe Drinking Water Act, Chapter 4 (commencing with Section 116270).
(n) This section shall become operative on July 1, 2014.
(Repealed (in Sec. 64) and added by Stats. 2014, Ch. 35, Sec. 65. (SB 861) Effective June 20, 2014. Section operative July 1, 2014, by its own provisions.)