(a) The sum of thirty million dollars ($30,000,000) in the account is hereby appropriated to the department, without regard to fiscal years, for use by the department for loans and grants to local agencies for the acquisition and construction of groundwater recharge facilities.
(b) A loan application pursuant to this article shall include the reasonable cost and benefit of the proposed project, including a feasibility report that shall set forth the economic justification for the project, and shall include explanations of the proposed facilities and their relation to other water supply related facilities in the basin or region.
(c) A project under this article shall not receive any more than five million dollars ($5,000,000) in loan proceeds from the department.
(d) The department shall give preference under this section to projects that are located in overdrafted groundwater basins, projects of critical need, projects whose feasibility studies demonstrate the greatest engineering and hydrogeologic feasibility as determined by the department, and projects located in areas that have groundwater management plans.
(Added by Stats. 1999, Ch. 725, Sec. 1. Approved in Proposition 13 at the March 7, 2000, election.)