(a) There is hereby established in the water resources board a Rhode Island water facilities assistance program. The board shall administer this program so as to ensure the proper and systematic development of coordinated water supply and transmission facilities and shall expend the funds available under this chapter in a manner that accomplishes this objective.
(b) This program shall provide twenty-five percent (25%) of the cost of approved water transmission facilities designed and constructed to serve a single water system, and shall provide fifty percent (50%) of the cost of approved intersystem facilities. Only the construction of water transmission and intersystem facilities and the acquisition of land or rights-of-way, together with necessary engineering and design, are eligible for assistance under this program. Costs of borrowing, amortization costs, legal, and all other costs attendant to the funding of water transmission and intersystem facilities are not eligible for financial assistance under this program and must be fully borne by the project applicant. The cost of distribution facilities as defined in this chapter are not eligible for financial assistance under this program. Determinations of project eligibility shall be made by the water resources board.
(c) Only municipalities and quasi municipal water agencies are eligible to apply for assistance under this program. Determinations of applicant eligibility shall be made by the water resources board.
(d) Only projects reviewed and approved by the water resources board, the division of public utilities and carriers, and the state planning council may be funded. Each project supported by this program must be consistent with a plan adopted and kept current by the water resources board in accordance with § 46-15-6 and with applicable elements of the state guide plan, as adopted and kept current by the state planning council in accordance with § 42-11-10(c); provided, however, that with respect to any project which has been approved by the board and which thereafter becomes eligible to participate as an intersystem facilities project, the submission to, and approval by, the public utilities commission and statewide planning council shall not be required.
(e) Each transmission facility supported by this program must link a water source with a water distribution system, both of which are complete and operational or will be so at the time that the transmission facility is completed or is projected for future construction. The capacity of both the water source and the distribution system must be adequate to meet present and future needs, considering all other demands that may be placed on the same sources and distribution systems. All determinations required under this subsection shall be made in a timely fashion by the water resources board.
(f) The quality of water to be conveyed through the proposed transmission system must meet the Rhode Island department of health requirements for the most restrictive current or planned use. All reasonable measures to assure that this level of water quality will be maintained must have been taken.
(g) The design and construction of an approved transmission facility must ensure that it will remain operational for its design life with routine maintenance, and that it will resist all external and internal forces that can be reasonably anticipated as determined by the water resources board.
(h) The water resources board will ensure that maintenance of the transmission facility is performed in a manner that ensures that it will remain operational throughout its design life and is assured by a dedicated revenue such as a user fee or some other equally reliable means.
History of Section.
P.L. 1983 (S.S.), ch. 332, art. II, § 1; P.L. 1988, ch. 129, art. 28, § 2; P.L. 1992, ch. 134, § 3; P.L. 1999, ch. 461, § 3; P.L. 2007, ch. 340, § 50.