Chapter 10. Groundwater Sustainability of California Water Code >> Division 26.7. >> Chapter 10.

Prevention and cleanup of groundwater contamination are critical components of successful groundwater management. Groundwater quality becomes especially important as water providers do the following:
  (a) Evaluate investments in groundwater recharge with surface water, stormwater, recycled water, and other conjunctive use projects that augment local groundwater supplies to improve regional water self-reliance.
  (b) Adapt to changing hydrologic conditions brought on by climate change.
  (c) Consider developing groundwater basins to provide much needed local storage options to accommodate hydrologic and regulatory variability in the state's water delivery system.
  (d) Evaluate investments in groundwater recovery projects.

(a) The sum of nine hundred million dollars ($900,000,000) shall be available, upon appropriation by the Legislature from the fund, for expenditures on, and competitive grants, and loans for, projects to prevent or clean up the contamination of groundwater that serves or has served as a source of drinking water. Funds appropriated pursuant to this section shall be available to the state board for projects necessary to protect public health by preventing or reducing the contamination of groundwater that serves or has served as a major source of drinking water for a community.
  (b) Projects shall be prioritized based upon the following criteria:
  (1) The threat posed by groundwater contamination to the affected community's overall drinking water supplies, including an urgent need for treatment of alternative supplies or increased water imports if groundwater is not available due to contamination.
  (2) The potential for groundwater contamination to spread and impair drinking water supply and water storage for nearby population areas.
  (3) The potential of the project, if fully implemented, to enhance local water supply reliability.
  (4) The potential of the project to maximize opportunities to recharge vulnerable, high-use groundwater basins and optimize groundwater supplies.
  (5) The project addresses contamination at a site for which the courts or the appropriate regulatory authority has not yet identified responsible parties, or where the identified responsible parties are unwilling or unable to pay for the total cost of cleanup, including water supply reliability improvement for critical urban water supplies in designated superfund areas with groundwater contamination listed on the National Priorities List established pursuant to Section 105(a)(8)(B) of the federal Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980 (42 U.S.C. Sec. 9605(a)(8)(B)).
  (c) Funding authorized by this chapter shall not be used to pay any share of the costs of remediation recovered from parties responsible for the contamination of a groundwater storage aquifer, but may be used to pay costs that cannot be recovered from responsible parties. Parties that receive funding for remediating groundwater storage aquifers shall exercise reasonable efforts to recover the costs of groundwater cleanup from the parties responsible for the contamination. Funds recovered from responsible parties may only be used to fund treatment and remediation activities.

Of the funds authorized by Section 79771, eighty million dollars ($80,000,000) shall be available for grants for treatment and remediation activities that prevent or reduce the contamination of groundwater that serves as a source of drinking water.

The contaminants that may be addressed with funding pursuant to this chapter may include, but shall not be limited to, nitrates, perchlorate, MTBE (methyl tertiary butyl ether), arsenic, selenium, hexavalent chromium, mercury, PCE (perchloroethylene), TCE (trichloroethylene), DCE (dichloroethene), DCA (dichloroethane), 1,2,3-TCP (trichloropropane), carbon tetrachloride, 1,4-dioxane, 1,4-dioxacyclohexane, nitrosodimethylamine, bromide, iron, manganese, and uranium.

(a) A project that receives funding pursuant to this chapter shall be selected by a competitive grant or loan process with added consideration for those projects that leverage private, federal, or local funding.
  (b) For the purposes of awarding funding under this chapter, a local cost share of not less than 50 percent of the total costs of the project shall be required. The cost-sharing requirement may be waived or reduced for projects that directly benefit a disadvantaged community or an economically distressed area.
  (c) An agency administering grants or loans for the purposes of this chapter shall assess the capacity of a community to pay for the operation and maintenance of the facility to be funded.
  (d) At least 10 percent of the funds available pursuant to this chapter shall be allocated for projects serving severely disadvantaged communities.
  (e) Funding authorized by this chapter shall include funding for technical assistance to disadvantaged communities. The agency administering this funding shall operate a multidisciplinary technical assistance program for small and disadvantaged communities.

Of the funds authorized by Section 79771, one hundred million dollars ($100,000,000) shall be made available for competitive grants for projects that develop and implement groundwater plans and projects in accordance with groundwater planning requirements established under Division 6 (commencing with Section 10000).