ARTICLE 1. General Provisions [14050. - 14052.]

Cal. Water Code - WAT 1.
in effect

Cal. Water Code - WAT § 14051. Section 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.

Cal. Water Code - WAT § 14052. Section 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.
Source: CA Legislative Counsel Bulk DataURL: https://downloads.leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/pubinfo_2025.zipFetched: 6/27/2026

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