Groundwater: Nitrate at Risk Area Fund.

Existing law establishes the State Water Resources Control Board and authorizes the board to adopt regulations to carry out its powers and duties. Under existing law, the Porter-Cologne Water Quality Control Act, the board is required to formulate and adopt state policy for water quality control. Existing law, the California Safe Drinking Water Act, requires the State Department of Public Health to administer provisions relating to the regulation of drinking water to protect public health, including, but not limited to, conducting research, studies, and demonstration programs relating to the provision of a dependable, safe supply of drinking water, enforcing the federal Safe Drinking Water Act, adopting enforcement regulations, and conducting studies and investigations to assess the quality of water in domestic water supplies. This bill would establish the Nitrate at Risk Area Fund, to be administered by the board and, upon appropriation by the Legislature, moneys in the fund would be available for the purposes of developing and implementing sustainable and affordable solutions for disadvantaged communities in areas reliant on nitrate-contaminated groundwater as their source of drinking water, as determined by the department and the board, consistent with specified data.