Senate Bill No. 200–Senators Washington, Care,
Amodei and McGinness

 

Joint Sponsors: Assemblymen Marvel, Carpenter
and Grady

 

CHAPTER..........

 

AN ACT relating to water; authorizing grants to pay certain costs associated with connecting to a community sewage disposal system; increasing the amount of general obligation bonds that the State Board of Finance may issue to provide the grants; and providing other matters properly relating thereto.

 

THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEVADA, REPRESENTED IN

SENATE AND ASSEMBLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:

 

    Section 1. NRS 349.980 is hereby amended to read as follows:

    349.980  As used in NRS 349.980 to 349.987, inclusive, unless

the context otherwise requires:

    1.  “Board” means the Board for Financing Water Projects

created pursuant to NRS 349.957.

    2.  “Community sewage disposal system” means a public

system of sewage disposal which is operated for the benefit of a

county, city, district or other political subdivision of this state.

    3.  “Community water system” means a public water system

which:

    (a) Has 15 or more service connections; or

    (b) Serves 25 or more persons,

at places which are intended for year-round occupancy.

    [3.] 4.  “Costs of capital improvements to community water

systems and nontransient water systems” means the costs

traditionally associated with capital improvements to such systems

and includes costs associated with the:

    (a) Consolidation of existing systems; and

    (b) Transfer and connection of a public water system to a system

owned by a purveyor of water or a public utility.

    [4.] 5.  “Division of Environmental Protection” means the

Division of Environmental Protection of the State Department of

Conservation and Natural Resources.

    6.  “Fund” means the Fund for Grants for Water Conservation ,

[and] Capital Improvements to Certain Water Systems[.

    5.] and Improvements to Certain Sewage Disposal Systems.

    7.  “Individual sewage disposal system” means a single system

of sewage treatment tanks and effluent disposal facilities that

serves:

    (a) A single-family dwelling; or

    (b) One or more buildings that are used exclusively for

commercial purposes and are not used as single-family dwellings.

    8.  “Nontransient water system” means a public water system

that regularly serves 25 or more of the same persons for more than 6

months per year, but which is not a community water system.

    [6.] 9.  “Public water system” has the meaning ascribed to it in

NRS 445A.840.

    [7.] 10.  “Purveyor of water” means a political subdivision of

this state engaged in the business of furnishing water, for

compensation, to persons within the political subdivision.

    Sec. 2.  NRS 349.981 is hereby amended to read as follows:

    349.981  1.  There is hereby established a program to provide

grants of money to:

    (a) A purveyor of water to pay for costs of capital improvements

to publicly owned community water systems and publicly owned

nontransient water systems required or made necessary by the State

Board of Health pursuant to NRS 445A.800 to 445A.955, inclusive,

or made necessary by the Safe Drinking Water Act, 42 U.S.C. §§

300f et seq., and the regulations adopted pursuant thereto.

    (b) An eligible recipient to pay for the cost of improvements to

conserve water, including, without limitation:

        (1) Piping or lining of an irrigation canal;

        (2) Recovery or recycling of wastewater or tailwater;

        (3) Scheduling of irrigation;

        (4) Measurement or metering of the use of water;

        (5) Improving the efficiency of irrigation operations; and

        (6) Improving the efficiency of the operation of a facility for

the storage of water, including, without limitation, efficiency in

diverting water to such a facility.

    (c) An eligible recipient, to pay the following costs associated

with connecting a domestic well or well with a temporary permit to

a municipal water system, if the well was in existence on or before

October 1, 1999, and the well is located in an area designated by the

State Engineer pursuant to NRS 534.120 as an area where the

ground water basin is being depleted:

        (1) Any local or regional fee for connection to the municipal

water system.

        (2) The cost of any capital improvement that is required to

comply with a decision or regulation of the State Engineer.

    (d) An eligible recipient, to pay the following costs associated

with abandoning an individual sewage disposal system and

connecting the property formerly served by the abandoned

individual sewage disposal system to a community sewage disposal

system, if the Division of Environmental Protection requires the

individual sewage disposal system to be abandoned and the

property upon which the individual sewage disposal system was

located to be connected to a community sewage disposal system

pursuant to the provisions of NRS 445A.300 to 445A.730,

inclusive, or any regulations adopted pursuant thereto:

        (1) Any local or regional fee for connection to the

community sewage disposal system.

        (2) The cost of any capital improvement that is required to

comply with a statute of this state or a decision, directive, order or

regulation of the Division of Environmental Protection.

    2.  Except as otherwise provided in NRS 349.983, the

determination of who is to receive a grant is solely within the

discretion of the Board.

    3.  As used in this section, “eligible recipient” means a political

subdivision of this state, including, without limitation, a city,

county, unincorporated town, water authority, conservation district,

irrigation district, water district or water conservancy district.

    Sec. 3.  NRS 349.984 is hereby amended to read as follows:

    349.984  1.  The Fund for Grants for Water Conservation ,

[and] Capital Improvements to Certain Water Systems and

Improvements to Certain Sewage Disposal Systems is hereby

created.

    2.  Except as otherwise provided by subsections 3 and 4 of NRS

349.982, the money in the Fund must be used only to make grants in

furtherance of the program.

    3.  All claims against the Fund must be paid as other claims

against the State are paid.

    Sec. 4.  NRS 349.986 is hereby amended to read as follows:

    349.986  The State Board of Finance shall issue general

obligation bonds of the State of Nevada in the face amount of not

more than [$69,000,000] $73,000,000 to support the purposes of the

program. The net proceeds from the sale of the bonds must be

deposited in the Fund. The bonds must be redeemed through the

Consolidated Bond Interest and Redemption Fund.

    Sec. 5.  This act becomes effective on July 1, 2003.

 

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