79161-79161.5
WATER CODE
SECTION 79161-79161.5
79161. (a) The sum of thirty million dollars ($30,000,000) in the account is hereby appropriated to the department, without regard to fiscal years, for use by the department for loans and grants to local agencies for the acquisition and construction of groundwater recharge facilities. (b) A loan application pursuant to this article shall include the reasonable cost and benefit of the proposed project, including a feasibility report that shall set forth the economic justification for the project, and shall include explanations of the proposed facilities and their relation to other water supply related facilities in the basin or region. (c) A project under this article shall not receive any more than five million dollars ($5,000,000) in loan proceeds from the department. (d) The department shall give preference under this section to projects that are located in overdrafted groundwater basins, projects of critical need, projects whose feasibility studies demonstrate the greatest engineering and hydrogeologic feasibility as determined by the department, and projects located in areas that have groundwater management plans. 79161.5. (a) The department may make grants to local agencies, under any terms and conditions that may be determined necessary by the department, for the purpose of financing feasibility studies of projects potentially eligible for a loan under Section 79161. (b) No single feasibility study shall be eligible to receive more than one hundred thousand dollars ($100,000), and not more than 5 percent of the total amount deposited in the account may be expended for the purposes of financing feasibility studies. (c) A grant for a feasibility study shall not affect the maximum amount of any loan that may be made under this article.