N.J.S.A. 58:12A-22 — Water Supply Replacement Trust Fund.

58:12A-22 Water Supply Replacement Trust Fund. 1. a. There is established in the Department of Environmental Protection a non-lapsing revolving fund to be known as the "Water Supply Replacement Trust Fund," hereinafter referred to as the fund. The department shall administer the fund, and monies in the fund shall be used to (1) provide loans to individuals, municipalities or municipally-owned or privately-owned public water systems as defined in section 3 of P.L.1977, c.224 (C.58:12A-3) for the purposes of providing interim or permanent alternate water supplies to persons whose principal source of potable water is contaminated or is threatened with contamination by hazardous substances as identified by the department, or fails to meet the State primary drinking water standards contained in regulations developed pursuant to this act, or fails to meet a standard for sodium, chloride, lead, mercury, iron, or manganese established by the department pursuant to section 4 of P.L.1991, c.456 (C.58:12A-22.4), and (2) provide funds to the department to conduct feasibility studies to determine appropriate remedies for contaminated potable water supplies, including the evaluation of water treatment systems, to conduct confirmatory tests to determine the presence of hazardous substances in potable water supplies, to study the extent to which water supplies are contaminated or are threatened by contamination with hazardous substances, to develop recommendations for remediating contaminated or threatened water supplies, and to defray administrative costs incurred by the department in implementing the provisions of this act. Payments of principal and interest on loans issued under the authority of this act shall be deposited in the fund, and shall remain available for further disbursements as new loans to be awarded pursuant to this act. Any monies deposited in the "Water Supply Replacement Trust Fund" are hereby appropriated to the Department of Environmental Protection to carry out the purposes of this act. b. Loans made to local government units pursuant to this act shall bear interest at a rate fixed by the State Treasurer, which rate shall not exceed two percent per year for a term of not more than 20 years. c. As used in this act, "hazardous substance" means any substance defined as a hazardous substance by the Department of Environmental Protection pursuant to rules and regulations adopted pursuant to section 3 of P.L.1976, c.141 (C.58:10-23.11b). L.1988,c.106,s.1; amended 1989, c.311, s.1; 1991, c.456, s.1; 1999, c.266, s.1. 58:12A-22.1. Radium-contaminated water supply sub-account; indication of radium; confirmatory test; loans a. There is established in the "Water Supply Replacement Trust Fund" established pursuant to section 1 of P.L.1988, c.106 (C.58:12A-22) a Radium-Contaminated Water Supply sub-account. Monies in the Radium-Contaminated Water Supply sub-account shall be used by the Department of Environmental Protection for the purpose of testing and mapping those aquifers identified by the department to determine the extent of radium contamination of the aquifer, and by the department or a municipal or regional health agency certified by the department pursuant to section 15 of P.L.1977, c.443 (C.26:3A2-33) for the purpose of financing confirmatory tests to determine the presence of radium in potable water supplies. b. Any owner of a single family residence who has conducted a gross alpha or a gross beta screen test of the potable water supply relied upon by the occupants of the single family residence, the results of which indicate the presence of radium in the potable water supply in excess of a safety level established by the department, may petition the department to conduct a confirmatory test, which may be based on representative sampling, to determine the accuracy of the initial test. Upon receipt of such a request, the department shall conduct the confirmatory test. No request for a confirmatory test may be made by a person pursuant to this subsection until the department has completed the testing and mapping of aquifers required pursuant to subsection a. of this section. c. Of the amount appropriated to the Radium-Contaminated Water Supply sub-account, the sum of $1,000,000 is allocated to the New Jersey Housing and Mortgage Finance Agency established pursuant to P.L.1983, c.530 (C.55:14K-1 et seq.) and dedicated for the purposes of providing low interest loans to owners of single family residences whose source of potable water is contaminated or threatened by contamination with radium to provide a permanent alternative potable water supply or adequate treatment technology. The agency shall establish a program to provide the loans authorized pursuant to this subsection. The loans issued pursuant to this subsection shall bear an interest of not more than 2 percent per year, and shall be for a term of not more than five years. The maximum amount for any single loan shall be $10,000. Loan applicants shall provide certification from the Department of Environmental Protection or from a municipal or regional health agency certified pursuant to section 15 of P.L.1977, c.443 (C.26:3A2-33) of the contamination or the threat of this contamination when applying for loans on forms prescribed by the agency. d. There is appropriated to the Radium-Contaminated Water Supply sub-account the sum of $3,500,000 from the "Clean Waters Fund" established pursuant to P.L.1976, c.92 from amounts in the fund received as repayments of emergency water supply loans made pursuant to P.L.1981, c.28. L.1989, c.311, s.4.

This is the verbatim text of N.J.S.A. 58:12A-22, retrieved from the New Jersey Legislature's public statute corpus. Statutes are amended periodically — for the most current version, check the external source link above. Kyzer is not a law firm and this page is not legal advice.