The Legislature hereby finds and declares that the following facts are true and correct:

The 104th Congress of the United States of America has recently enacted into law amendments to Public Law 104-182 (the "federal act") commonly known as the "Safe Drinking Water Act;"

Congress, in the federal act, has determined that the federal government is committed to maintaining and improving its partnership with the states in the administration and implementation of the federal act;

Congress has, in the federal act, determined that the requirements of the federal act with respect to safe drinking water will impose new requirements that may exceed the financial and technical capacity of many public water systems;

The federal act authorizes state revolving loan funds and authorizes the administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency to offer to enter into agreements with eligible states to make capitalization grants to further the health protection objectives of the federal act, promote the efficient use of fund resources and carry out the other purposes specified in the federal act;

The Legislature deems it necessary, desirable and in the public interest that the state take all action necessary to accomplish the full participation of the state in the revolving loan fund program authorized by the federal act in order to make available to public bodies funds available under the federal act;

Among the requirements of the federal act is the requirement that the state establish a revolving loan fund in compliance with the federal act and provide the other assurances, procedures and mechanisms to carry out the requirements of the federal act as a condition precedent to entering into a grant and other agreements with the federal government pursuant to which funds appropriated by the United States of America will be made available to the state for the purposes of the federal act;

It is necessary, desirable and in the public interest that the Alabama Department of Environmental Management, as the agency of the state charged with the primary responsibility for enforcing state and federal standards for public water systems in the state, be authorized and directed, together with the public corporation herein provided for, to take such actions as are necessary to comply with the provisions of the federal act and to enter into capitalization grants and other agreements with the United States of America pursuant to the federal act;

The federal act authorizes the authority to accelerate the availability of assistance to public bodies by leveraging the amounts available under the federal act through the issuance of bonds of the authority in order to make funds available to public bodies as soon as possible; and

It is necessary, desirable and in the public interest that the authority herein provided for be created for the purpose of issuing its bonds to fully utilize the federal assistance provided for in the federal act to the end that below market rate loans can be made available to public bodies for the purpose of facilitating compliance with the provisions of the federal act.