(a) The sum of nine hundred million dollars ($900,000,000) shall be available, upon appropriation by the Legislature from the fund, for expenditures on, and competitive grants, and loans for, projects to prevent or clean up the contamination of groundwater that serves or has served as a source of drinking water. Funds appropriated pursuant to this section shall be available to the state board for projects necessary to protect public health by preventing or reducing the contamination of groundwater that serves or has served as a major source of drinking water for a community.

(b) Projects shall be prioritized based upon the following criteria:

(1) The threat posed by groundwater contamination to the affected community’s overall drinking water supplies, including an urgent need for treatment of alternative supplies or increased water imports if groundwater is not available due to contamination.

(2) The potential for groundwater contamination to spread and impair drinking water supply and water storage for nearby population areas.

(3) The potential of the project, if fully implemented, to enhance local water supply reliability.

(4) The potential of the project to maximize opportunities to recharge vulnerable, high-use groundwater basins and optimize groundwater supplies.

(5) The project addresses contamination at a site for which the courts or the appropriate regulatory authority has not yet identified responsible parties, or where the identified responsible parties are unwilling or unable to pay for the total cost of cleanup, including water supply reliability improvement for critical urban water supplies in designated superfund areas with groundwater contamination listed on the National Priorities List established pursuant to Section 105(a)(8)(B) of the federal Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980 (42 U.S.C. Sec. 9605(a)(8)(B)).

(c) Funding authorized by this chapter shall not be used to pay any share of the costs of remediation recovered from parties responsible for the contamination of a groundwater storage aquifer, but may be used to pay costs that cannot be recovered from responsible parties. Parties that receive funding for remediating groundwater storage aquifers shall exercise reasonable efforts to recover the costs of groundwater cleanup from the parties responsible for the contamination. Funds recovered from responsible parties may only be used to fund treatment and remediation activities.

(Added by Stats. 2014, Ch. 188, Sec. 8. (AB 1471) Approved in Proposition 1 at the November 4, 2014, election.)