(a) In addition to making use of other financing mechanisms that are available to local agencies to fund watershed improvement plans and plan measures and facilities, a county, city, special district, or combination thereof may impose fees on activities that generate or contribute to runoff, stormwater, or surface runoff pollution, to pay the costs of the preparation of a watershed improvement plan, and the implementation of a watershed improvement plan if all of the following requirements are met:

(1) The regional board has approved the watershed improvement plan.

(2) The entity or entities that develop the watershed improvement plan make a finding, supported by substantial evidence, that the fee is reasonably related to the cost of mitigating the actual or anticipated past, present, or future adverse effects of the activities of the feepayer. “Activities,” for the purposes of this paragraph, means the operations and existing structures and improvements subject to regulation under an NPDES permit for municipal separate storm sewer systems.

(3) The fee is not imposed solely as an incident of property ownership.

(b) A county, city, special district, or combination thereof may plan, design, implement, construct, operate, and maintain controls and facilities to improve water quality, including controls and facilities related to the infiltration, retention and reuse, diversion, interception, filtration, or collection of surface runoff, including urban runoff, stormwater, and other forms of runoff, the treatment of pollutants in runoff or other waters subject to water quality regulatory requirements, the return of diverted and treated waters to receiving water bodies, the enhancement of beneficial uses of waters of the state, or the beneficial use or reuse of diverted waters.

(c) The fees authorized under subdivision (a) may be imposed as user-based or regulatory fees consistent with this chapter.

(Added by Stats. 2009, Ch. 577, Sec. 1. (SB 310) Effective January 1, 2010.)