§ 42-106-4. Purpose and duties. (a) The purpose of the fund shall be to remedy existing pollution of the bay and to prevent future pollution of the bay, through sewer pollution control projects and contaminated sediment remedy and/or prevention programs. The state shall finance projects and programs with the proceeds of the aqua fund bonds at the direction of the director of the department of environmental management with the advice of the advisory council. The projects to be implemented with the bond revenue and the sums to be assigned to each project shall be as follows:

(1) Planning and program implementation for the financing of monies to provide for the preparation of statewide programs, policies, and implementation of the following anti-pollution projects and the administration thereof:

(i) Pretreatment;

(ii) Sediment and sludge abatement and remedy;

(iii) Urban runoff; and

(iv) Water supply to waste water treatment ability.

(2) Develop a pilot or prototypical implementation project for paragraphs (a)(1)(i) - (a)(1)(iv) of this subsection and the administration thereof.

(3) Waste water treatment for the financing of monies to provide revolving low interest loan funds to certain private entities for wastewater treatment and sewage disposal and revolving loan funds, additional state matching funds, and/or grants to cities and towns for municipal waste water treatment projects and the administration thereof.

(4) Pretreatment, facilities and equipment for the financing of monies to provide for revolving low-interest loans to cities and towns and/or certain private entities for pretreatment, pretreatment facilities, and pretreatment equipment and the monitoring, enforcement, and administration of pretreatment facilities.

(5) Urban run-off abatement for the financing of monies to provide for revolving low-interest loans and grants to communities for urban run-off prevention programs; one half of the funds to be for revolving low-interest loans and one-half for grants and the administration thereof.

(b) Provided further that the administration of any individual project listed above shall not exceed four percent (4%) of the sum allocated to that project. To enable the director to carry out the purposes of this chapter, the director may engage in the following activities and any others he or she deems appropriate:

(1) Accumulate and analyze the necessary data to determine which areas of the bay would most benefit from a targeted sewer pollution control program and/or a contaminated sediment remedy program.

(2) Effectuate those recommendations of the Narragansett Bay project that the council deems appropriate.

(3) Seek matching funds from the federal government for sewer pollution control projects and contaminated sediment remedy and/or prevention programs.

(4) Develop common initiatives with the commonwealth of Massachusetts for cleaning the bay.

(5) Make loans to cities and towns for sewer pollution control projects and contaminated sediment prevention programs.

(6) Make grants to cities and towns for contaminated sediment remedy programs.

(7) Contract with private firms for contaminated sediment remedy and/or prevention programs.

(8) Expend not more than fifty thousand dollars ($50,000) in each fiscal year of the proceeds of the aqua fund bonds, for the purpose of engaging any professional and other support staff that the council may deem necessary to accomplish its purpose.

(9) Make low interest revolving loans to certain private entities serving more than twenty (20) dwellings to repair and improve sewer lines and disposal systems which directly contaminate Narragansett Bay and/or its tributaries.

(10) Take any other steps that are necessary to finance bay projects that will produce the greatest pollution reduction and sediment recovery results with the most efficient application of public funds. The director shall file an annual financial report on the aqua fund with the governor and the general assembly no later than January fifteenth of each year, commencing January, 1990.

History of Section. (P.L. 1988, ch. 443, § 1.)