State Water Resources Control Board Adopts Policy for Developing the Fund Expenditure Plan for the Safe and Affordable Drinking Water Fund

On Tuesday, the State Water Resources Control Board (Water Board) adopted the policy and expenditure plan (here) for the Safe and Affordable Drinking Water Fund (SAFER), stemming from RCRC-supported Senate Bill 200 (Monning; 2019). SB 200 provides up to $130 million per year for communities impacted by unsafe and unaffordable drinking water. The Draft Policy was released for public comment on January 3, 2020 and were due on February 3, 2020; see here for RCRC’s comments. While the Water Board expects to make refinements to this SAFER plan as this new program begins to get underway, many stakeholders expressed consensus during the Water Board hearing.