(a)  It is hereby found and declared that:

(1)  Water is vital to life and comprises an invaluable natural resource which is not to be abused by any segment of the state’s population or its economy. It is the policy of the state to restore, enhance, and maintain the chemical, physical, and biological integrity of its waters to protect health;

(2)  It is further found and declared that the waters of this state are a critical renewable resource which must be protected to insure the availability of safe and potable drinking water for present and future needs;

(3)  It is further found and declared that public water supply systems have the responsibility to provide safety and potable drinking water to the state’s population;

(4)  It is further found and declared that financial and regulatory pressures may force some small public water supply systems into economically losing propositions;

(5)  It is further found and declared that economy and efficiency dictate the desirability to combine small public water supply systems with other public water supply systems;

(b)  The objectives of this chapter are:

(1)  To establish a mechanism to combine small public water supply systems and/or annex small systems to adjacent water supplies in order to provide viable water supplies capable of meeting federal and state drinking water regulations current at all times.

(2)  To enable each local jurisdiction, city, town, water authority, water district, small supplier, or small public water supply system to petition the adjacent supplier for the purpose of merging or annexing with the supplier in an economically fair method.

(3)  No merger nor annexation shall proceed without the consent of the governing board of each respective entity or, in the case of a municipally owned system, a vote of the majority of the entire town or city council or, in the case of a private supplier, the consent of the owner of the facilities in question and the governing board of the petitioned governing agency.