(A) There is established the Drinking Water Revolving Loan Fund, which must be held and administered by the authority in accordance with the provisions of this chapter and policies, rules, regulations, directives, and agreements as may be promulgated or entered into by the authority pursuant to this chapter. Earnings on balances in the drinking water fund must be credited to the drinking water fund. Amounts remaining in the drinking water fund at the end of a fiscal year accrue only to the credit of the drinking water fund. Amounts in the drinking water fund must be available in perpetuity for the purpose of providing financial assistance in accordance with the provisions of this chapter and the Safe Drinking Water Act.

(B) There must be deposited in the drinking water fund:

Terms Used In South Carolina Code 48-5-55

  • Authority: means the South Carolina Water Quality Revolving Fund Authority. See South Carolina Code 48-5-20
  • Bonds: means bonds, notes, debentures, interim certificates, commercial paper, bond, grant, or revenue anticipation notes, or any other evidence of indebtedness of the authority. See South Carolina Code 48-5-20
  • Department: means the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control. See South Carolina Code 48-5-20
  • Drinking water fund: means the drinking water revolving loan fund established pursuant to § 48-5-55, and comprising monies derived from capitalization grants pursuant to the Safe Drinking Water Act and associated state match money, as well as repayments of all principal and interest on loans made from the drinking water fund, investment earnings, and any other money committed to the drinking water fund. See South Carolina Code 48-5-20
  • Fiscal year: The fiscal year is the accounting period for the government. For the federal government, this begins on October 1 and ends on September 30. The fiscal year is designated by the calendar year in which it ends; for example, fiscal year 2006 begins on October 1, 2005 and ends on September 30, 2006.
  • Loan: means a loan from the authority to a project sponsor for the purpose of financing all or a portion of the cost of a project. See South Carolina Code 48-5-20
  • Obligation: An order placed, contract awarded, service received, or similar transaction during a given period that will require payments during the same or a future period.
  • Project: means :

    (a) publicly-owned treatment works, or the capacity or rights to the capacity of a publicly-owned treatment work, including any devices and systems used in the storage, treatment, recycling, and reclamation of municipal sewage or industrial wastes of a liquid nature or necessary to recycle or reuse water at the most economical cost over the estimated life of the works, including intercepting sewers, outfall sewers, sewage collection systems, pumping, power, and other equipment and their appurtenances; extensions, improvements, remodeling, additions, and alterations thereof; elements essential to provide a reliable recycled supply such as standby treatment units; and any works, including site acquisition of the land that will be an integral part of the treatment process (including land used for the storage of treated wastewater in land treatment systems before land application), or is used for ultimate disposal of residues resulting from the treatment and any other method or system for preventing, abating, reducing, storing, treating, separating, or disposing of municipal waste, including stormwater runoff and waste in combined stormwater and sanitary sewer systems;

    (b) management programs authorized under the Clean Water Act;

    (c) development and implementation of a conservation and management plan authorized under the Clean Water Act;

    (d) construction or improvements to drinking water supply, storage, treatment, and distribution facilities and associated costs authorized by the Safe Drinking Water Act; and

    (e) other projects as the authority and the department determine are permissible uses of the clean water fund and the drinking water fund under the terms of the Clean Water Act and Safe Drinking Water Act, respectively, to the extent then applicable. See South Carolina Code 48-5-20
  • Project sponsor: means a county, municipality, special purpose or special service district, commissioners of public works, or any other public body or agency of the State which may own or operate a project; this term includes any combination of two or more of these entities acting jointly to construct, own, or operate a project. See South Carolina Code 48-5-20
  • Safe Drinking Water Act: means Title XIV of the Public Health Service Act, Title 42, United States Code, as modified or amended, and any successor, substitute, or replacement provisions of law, and the rules and regulations promulgated under it. See South Carolina Code 48-5-20

(1) federal capitalization grants, awards, or other federal assistance received by the department under authority of the Safe Drinking Water Act for purposes of the drinking water fund;

(2) funds appropriated by the General Assembly for deposit to the drinking water fund;

(3) payments received from a project sponsor in repayment of a loan, including amounts withheld by the State Treasurer and paid to the authority pursuant to § 48-5-170;

(4) net proceeds of bonds issued by the authority;

(5) interest or other income earned on the investment of monies in the drinking water fund; and

(6) additional monies made available from public or private sources for the purposes for which the drinking water fund has been established.

(C) Amounts in the drinking water fund may be used only:

(1) to make loans to project sponsors in accordance with provisions of this chapter and the Safe Drinking Water Act;

(2) to buy or refinance debt obligations of project sponsors at or below market rates, if the debt obligations were incurred after July 1, 1993;

(3) to guarantee, or purchase insurance for, bonds, notes, or other evidences of obligation issued by a project sponsor for the purpose of financing all or a portion of the cost of a project, if the action improves credit market access or reduces interest rates;

(4) as a source of revenue or security for the payment of principal and interest on bonds issued by the authority if the proceeds of the sale of the bonds are deposited in the drinking water fund;

(5) to earn interest on drinking water fund accounts; and

(6) for any other purposes authorized by the Safe Drinking Water Act or any other federal law governing or appropriating funds for the drinking water fund.

(D) The authority may establish accounts and subaccounts within the drinking water fund as considered desirable to effectuate the purposes of this chapter, to comply with the provisions of a bond resolution, or to meet a requirement of the Safe Drinking Water Act.