§31.33. Safe drinking water fee; exemptions

A.(1) The department shall charge an annual fee of twelve dollars per metered connection or account for community systems. The fee shall be collected from each consumer by the community system provider in not less than quarterly installments and remitted to the department, in quarterly payments minus five percent per metered connection or account to be retained by the community system provider for administrative costs for the collection of the fee.

(2) Metered connections servicing installations or accounts that are not involved in providing drinking water shall not be assessed the fee.

B. In order to comply with the provisions of R.S. 40:5.6 and the federal Safe Drinking Water Act, the department shall charge an annual fee of one hundred dollars for noncommunity systems.

C. The funds remitted to the department pursuant to Subsections A and B of this Section shall be used for the following purposes:

(1) To comply with the provisions of R.S. 40:5.6 and the federal Safe Drinking Water Act.

(2) To offset the annual costs of the Louisiana Rural Water Association in an amount not to exceed five hundred thousand dollars.

(3) To fund up to forty additional sanitarian positions within the department based upon the number of sanitarian positions funded by the department on July 1, 2016.

D. The fee collected pursuant to Subsections A and B of this Section shall be known as the "Safe Drinking Water Fee".

Acts 2000, 1st Ex. Sess., No. 125, §1, eff. July 1, 2000; Acts 2003, No. 154, §1; Acts 2016, No. 605, §1, eff. Jan. 1, 2017.