1. There is hereby established a program to provide grants of money to:

(a) A purveyor of water to pay for costs of capital improvements to publicly owned community water systems and publicly owned nontransient water systems required or made necessary by the State Environmental Commission pursuant to NRS 445A.800 to 445A.955, inclusive, or made necessary by the Safe Drinking Water Act, 42 U.S.C. §§ 300f et seq., and the regulations adopted pursuant thereto.

(b) An eligible recipient to pay for the cost of improvements to conserve water, including, without limitation:

(1) Piping or lining of an irrigation canal;

(2) Recovery or recycling of wastewater or tailwater;

(3) Scheduling of irrigation;

(4) Measurement or metering of the use of water;

(5) Improving the efficiency of irrigation operations; and

(6) Improving the efficiency of the operation of a facility for the storage of water, including, without limitation, efficiency in diverting water to such a facility.

(c) An eligible recipient to pay the following costs associated with connecting a domestic well or well with a temporary permit to a municipal water system, if the well was in existence on or before October 1, 1999, and the well is located in an area designated by the State Engineer pursuant to NRS 534.120 as an area where the groundwater basin is being depleted:

(1) Any local or regional fee for connection to the municipal water system.

(2) The cost of any capital improvement that is required to comply with a decision or regulation of the State Engineer.

(d) An eligible recipient to pay the following costs associated with abandoning an individual sewage disposal system and connecting the property formerly served by the abandoned individual sewage disposal system to a community sewage disposal system, if the Division of Environmental Protection requires the individual sewage disposal system to be abandoned and the property upon which the individual sewage disposal system was located to be connected to a community sewage disposal system pursuant to the provisions of NRS 445A.300 to 445A.730, inclusive, or any regulations adopted pursuant thereto:

(1) Any local or regional fee for connection to the community sewage disposal system.

(2) The cost of any capital improvement that is required to comply with a statute of this State or a decision, directive, order or regulation of the Division of Environmental Protection.

(e) An eligible recipient to pay the following costs associated with connecting a well to a municipal water system, if the quality of the water of the well fails to comply with the standards of the Safe Drinking Water Act, 42 U.S.C. §§ 300f et seq., and the regulations adopted pursuant thereto:

(1) Any local or regional fee for connection to the municipal water system.

(2) The cost of any capital improvement that is required for the water quality in the area where the well is located to comply with the standards of the Safe Drinking Water Act, 42 U.S.C. §§ 300f et seq., and the regulations adopted pursuant thereto.

(f) A governing body to pay the costs associated with developing and maintaining a water resource plan.

2. Except as otherwise provided in NRS 349.983, the determination of who is to receive a grant is solely within the discretion of the Board.

3. For any construction work paid for in whole or in part by a grant provided pursuant to this section to a nonprofit association or nonprofit cooperative corporation that is an eligible recipient, the provisions of NRS 338.013 to 338.090, inclusive, apply to:

(a) Require the nonprofit association or nonprofit cooperative corporation to include in the contract for the construction work the contractual provisions and stipulations that are required to be included in a contract for a public work pursuant to those statutory provisions.

(b) Require the nonprofit association or nonprofit cooperative corporation to comply with those statutory provisions in the same manner as if it was a public body that had undertaken the project or had awarded the contract.

(c) Require the contractor who is awarded the contract for the construction work, or a subcontractor on the project, to comply with those statutory provisions in the same manner as if he or she was a contractor or subcontractor, as applicable, engaged on a public work.

4. As used in this section:

(a) “Eligible recipient” means:

(1) A political subdivision of this State, including, without limitation, a city, county, unincorporated town, water authority, conservation district, irrigation district, water district or water conservancy district.

(2) A nonprofit association or nonprofit cooperative corporation that provides water service only to its members.

(b) “Governing body” has the meaning ascribed to it in NRS 278.015.

(c) “Water resource plan” means a water resource plan created pursuant to NRS 278.0228.

(Added to NRS by 1991, 1833; A 1999, 2121; 2003, 2502; 2005, 561, 969; 2009, 564; 2019, 1295)