Section 116595.

(a)  Any public water system under the jurisdiction of a local primacy agency shall reimburse the local primacy agency for any enforcement cost incurred by the local primacy agency related to any of the following relating to that water system:

(1)  Preparing, issuing, and monitoring compliance with, an order or a citation.

(2)  Preparing and issuing public notification.

(3)  Conducting a hearing pursuant to Section 116625.

The local primacy agency shall submit an invoice to the public water system that requires payment, prior to September 1 of the fiscal year following the fiscal year in which the costs were incurred. The invoice shall indicate the total hours expended, the reasons for the expenditure, and the hourly cost rate of the local primacy agency. The invoice shall not exceed the total costs to the local primacy agency of enforcement activities specified in this subdivision. Notwithstanding the reimbursement to the department of enforcement costs, if any, pursuant to Section 116577, any public water system under the jurisdiction of the local primacy agency shall also reimburse the local primacy agency for enforcement costs incurred by the local primacy agency pursuant to this section. The local primacy agency shall not be entitled to enforcement costs pursuant to this subdivision if either a court or the local primacy agency determines that enforcement activities were in error. "Enforcement costs" as used in this subdivision does not include "litigation costs" as used in subdivision (d). The maximum reimbursement, pursuant to this subdivision, by a public water system serving less than 1,000 service connections during any fiscal year shall not exceed twice the maximum for that public water system as set forth in subdivision (c) of Section 116565.

(b)  The local primacy agency may adopt a fee schedule for the processing of applications for a domestic water supply permit, submitted pursuant to subdivision (c) of Section 116570 by a public water system under the jurisdiction of the local primacy agency, in lieu of the fee schedule set forth in subdivision (b) of Section 116570, to recover its cost of processing the permit applications as specified in the primacy agreement. The fee shall not exceed the total costs to the local primacy agency of processing the permit application.

(c)  Any public water system under the jurisdiction of a local primacy agency that requests an exemption, variance, or waiver of any applicable requirement of this chapter, or any regulation of the department adopted pursuant to this chapter, shall submit the request to the local primacy agency and shall reimburse the local primacy agency for any costs incurred by the local primacy agency in processing the request.

(Added by Stats. 1995, Ch. 415, Sec. 6. Effective January 1, 1996.)