New Jersey § 58:27-2

§ 58:27-2.

The Legislature finds and declares that protecting the ground and surface water of

the State from pollution is vital to the health and general welfare of the citizens

of New Jersey; that the construction, rehabilitation, operation, and maintenance

of modern and efficient sewer systems and wastewater treatment plants are essential

to protecting and improving the State's water quality; that in addition to protecting

and improving water quality, adequate wastewater treatment systems are essential to

economic growth and development; that many of the wastewater treatment systems in

New Jersey must be replaced or upgraded if an inexorable decline in water quality

is to be avoided during the coming decades; that the United States Congress, in recognition

of the crucial role wastewater treatment systems and plants play in maintaining and

improving water quality, and with an understanding that the cost of financing and

constructing these systems must be borne by local governments and authorities with

limited sources of revenues, established in the “Clean Water Act” a program to provide

local governments with grants for constructing these systems; that during the last

several years the amount of federal grant money available to states and local governments

for assistance in constructing and improving wastewater treatment systems has sharply

diminished; that the current level of federal grant funding is inadequate to meet

the cost of upgrading the State's wastewater treatment capacity to comply with State

water quality standards; that given this inadequate present level of federal grant

funding, alternative methods of financing the construction, operation, and improvement

of wastewater treatment systems must be developed and encouraged; that one alternative

method of financing necessary wastewater treatment systems available to local government

units consists of contracting with private-sector firms for the financing, construction

and operation of these systems; and that for some local government units, contracting

for the provision of wastewater treatment services, if done in such a way as to protect

the interests of consumers and to conform with environmental standards, will constitute

an appropriate method of securing these needed wastewater treatment systems. The Legislature therefore determines that it is in the public interest to establish

a comprehensive procedure designed to authorize local government units to contract

with private firms for the provision of wastewater treatment services.