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. L. 1985, c. 72, s. 2, eff. March 11, 1985.