(1) PURPOSE. The
purpose of the priority scoring criteria is to establish a list of eligible
projects to be funded in a manner that is in accordance with the federal
requirements of the safe drinking water act,
42 USC
300j-12. Consistent with the act, the
criteria in subs. (1) to (4) shall apply. The department may require
documentation to support any points requested by the municipality. The
department may also require a potential applicant to communicate with the
department prior to priority evaluation and ranking form submittal to determine
what type of documentation is appropriate to show existing contamination for
projects that will expand an existing water system or create a new community
water system.
(2) GENERAL PRIORITY.
The department shall give first priority to acute public health risks,
particularly those related to microbiological organisms, and second priority to
situations that pose chronic and longer-term health risks to consumers, such as
organic chemical contamination. The scoring criteria also consider issues that
are related to infrastructure upgrading or replacement to address those
projects, or portions of a project, that are eligible for funding but not
included in the first 2 priority groups, including projects to correct
significant deficiencies or develop capacity in a water system.
Note: The act requires, to the maximum extent
practicable, that priority ranking be given to projects that: 1) address the
most serious risk to human health; 2) are necessary to ensure compliance with
the requirements of the safe drinking water act, including requirements for
filtration; and 3) assist systems most in need on a per household basis
according to state affordability criteria.
(3) RISK TO HUMAN HEALTH. The following
criteria related to human health risks are divided into acute and chronic risk
categories. The department shall assign points to a project based on criteria
in a single category in par. (a), if applicable, or a single category in par.
(b), if applicable, but not from both. If the severity of the problem is not
reflected in any of the categories in par. (a) or (b), the department shall
determine the number of points to assign to the project. This subsection also
includes par. (c) which the department shall use when assigning points for a
project that will eliminate lead service lines. The department shall assign
points for risk to human health based on all of the following criteria as
applicable to the project:
(a)
Violations and exceedances. Project addresses a maximum
contaminant level violation, an action level exceedance, or a treatment
technique violation, or an acute or a chronic health hazard under any of the
following requirements:
1. 'Acute
contaminants.' Acute contaminants are divided into 3 groups. Points shall be
awarded in the following manner for a project that eliminates a problem that
poses an acute health hazard from one of these groups:
a. Five hundred points shall be awarded to a
project that proposes to eliminate a microbiological MCL violation that already
occurred or will address a confirmed waterborne disease outbreak as defined in
s.
NR 809.04 (90), or a demonstrated microbiological
contamination problem for a newly created community water system or for
expanding an existing community water system in accordance with s.
NR 166.06 (1)
(f).
b. Four hundred points shall be awarded to a
project that eliminates violations of filtration requirements in s.
NR 810.29 and disinfection requirements in ss.
NR 810.09 and 810.31,
or confirmed microbial, including giardia and cryptosporidium, contamination
found in finished water.
c. Three
hundred points shall be awarded to a project that eliminates a continuing
nitrate or nitrite MCL exceedance, or a demonstrated nitrate or nitrite problem
for a newly created community water system or expansion of an existing
community water system in accordance with s.
NR 166.06 (1)
(f).
2. 'Chronic contaminants.' Chronic
contaminants are divided into 5 subgroups: inorganics, volatile organic
chemicals, synthetic organic chemicals, radionuclides, and disinfection
byproducts. For a newly created community water system or for expanding an
existing community water system in this subdivision, points shall be assigned
by determining the 90th percentile sample for the project area. All individual
wells or surface water sources in the project area shall be included in the
determination. A single water sample from each individual well or surface water
source shall be used for the determination. All water samples submitted shall
be collected within the same 6-month period and shall be representative of
current conditions. If there is no sample for an individual well or surface
water source, a value of zero or no detect shall be used in the determination.
The maximum point total that shall be awarded in this subdivision is 250
points. Points shall be awarded in the following manner for a project that
eliminates a chronic health hazard from these groups of chemicals:
a. For each subgroup, other than the
disinfection byproducts subgroup, only the MCL exceedance of greatest
percentage magnitude shall be used for the point calculation, even though
multiple contaminant MCL exceedances might be occurring. For exceedances in
multiple subgroups, see subd. 2. c. The MCL exceedance shall be divided by the
current MCL or AL and then multiplied by 50 to obtain a subgroup point
total.
b. For the disinfection
byproducts subgroup, the total sum disinfection byproducts exceedance as
defined in s.
NR 809.566 shall be used for the calculation.
c. For MCL exceedances in more than one
subgroup, the highest point level of the subgroups shall be used as the primary
number to be divided by the current MCL or AL and then multiplied by 50. The
other subgroup exceedances will be divided by their respective MCL or AL and
then multiplied by 10. The total point value shall be the sum of points in each
subgroup.
(b)
Anticipated violations and exceedances. Project prevents an
anticipated MCL, AL, or treatment technique violation or critical health
hazard. Points shall be awarded to a single group under either subd. 1. or 2.
to a project that proposes to eliminate an anticipated acute or chronic health
hazard under the following requirements:
1.
'Acute contaminants.' Acute contaminants are divided into 3 groups. Points
shall be awarded from one of the following groups for a project that eliminates
an anticipated acute health hazard:
a. Three
hundred points shall be awarded to a project that eliminates an anticipated
microbiological MCL violation, where no actual violation has yet
occurred.
b. Two hundred points
shall be awarded to a project that proposes to eliminate anticipated violations
of filtration requirements, or turbidity, in s.
NR 810.29, or anticipated violations of the requirements
of the federal long term 2 enhanced surface water treatment rule promulgated by
the U.S. environmental protection agency as directed by the U.S.
congress.
c. One hundred points
shall be awarded to a project that proposes to eliminate an anticipated nitrate
or nitrite violation.
2.
'Chronic contaminants.' Chronic contaminants are divided into 5 subgroups:
inorganics, volatile organic chemicals, synthetic organic chemicals,
radionuclides, and disinfection byproducts. Points shall be awarded in the
following manner for a project that eliminates an anticipated chronic health
hazard from these groups of chemicals:
a.
Twenty points shall be awarded to a project that proposes to eliminate an
anticipated exceedance of an inorganic, volatile organic chemical, synthetic
organic chemical, radionuclide, or disinfection byproducts
contaminant.
b. Five points shall
be awarded for each additional subgroup addressed by a project that eliminates
an anticipated exceedance.
(c)
Private LSL replacement.
Points shall be awarded to watermain replacement projects that also include the
replacement of private LSLs under the following defined quantities:
1. Thirty points shall be awarded if at least
200 private LSLs are being removed as part of the project.
2. Twenty-five points shall be awarded if at
least 100 private LSLs but less than 200 are being removed as part of the
project.
3. Twenty points shall be
awarded if at least 50 private LSLs but less than 100 are being removed as part
of the project.
4. Fifteen points
shall be awarded if at least 25 private LSLs but less than 50 are being removed
as part of the project.
5. Ten
points shall be awarded if at least 15 private LSLs but less than 25 are being
removed as part of the project.
6.
Four points shall be awarded if less than 15 private LSLs are being removed as
part of the project.
7. Ten
additional points shall be awarded if the project will remove all remaining
private LSLs in the municipality.
(4) SECONDARY CONTAMINANT VIOLATION OR SYSTEM
COMPLIANCE WITH CH. NR 811. The department may not award points for specific
areas related to secondary contaminant violations or system compliance with ch.
NR 811 if the project is already receiving points under sub. (1) for the same
issue. The department shall assign points to a project for any of the following
criteria that are applicable to the project:
(a) Twenty points shall be awarded if the
project will reduce a secondary drinking water contaminant, as listed in s.
NR 809.70, to a level below the aesthetic
standard.
(b) Twenty points shall
be awarded if the project addresses areas of inadequate distribution system
pressure, as defined in s.
NR 810.10, 810.11,
or 811.70 (4).
(c) Twenty points shall be awarded if the
project will address a documented storage deficiency, excluding fire demand,
within an existing public water supply system.
(d) Twenty points shall be awarded if the
project addresses a source or capacity deficiency where there is a demonstrated
need within the existing public water supply system.
(e) Twenty points shall be awarded if the
project will address system reliability under all operational situations, where
there are significant concerns regarding reliability in the existing system,
such as lack of redundancy of major components of the water system. Activities
for which these points may be awarded include the addition of a second crossing
of a river, railroad, or highway to a major system divide; installation of a
second surface water intake; or construction of a second well.
(f) Twenty points shall be awarded if a major
portion of the project will address significant deficiencies identified in a
sanitary survey conducted by the department and the activities to correct
deficiencies are related to the scored project activities.
(g) Four points shall be awarded if the
project replaces lead joints in water mains.
(h) Four points shall be awarded if the
project includes long-term zebra mussel control.
(i) Four points shall be awarded if the
project includes installation of an auxiliary power source to a well, pump
station, or water treatment plant.
(j) Four points shall be awarded if the
project includes replacement of asbestos-cement pipe material.
(k) Four points shall be awarded if the
project includes upgrading an existing supervisory control and data acquisition
system.
(L) Four points shall be
awarded if the project includes installation or replacement of fluoridation
equipment.
(m) Four points shall be
awarded if the project includes the upgrading of existing facilities for
capturing, holding, or disposing of liquid or solid waste generated from the
water system operation.
(n) Four
points shall be awarded if the project includes the replacement of a water main
or mains less than 6 inches in diameter.
(o) Four points shall be awarded if the
project includes the looping of water mains or the elimination of dead-end
water mains.
(p) Four points shall
be awarded if the project includes treatment that reduces the potential for
formation of disinfection by-products.
(q) Four points shall be awarded if, as a
secondary benefit, the project will increase the fire protection of the
community.
Note: If the primary purpose of the project is
to improve the fire protection of the system, the project is not eligible for
funding.
(r) Four points
shall be awarded if the project will include the installation of a water
booster station or pressure reducing station to improve the quality of service
to the customers by supplying water at a more acceptable level of
pressure.
(s) Four points shall be
awarded if the project includes the installation of an additional river,
railroad, or highway crossing to a major system divide when two or more
crossings already exist, and the additional crossing may result in greater
system reliability.
(t) Four points
shall be awarded if the project includes replacement of one or more pumps or
pump motors that are no longer functional or have reached the end of their
useful life.
(u) Four points shall
be awarded if the project improves the intake structure for a surface water
plant.
(v) Four points shall be
awarded if the public water system currently has non-revenue water in excess of
30 percent of the total amount of water that enters the distribution system, or
water losses exceeding 25 percent for public water systems with 1,000 customers
or less, or water losses exceeding 15 percent for public water systems with
more than 1,000 customers, and the project reduces the amount of non-revenue
water within the system.
(w) Four
points shall be awarded if the project includes removal of watermains that pass
through sanitary sewer manholes, or correction of other types of undesirable
cross connections as determined by the department.
(x) Four points shall be awarded if the
applicant has a wellhead protection plan for all active source water wells in
their water system constructed prior to May 1, 1992.
(5) SYSTEM CAPACITY POINTS. The department
shall assign negative points to a project based on an applicant's lack of
required technical, financial, and managerial capacity for the existing public
water system as follows:
(a) Negative 5 points
shall be assigned if the applicant does not have a written emergency action
plan for the public water system.
(b) Negative 5 points shall be assigned if
the applicant has not implemented a private well abandonment ordinance for the
public water system.
(c) Negative 5
points shall be assigned if the applicant's public water system operator is not
certified or the applicant has a certified operator but does not have
provisions for a certified back-up operator for the public water
system.
(d) Negative 5 points shall
be assigned if the applicant does not have a cross connection control program
for the public water system.
(6) CONSOLIDATED SYSTEMS CAPACITY POINTS. For
consolidating existing systems that are eligible in accordance with s.
NR 166.06 (1)
(c), the department shall award 30 points for
each existing water system that is consolidated which is having technical,
financial, or managerial difficulties. The maximum number of points that shall
be awarded under this subsection is 90 points.
(7) PROJECT PRIORITY SCORE. The total points
from subs. (1) to (6) shall be summed to determine the final project priority
score.
(8) INTENDED USE PLAN. The
department may include additional or modify existing scoring criteria through
the annual SDWLP intended use plan.
The intended use plan is required of the department by
the U.S. environmental protection agency as part of the application package for
the federal capitalization grant for the
SDWLP.
