NAC445A.67569. Priority list: Criteria for ranking water projects; prioritizing requests for certain financial assistance.

     1. The Division shall rank water projects using the following criteria:

     (a) The Division shall determine whether each water system qualifies as a public water system pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 300j-12 to satisfy the requirements set forth therein to receive loan assistance.

     (b) The Division shall place each water project into one of the following four classes:

          (1) A Class I water project is intended to address problems, including, without limitation, demonstrated illness attributable to the public water system, significant noncompliance, a court-ordered compliance or acute health concerns related to meeting the water quality requirements of NAC 445A.453. The Division shall prioritize Class I water projects, giving projects with a higher score priority over projects with a lower score, according to the total score each receives for:

               (I) Demonstrated illness attributable to the public water system, significant noncompliance, a court-ordered compliance or acute health concerns related to meeting the water quality requirements of NAC 445A.453, 5 points;

               (II) Demonstrated or documented noncompliance with the rules governing the maximum contaminant levels of microbiological contaminants found in 40 C.F.R. § 141.63, 4 points;

               (III) Being subject to an order to boil water issued under the authority of the Chief Medical Officer, 4 points;

               (IV) Demonstrated or documented noncompliance with the rules governing the filtration and disinfection of surface water found in 40 C.F.R. §§ 141.70 to 141.75, inclusive, 3 points;

               (V) Demonstrated or documented noncompliance with the rule governing the maximum contaminant levels of nitrate found in 40 C.F.R. § 141.62(b)(7)-(b)(9), 2 points; and

               (VI) Any other factor as provided in the intended use plan established for the year in which the priority list is developed.

          (2) A Class II water project is intended to address chronic health concerns by satisfying the requirements for water quality set forth in NAC 445A.453 and 445A.455. The Division shall prioritize Class II water projects, giving projects with a higher score priority over projects with a lower score, according to the total score each receives for:

               (I) Demonstrated or documented noncompliance with any one of the requirements for water quality set forth in NAC 445A.453, 10 points each;

               (II) Exceeding any one of the secondary drinking water standards found in NAC 445A.455, 1 point each; or

               (III) Any other factor as provided in the intended use plan established for the year in which the priority list is developed.

          (3) A Class III water project is intended to address deteriorated, substandard or inadequate conditions in the public water system. The Division shall prioritize Class III water projects, giving projects with a higher score priority over projects with a lower score, according to the total score each project receives for the following types of water projects:

               (I) The consolidation of water supplies or facilities to eliminate water supplies that are contaminated, eliminate facilities that do not meet state regulations, or enable systems through a physical or management consolidation to comply with technical, managerial and financial capability requirements, 25 points;

               (II) The rehabilitation or replacement of treatment facilities that would improve the quality of drinking water to avoid noncompliance with NAC 445A.453 and 445A.455, 20 points;

               (III) The rehabilitation, replacement or development of production facilities to replace contaminated sources, 15 points;

               (IV) The installation or upgrading of storage facilities associated with finished water reservoirs and reservoirs that are part of a water treatment facility and located on the property where the treatment facility is located to prevent microbiological contaminants from entering the water system, 10 points;

               (V) The installation or replacement of transmission pipes to prevent contamination caused by leaks or breaks in the pipes or to improve water pressure to satisfy the requirements of NAC 445A.6672, 8 points;

               (VI) The installation or replacement of distribution pipes to prevent contamination caused by leaks or breaks in the pipes or to improve water pressure to satisfy the requirements of NAC 445A.6672, 6 points;

               (VII) The installation of equipment, facilities or devices to prevent contamination by backflow or cross-connections and to satisfy the requirements of NAC 445A.67185 to 445A.67255, inclusive, 4 points;

               (VIII) The installation of metering, if the metering is intended to satisfy the requirements of water conservation plans developed to comply with NRS 540.121 to 540.151, inclusive, 704.662, 704.6622 and 704.6624, 3 points; and

               (IX) Any other factor as provided in the intended use plan established for the year in which the priority list is developed.

          (4) A Class IV project consists of refinancing any existing debt that was incurred after July 1, 1993, pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 300j-12(f)(2).

     2. The Division shall rank water projects first according to which class the project is in, with Class I water projects having the highest priority and Class IV water projects having the lowest priority, and then within the class according to the point total each water project receives pursuant to the ranking system set forth in subsection 3.

     3. Within each class, the water projects will be ranked according to the type of public water system the project will affect in the following order:

     (a) Community public water systems;

     (b) Nonprofit, nontransient water systems; and

     (c) Nonprofit, transient water systems.

     4. The Division shall not move a water project from one class to another based on the ranking the water project receives from the total points within each class.

     5. The product of the initial rank number of a water project within a class of water projects and the ratio of the state median household income to the median household income that is associated with the service area served by the public water system determines the final rank number associated with the water project within each class.

     6. If two or more water projects within the same class have the same final rank number, the water project that is associated with the service area with the highest population shall be deemed to be ranked higher within the class.

     7. The Division may also provide financial assistance pursuant to NAC 445A.67562 for planning and engineering to determine causes of problems in the public water system and to define and carry out solutions. The Division shall prioritize such a project in the order appropriate to the problem that the water project is intended to solve.

     (Added to NAC by Bd. of Health by R067-98, eff. 7-23-98; A by Environmental Comm’n by R128-04, 2-14-2005)