NR 166.22(1)(1) General. The department may, on its own initiative or pursuant to a written request from an applicant, approve a variance from a requirement of this chapter when it determines that special circumstances make a variance in the best interest of the state. Any variance approved shall be consistent with the objectives of ss. 281.59 and 281.61, Stats.

NR 166.22(3)(3) Request for variance. An applicant shall submit any request for a variance in writing to the department as soon as it is determined a variance is needed. Each request for a variance shall contain all of the following:

NR 166.22(4)(4) Granting a variance. Before granting a variance, the department shall consider factors such as good cause, circumstances beyond the control of the recipient, emergencies, natural disasters, and financial hardship.

NR 166.23(1)(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.

NR 166.23(2)(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.

NR 166.23 NoteNote: 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.

NR 166.23(3)(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:

NR 166.23(3)(a)(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:

NR 166.23(3)(a)1.1. ‘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:

NR 166.23(3)(a)1.a.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).

NR 166.23(3)(a)1.b.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.

NR 166.23(3)(a)1.c.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).

NR 166.23(3)(a)2.2. ‘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:

NR 166.23(3)(a)2.a.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.

NR 166.23(3)(a)2.c.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.

NR 166.23(3)(b)(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: