Ohio Administrative Code › Title 3745 - Ohio Environmental Protection Agency › Chapter 3745-150 - Water Pollution Control Loans › Section 3745-150-13 - State priority system and priority list

Current through all regulations passed and filed through July 1, 2024
(A) The director shall maintain a state
			 priority system and priority list for the purpose of establishing the relative
			 priority of assistance proposals nominated for Ohio water pollution control
			 loan fund assistance under section
			 6111.036 of the Revised
			 Code.
(B) The director shall
			 periodically prepare and adopt a state priority system which rates and ranks
			 eligible assistance proposals that have been nominated for consideration for
			 financial assistance. Assistance proposals may be nominated to the priority
			 list by the director or by an applicant responsible for implementing the
			 assistance proposal.
(C) The
			 priority system shall be designed to rank assistance proposals according to the
			 state's water quality goals and objectives, as determined by the director.
			 Without limitation, the priority system shall rate and rank assistance
			 proposals according to the following common factors:
(1) Human health. This factor applies to
			 assistance proposals which are designed to protect human health. Higher
			 priority shall be given to assistance proposals designed to address confirmed
			 instances of disease outbreak.
(2)
			 Water resources protection and restoration.
(a) Rivers, streams, inland lakes,
			  lake Erie, and
			 the Ohio river. Assistance proposals affecting rivers, streams, inland
			 lakes,  lake Erie, and the Ohio river shall be ranked based on their
			 ability to protect or restore water resources. The priority system shall be
			 developed in accordance with the following factors:
(i) Importance of resource. The priority
			 system shall place greater value on a water body that has the capability to
			 support a healthy biological community composed of diverse and pollution
			 sensitive organisms than a water body that cannot support a healthy biological
			 community. This determination shall be made by using the aquatic life habitat
			 use designations in Ohio's water quality standards.
(ii) Restoration potential. The priority
			 system shall place greater value on water bodies that, although impaired, have
			 the potential to be restored to their designated aquatic life use than on those
			 water bodies that will not be restorable to their designated aquatic life use.
(iii) Effectiveness of action. The
			 priority system shall place greater value on proposals that have a greater
			 correlation between the assistance proposal and improvements to water quality.
(b) Wetlands. The
			 priority system shall rank wetland assistance proposals based on the ecological
			 integrity of the wetland, placing greater value on wetlands with greater
			 ecological integrity. For purposes of making this determination,
			 the wetland
			 shall be evaluated using the "Ohio Rapid Assessment Method for Wetlands,"
			 version 5.0; published February 1, 2001; available at
http://www.epa.ohio.gov/portals/35/401/oram50um_s.pdf
.
(c)
			 Ground water. The priority system shall rank ground water assistance proposals
			 such that greater value is placed on ground water resources that are used for
			 human consumption. The priority system shall place greater value on those water
			 resources that are more sensitive to pollution.
(3) Financial need. In fulfillment of the
			 financial need provisions of section
			 6111.036 of the Revised Code,
			 the priority system shall give additional priority to assistance proposals
			 which provide residential wastewater treatment service and qualify under the
			 economic need determinations made by the director pursuant to rule
			 3745-150-14
			 of the Administrative Code. The director shall determine the level of
			 additional priority, and shall calculate their priority ratings accordingly.