Code of Colorado Regulations
1000 - Department of Public Health and Environment
1002 - Water Quality Control Commission (1002 Series)
5 CCR 1002-64 - REGULATION NO. 64 - BIOSOLIDS REGULATION
Section 5 CCR 1002-64.9 - DEFINITIONS

A. "ACT" means the Colorado Water Quality Control Act as from time to time amended, section 25-8-101 C.R.S., 1973, et seq.

B. "AGRICULTURAL LAND" means land on which a food crop, a feed crop, or a fiber crop is grown on a scale larger than a family garden plot. Agricultural land may also include range land, forest land, and land used as pasture.

C. "AGRICULTURAL USE" means the application of biosolids to land for use as a source of macro-or micronutrients, organic matter or other beneficial properties as a soil conditioner for the facilitation of vegetative growth.

D. "AGRONOMIC RATE" means the rate at which biosolids are applied to land such that the amount of nitrogen required by the food crop, feed crop, fiber crop, cover crop or vegetation grown on the land is supplied over a defined growth period, and such that the amount of nitrogen in the biosolids which passes below the root zone of the crop or vegetation grown to groundwater is minimized. Agronomic rate shall be calculated in accordance with section 64.15(H) of this regulation.

E. "ANNUAL BIOSOLIDS APPLICATION RATE" means the maximum amount of biosolids, on a dry weight basis, that can be applied to a unit area of land during a three hundred sixty-five (365) day period or during a single cropping cycle.

F. "ANNUAL HIGH GROUNDWATER TABLE" means the highest elevation that groundwater reaches over a one-year period.

G. "ANNUAL POLLUTANT LOADING LIMIT" means the maximum amount of a pollutant that can be applied to a unit area of land during a three hundred sixty-five (365) day period as outlined in section 64.14(B)(2)(c)(ii), Table 4.

H. "APPLICATION SITE" means all contiguous areas of a property intended for biosolids application.

I. "APPLIER" means the person who places biosolids onto or into the soil till zone for beneficial use.

J. "APPLY" means to place onto or into the soil till zone.

K. "BENEFICIAL USE" means the use of the nutrients and/or organic matter in biosolids to act as a soil conditioner or fertilizer for the promotion of vegetative growth on land.

L. "BIOSOLIDS" means the accumulated treated residual product resulting from a domestic wastewater treatment works. Biosolids does not include grit or screenings from a wastewater treatment works, commercial or industrial sludges (regardless of whether the sludges are combined with domestic sewage), sludge generated during treatment of drinking water, or domestic or industrial septage.

M. "BIOSOLIDS MANAGEMENT PLAN" means a plan that describes biosolids production, treatment, storage, distribution and land application activities and the measures taken to ensure compliance with Federal, State and local regulatory requirements.

N. "CUMULATIVE POLLUTANT LOADING RATE" means the maximum amount of an inorganic pollutant outlined in section 64.12 , Table 2 that can be applied to a unit area of land.

O. "DEWATERED BIOSOLIDS" means biosolids that have the properties of a solid. Dewatered biosolids are biosolids that can be transported and handled as a solid material.

P. "DISTURBED LAND" means land from which vegetation, topsoil, or overburden has been removed, or land of marginal agricultural use or grazing capacity due to past use.

Q. "DIVISION" means the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, Water Quality Control Division.

R. "DOMESTIC WASTEWATER TREATMENT WORKS" means a system or facility for treating, neutralizing, stabilizing, or disposing of domestic wastewater which system or facility has a designed capacity to receive more than two thousand gallons of domestic wastewater per day. The term "domestic wastewater treatment works" also includes appurtenances to such system or facility, such as outfall sewers and pumping stations, and to equipment relating to such appurtenances. The term "domestic wastewater treatment works" does not include industrial wastewater treatment plants or complexes whose primary function is the treatment of industrial wastes, notwithstanding the fact that human wastes generated incidentally to the industrial processes are treated therein.

S. "FEED CROPS" are crops produced primarily for consumption by animals.

T. "FINAL PRODUCT" or "FINAL PRODUCT MATERIAL" means a finished soil amendment or fertilizer which is intended for beneficial use and which contains a biosolids component.

U. "FOOD CROPS" are crops consumed by humans. These include, but are not limited to, grain, fruits, and vegetables.

V. "HIGH POTENTIAL FOR PUBLIC EXPOSURE" means land that the public uses frequently including, but not limited to, disturbed land when such land is located in a heavily populated area (e.g. a construction site located within a city), public parks, ball fields, cemeteries, retail plant nurseries, golf courses, turf farms. Land with "high potential for public access" does not include land on which public access is controlled by fencing, signage or other means regardless of the location of such land.

W. "LETTER OF INTENT FOR THE USE OR DISTRIBUTION OF BIOSOLIDS" means the written application for Division authorization to land apply biosolids or distribute or market biosolids to the public submitted by the biosolids preparer or applier per section 64.10(A).

X. "LIQUID BIOSOLIDS" means biosolids that are in liquid form. Liquid biosolids are biosolids that need to be transported and handled in a tank or tank truck.

Y. "LOW POTENTIAL FOR PUBLIC EXPOSURE" means sites subject to infrequent public use including, but not limited to, agricultural land, forest, or disturbed land located in a sparsely populated area (e.g. A strip mine located in a rural area).

Z. "MUNICIPALITY" means any regional commission, county, metropolitan district, sanitation district, water and sanitation district, water conservancy district, metropolitan sewage disposal district, service authority, city and county, Indian tribe or authorized Indian tribal organization, or any two or more of the above which are acting jointly in connection with a domestic wastewater treatment works.

AA. "NON-FOOD CROP" means any crop not intended for direct human consumption including, but not limited to, crops cultivated for fiber, fuel, or feed crops.

BB. "NOTICE OF AUTHORIZATION TO USE OR DISTRIBUTE BIOSOLIDS" means a biosolids permit issued by the Division pursuant to section 25-8-501 of the Act indicating the conformance of a proposed beneficial use of biosolids with the criteria contained in this regulation and containing such terms and conditions as are required per section 64.10(E).

CC. "PERSON" means an individual, corporation, partnership, association, state, or political subdivision thereof, federal agency, state agency, municipality or commission.

DD. "PREPARER" means either the person who generates biosolids during the treatment of domestic sewage in a domestic wastewater treatment works or the person who derives a final product material from biosolids.

EE. "PUBLIC CONTACT SITE" means land which is available for specific uses by the public and, as such, has a potential for direct public contact when biosolids are applied to such a site.

FF. "PUBLIC WATER SYSTEM" means a system for the provision of piped water, if such system has a minimum of 15 service connections or regularly serves an average of a minimum of 25 persons.

GG. "RESTRICTED USE" means the use or distribution of biosolids for use on land with high potential for public exposure.

HH. "RUNOFF" means precipitation (e.g. rainwater), leachate, or other liquid that drains overland on any part of a land surface and runs off of the land surface.

II. "SHORT TERM STORAGE" means the temporary storage and/or staging of dewatered biosolids, within a permitted land application site, for a period of fourteen days or less, or temporary storage for a longer period upon site-specific Division approval at that time.

JJ. "STATE WATERS" means any and all surface and subsurface waters which are contained in or flow in or through Colorado, except waters in sewage systems, water in treatment works or disposal systems, waters in potable water distribution systems, and all water withdrawn for use until use and treatment have been completed. State waters do not include runoff from drainages which are cultivated as a routine farming practice or from rangeland which supports a permanent vegetative cover before the runoff enters a permanent or intermittent surface water body or groundwater.

KK. "STORAGE OF BIOSOLIDS - LONG TERM" means the storage of biosolids in an authorized storage facility as outlined in section 64.13 . These biosolids shall not be stored for a period of more than two years before removed for use or distributed.

LL. "SITE CLOSURE" means the closing of a biosolids application site as outlined in section 64.10(I) of this regulation.

MM. "SITE DEACTIVATION" means a specific applier is no longer authorized to apply biosolids to a site; the site is still available for biosolids application by other appliers as outlined in section 64.10(H) of this regulation.

NN. "SITE TRANSFER" means the transfer of an NOA to a new person as outlined in Section 64.10(J) of this regulation.

OO. "TRANSFER / OFFLOADING AREA" means areas within a permitted land application site, which are intended for the offloading of biosolids from vehicles transporting biosolids to an application site and subsequent loading of biosolids into application equipment.

PP. "TREAT BIOSOLIDS" or "TREATMENT OF BIOSOLIDS" means the preparation of biosolids for final use or distribution including, but is not limited to, thickening, stabilization, stockpiling, dewatering, and blending of biosolids from different sources or with other materials. This does not include storage of biosolids except as such storage is incidental to treatment.

QQ. "TREATMENT WORKS TREATING DOMESTIC SEWAGE" means a domestic wastewater treatment works or other sludge or biosolids handling facility, regardless of ownership, used in the storage, treatment, recycling or reclamation of domestic sewage or land application of biosolids.

RR. "UNRESTRICTED USE" means the use or distribution of biosolids for lawns or home gardens use.

SS. "WETLANDS" means those areas that are inundated or saturated by surface water or groundwater at a frequency and duration sufficient to support, and that under normal circumstances do support, a prevalence of vegetation typically adapted for life in saturated soil conditions.