(2)
Definitions. All terms used
in this Rule shall be interpreted in accordance with the definitions as set
forth in the Act unless otherwise defined in this Paragraph or in any other
Rules of this Chapter.
(a) "Act" or
"O.C.G.A." means the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, Title 12, Article
2.
(b) "Approval Authority" means
the Director of the Environmental Protection Division of the Georgia Department
of Natural Resources.
(c) "Approved
pretreatment program," "POTW pretreatment program," or "program" means a
program administered by a POTW that meets the criteria established in this Rule
and Rule 391-3-6-.09,
and which has been approved by the Approval Authority in accordance with Rule
391-3-6-.09.
(d) "Best management practices" or "BMPs"
means schedules of activities, prohibitions of practices, maintenance
procedures, and other management practices to implement the prohibitions listed
in 40 CFR
403.5(a)(1) and (b). BMPs
also include treatment requirements, operating procedures, and practices to
control plant site runoff, spillage or leaks, sludge or waste disposal, or
drainage from raw materials storage.
(e) "Control Authority" means:
1. The POTW if the POTW's pretreatment
program submission has been approved by the Approval Authority in accordance
with Rule
391-3-6-.09; or
2. The Approval Authority if the submission
has not been approved; or
3 In
cases where categorical or significant non-categorical industrial users
discharge to POTWs that are not included in an approved pretreatment program,
the Approval Authority shall function as the Control Authority until an
approved pretreatment program has been established by the
POTW.
(f) "EPD" means the
Environmental Protection Division of the Georgia Department of Natural
Resources.
(g) "Federal Act" means
the Federal Water Pollution Control Act, also known as the Clean Water Act, as
amended, 33 U.S.C.
1251, et seq.
(h) "Indirect discharge" or "discharge" means
the introduction of pollutants into a POTW from any non-domestic source
regulated under Section 307(b), (c) or (d) of the Federal Act.
(i) "Industrial user" means any person that
is a source of an indirect discharge or proposed indirect discharge.
(j) "Interference" or "interfere" means a
discharge which, alone or in conjunction with a discharge or discharges from
other sources, inhibits or disrupts a POTW's sewer system, treatment processes
or operations or its sludge processes, including use of disposal thereof; and
such discharge is a cause of a violation of any requirement of the POTW's NPDES
Permit (including an increase in the magnitude or duration of a violation). The
terms include prevention of sewage sludge use or disposal in accordance with
Section 405 of the Federal Act, or any criteria, guidelines, or regulations
developed pursuant to State or Federal laws.
(k) "Limitation" means any restriction or
prohibition established under the Act on quantities, rates, or concentration,
or a combination thereof, of chemical, physical, biological, or other
constituents which are discharged from industrial users into a publicly owned
treatment works and then into the waters of the State, including but not
limited to schedules of compliance.
(l) "National pretreatment standard",
"pretreatment standard" or "standard" means any regulation containing pollutant
discharge limits promulgated by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
in accordance with Section 307(b) and (c) of the Federal Act, which applies to
industrial users. This term includes prohibited discharge limits established
pursuant to 40 CFR Part 403.5.
(m)
"New source" means:
1. Any building,
structure, facility or installation from which there is or may be a discharge
of pollutants, the construction of which commenced after publication of
proposed pretreatment standards under Section 307(c) of the Federal Act which
will be applicable to such source if such standards are thereafter promulgated
in accordance with that section provided that:
(i) the building, structure, facility or
installation is constructed at a site at which no other source is located;
or
(ii) the building, structure,
facility or installation totally replaces the process or reduction equipment
that causes the discharge of pollutant at an existing source; or
(iii) the production or wastewater generating
processes of the building, structure, facility or installation are
substantially independent of an existing source at the same site. In
determining whether these are substantially independent, factors such as the
extent to which the new facility is integrated with the existing plant and the
extent to which the new facility is engaged in the same general type or
activity as the existing source should be considered.
2. Construction on a site at which an
existing source is located results in a modification rather than a new source
if the construction does not create a new building, structure, facility or
installation meeting the criteria of Subparagraphs
391-3-6-.08(2)(m) 1. (ii) or
(iii) but otherwise alters, replaces, or adds
to existing process or production equipment.
3. Construction of a new source as defined
under this Paragraph has commenced if the owner or operator has:
(i) begun, or caused to begin as part of a
continuous on-site construction program:
(I)
any placement, assembly, or installation of facilities or equipment;
or
(II) significant site
preparation work including clearing, excavation, or removal of existing
buildings, structures, or facilities which is necessary for the placement,
assembly, or installation of new source facilities or equipment; or
(ii) entered into a binding
contractual obligation for the purchase of facilities or equipment which are
intended to be used in its operation within a reasonable time. Options to
purchase, or contracts which can be terminated or modified without substantial
loss, and contracts for feasibility, engineering, and design studies do not
constitute a contractual obligation under this Paragraph.
(n) "Pass through" means a
discharge which exits the POTW into waters of the State in quantities or
concentration which alone or in conjunction with a discharge or discharges from
other sources is a cause of a violation of any requirement of the POTW's NPDES
Permit (including an increase in the magnitude or duration of a
violation).
(o) "Person" means any
individual, corporation, company, association, partnership, county,
municipality, State agency, Federal agency or facility or other
entity.
(p) "Pretreatment" means
the reduction of the amount of pollutants, the elimination of pollutants, or
the alteration of the nature of pollutant properties in wastewater prior to or
in lieu of discharging or otherwise introducing such pollutants into a POTW.
The reduction or alteration may be obtained by physical, chemical, or
biological processes, process changes or by other means, except as prohibited
by 40 CFR Part 403.6(d) . Appropriate pretreatment technology includes control
equipment, such as equalization tanks or facilities, for protection against
surges or slug loadings that might interfere with or otherwise be incompatible
with the POTW. However, where wastewater from a regulated process is mixed in
an equalization facility with unregulated wastewater or with wastewater from
another regulated process, the effluent from the equalization facility must
meet an adjusted pretreatment limit calculated in accordance with 40 CFR Part
403.6(e).
(q) "Pretreatment permit"
means any permit issued by the Control Authority to regulate the discharge of
pollutants from any industrial user into a publicly owned treatment works and
the waters of the State.
(r)
"Pretreatment permit application" means an application filed by any person with
the Control Authority for a pretreatment permit.
(s) "Pretreatment requirements" means any
substantive or procedural requirement related to pretreatment, other than a
national pretreatment standard, imposed on an industrial user.
(t) "Publicly owned treatment works" or
"POTW," as applied in Rules
391-3-6-.08 and
391-3-6-.09, means a treatment works
as defined by section 212 of the Federal Act, which is owned by the State or a
municipality (as defined by section 502(4) of the Federal Act). This definition
includes any devices and systems used in the storage, treatment, recycling, and
reclamation of municipal sewage or industrial wastes of a liquid nature. It
also includes sewers, pipes, and other conveyances only if they convey
wastewater to a POTW treatment plant. The term also means the municipality, as
defined in section 502(4) of the Federal Act, which has jurisdiction over the
indirect discharges to, and the discharges from, such a treatment
works
(u) "Significant Industrial
User"
1. Except as provided in Subparagraphs
(u) 2. and 3. below, the term Significant Industrial User means:
(i) All industrial users subject to
categorical pretreatment standards under
40 CFR
403.6 and 40 CFR chapter I, subchapter N;
and
(ii) Any other industrial user
that: discharges an average of 25,000 gallons per day or more of process
wastewater to the POTW (excluding sanitary, noncontact cooling and boiler
blowdown wastewater); contributes a process wastestream which makes up 5
percent or more of the average dry weather hydraulic or organic capacity of the
POTW treatment plant; or is designated as such by the Control Authority on the
basis that the industrial user has a reasonable potential for adversely
affecting the POTW's operation or for violating any pretreatment standard or
requirement (in accordance with
40 CFR
403.8(f)(6)).
2. The Control Authority may
determine that an industrial user subject to categorical pretreatment standards
under 40 CFR
403.6 and 40 CFR chapter I, subchapter N is a
Non-Significant Categorical Industrial User rather than a Significant
Industrial User on a finding that the industrial user never discharges more
than 100 gallons per day (gpd) of total categorical wastewater (excluding
sanitary, non-contact cooling and boiler blowdown wastewater, unless
specifically included in the pretreatment standard) and the following
conditions are met:
(i) the industrial user,
prior to the Control Authority's finding, has consistently complied with all
applicable categorical pretreatment standards and requirements;
(ii) the industrial user annually submits the
certification statement required in
40 CFR
403.12(q) together with any
additional information necessary to support the certification statement;
and
(iii) the industrial user never
discharges any untreated concentrated wastewater.
3. Upon a finding by the Control Authority
that an industrial user meeting the criteria in Subparagraph (u)1.(ii) above
has no reasonable potential for adversely affecting the POTW's operation or for
violating any pretreatment standard or requirement, the Control Authority may
at any time, on its own initiative or in response to a petition received from
an industrial user or from a POTW pretreatment program and in accordance with
Subparagraph
391-3-6-.09(7)(d),
determine that such industrial user is not a Significant Industrial
User.
(v) "Significant
noncompliance" for an industrial user means that its violation meets one or
more of the following criteria:
1. Chronic
violations of wastewater discharge limits, defined here as those in which 66
percent or more of all of the measurements taken for the same pollutant
parameter during a six month period exceed (by any magnitude) a numeric
pretreatment standard or requirement, including instantaneous limits, as
defined by 40 CFR
403.3(l);
2. Technical Review Criteria (TRC)
violations, defined here as those in which 33 percent or more of all of the
measurements for the same pollutant parameter taken during a six month period
equal or exceed the product of the numeric pretreatment standard or
requirement, including instantaneous limits, as defined by
40 CFR
403.3(l) multiplied by the
applicable TRC (TRC = 1.4 for BOD, TSS, fats, oil, and grease, and 1.2 for all
other pollutants except pH);
3. Any
other violation of a pretreatment standard or requirement as defined by
40 CFR
403.3(l) (daily maximum,
long-term average, instantaneous limit, or narrative standard) that the Control
Authority determines has caused, alone or in combination with other discharges,
interference or pass through (including endangering the health of POTW
personnel or the general public);
4. Any discharge of a pollutant that has
caused imminent endangerment to human health, welfare or to the environment or
has resulted in the Control Authority's exercise of its emergency authority to
halt or prevent such a discharge;
5. Failure to meet, within ninety (90) days
after the schedule date, a compliance schedule milestone contained in a control
mechanism or enforcement order for starting construction, completing
construction or attaining final compliance;
6. Failure to provide, within forty-five (45)
days after the due date, required reports such as baseline monitoring reports,
90-day compliance reports, periodic self-monitoring reports, and reports on
compliance with compliance schedules;
7. Failure to accurately report
noncompliance; or
8. Any other
violations or group of violations which may include a violation of BMPs, which
the Control Authority determines will adversely affect POTW operations or
violate applicable NPDES Permit effluent limitations and
requirements.
(3)
Pretreatment Permit
Requirements.
(a) Any industrial user
discharging or proposing to discharge any pollutant into a publicly owned
treatment works and then into the waters of the State, under any of the
circumstances described in O.C.G.A. Section
12-5-30, shall be considered for a
pretreatment permit by the Control Authority. In addition to other pretreatment
permit requirements described in this Paragraph, the permit must contain the
following conditions:
1. Statement of
non-transferability without, at a minimum, prior notification to the Control
Authority and provision of a copy of the existing control mechanism to the new
owner or operator;
2. Effluent
limits based on national pretreatment standards for prohibited discharges as
specified in 40 CFR
403.5(a) and (b), national
pretreatment standards for categorical discharges as specified in
40 CFR
403.6 and 40 CFR Chapter 1, Subchapter N,
Parts 405-471, and local limits and/or BMPs as specified in
40 CFR
403.5(c);
3. Statement of applicable civil and criminal
penalties for violation of pretreatment standards and requirements, and any
applicable compliance schedule;
4.
Conditions and limits to ensure that concentration and mass limits requirements
under 40 CFR
403.6(c)(1)-(9), dilution
prohibition requirements under
40 CFR
403.6(d) and combined
wastestream formula requirements under
40 CFR
403.6(e)(1)-(4) are complied
with.
5. Requirements to control
slug discharges as defined in
40 CFR
403.8(f)(2)(vi), if
determined by the Control Authority to be necessary.
(5)
Application for Pretreatment
Permit.
(a) Applications for
pretreatment permits under O.C.G.A. Section
12-5-30 shall be on forms as may
be prescribed and furnished from time to time by the Control Authority.
Applications shall be accompanied by all pertinent information as the Control
Authority may require in order to establish pretreatment standards and
requirements in accordance with Paragraph
391-3-6-.08(4),
including but not limited to complete engineering reports, schedule of
progress, plans, specification, maps, measurements, quantitative and
qualitative determinations, records and all related materials. For industrial
users subject to national pretreatment standards for categorical discharges,
the application for a pretreatment permit shall contain information for a
baseline report as required by
40 CFR
403.12(b)(1)-(7).
(b) Engineering reports, plans,
specifications and other materials submitted to the Control Authority in
support of a pretreatment permit application shall be prepared by or under the
direct supervision or review of, and bear the seal of a Professional Engineer,
competent in the field of sewage and industrial waste treatment. At no time
shall this requirement be in conflict with O.C.G.A. Section 43-15 governing the
practice of professional engineering and surveying.
(c) Materials submitted shall be complete and
accurate.
(d) Any pretreatment
permit application forms or any other forms submitted to the Control Authority
shall be signed as follows:
1. By a
responsible corporate officer, if the industrial user submitting the reports is
a corporation. For this subparagraph a responsible corporate officer means:
(i) a president, secretary, treasurer, or
vice-president of the corporation in charge of a principal business function,
or any other person who performs similar policy- or decision-making functions
for the corporation, or
(ii) the
manager of one or more manufacturing, production, or operating facilities,
provided, the manager is authorized to make management decisions which govern
the operation of the regulated facility including having the explicit or
implicit duty of making major capital investment recommendations, and initiate
and direct other comprehensive measures to assure long-term environmental
compliance with environmental laws and regulations; can ensure that the
necessary systems are established or actions taken to gather complete and
accurate information for control mechanism requirements; and where authority to
sign documents has been assigned or delegated to the manager in accordance with
corporate procedures.
2.
By a general partner or proprietor if the industrial user submitting the
reports is a partnership or sole proprietorship respectively; or
3. By a duly authorized representative of the
individual designated in subparagraphs (5)(d)1. and (5)(d)2. of this section
if:
(i) The authorization is made in writing
by the individual described in subparagraph (5)(d)1. or (5)(d)2.;
(ii) The authorization specifies either an
individual or position having responsibility for the overall operation of the
facility from which the industrial discharge originates, such as the position
of plant manager, operator of a well, or well field superintendent, or a
position of equivalent responsibility, or having overall responsibility for
environmental matters for the company; and
(iii) The written authorization is submitted
to the Control Authority.
4. If an authorization under subparagraph
(5)(d)3. of this section is no longer accurate because a different individual
or position has responsibility for the overall operation of the facility, or
overall responsibility for environmental matters for the company, a new
authorization satisfying the requirements of subparagraph (5)(d)3. of this
section must be submitted to the Control Authority prior to or together with
any reports to be signed by the authorized representative.
5. For a municipality, State, Federal, or the
public facility, by either a principal executive officer, ranking elected
official, or other duly authorized employee. The duly authorized employee must
be an individual or position having responsibility for the overall operation of
the facility or the pretreatment program. This authorization must be made in
writing by the principal executive officer or ranking elected official, and
submitted to the Control Authority prior to or together with the report being
submitted.
(6)
Receipt and Use of Pretreatment
Permit Application Forms and Data.
(a)
Applications for pretreatment permits will be reviewed together with such other
information as may be necessary to ascertain the effect of the discharge of any
pollutant into a publicly owned treatment works and then the waters of the
State.
(b) The Control Authority
shall receive any data it finds relevant which is intended to clarify or
support the pretreatment permit application.
(c) Any information submitted in a
pretreatment permit application form, together with reports, records or plans
that are considered confidential by the applicant for a pretreatment permit
should be clearly labeled "Confidential" and be supported by a statement as to
the reasons that such information should be considered confidential. If the
Control Authority determines that such information is entitled confidential
protection, it shall label and handle the same accordingly. However, all
submitted effluent data shall be available to the public without
restriction.
(8)
Terms and Conditions of
Pretreatment Permits.
(a) Terms and
conditions under which the discharge will be permitted will be specified on the
permit issued for the industrial user to discharge into a publicly owned
treatment works and then into the waters of the State.
(b) No pretreatment permit shall be issued
authorizing the discharge into a publicly owned treatment works and then into
the waters of the State of any radiological, chemical or biological warfare
agent or high-level radioactive waste.
(c) Schedule of compliance:
1. Any person who obtains a pretreatment
permit pursuant to the Act but who is not in compliance with applicable
pretreatment standards and limitations or other requirements contained in such
permit at the time same is issued, shall be required to achieve compliance with
such pretreatment standards and limitations or other requirements in accordance
with the schedule of compliance as set forth in such permit, or in the absence
of a schedule of compliance, by the date set forth in such permit which the
Control Authority has determined to be the shortest, reasonable period of time
necessary to achieve compliance. Such compliance schedules may not extend the
compliance date beyond applicable Federal deadlines. The schedule shall contain
increments of progress in the form of dates for the commencement and completion
of major events leading to the construction and operation of additional
pretreatment required for the industrial user to meet the applicable
pretreatment standards and limitations. No increment referred to in this
Subparagraph shall exceed nine months.
2. Within fourteen (14) days of an interim
date of compliance or the final date of compliance specified for an industrial
user, the industrial user shall provide the Control Authority with written
notice of its compliance, or non-compliance with the requirements and
conditions specified to be completed by such date. Failure to submit the
written notice is just cause for the Control Authority to pursue enforcement
action pursuant to its legal authority.
3. An industrial user who fails or refuses to
comply with an interim or final date of compliance specified in a pretreatment
permit may be deemed by the Control Authority to be in violation of the permit
and may be subject to enforcement action by the Control Authority.
4. Within ninety (90) days following the date
for final compliance with applicable pretreatment standards or in the case of a
new source following commencement of the introduction of wastewater to the
POTW, industrial users subject to categorical standards shall submit to the
Control Authority a report containing information described in
40 CFR
403.12(b)(4)-(6).
(d) Monitoring, recording and
reporting requirements:
1. Any industrial
user authorized by a pretreatment permit issued pursuant to the Act may be
subject to such monitoring, recording and reporting requirements as may be
reasonably required by the Control Authority including the installation, use
and maintenance of monitoring equipment or methods; specific requirements for
recording of monitoring activities and result; and periodic reporting of
monitoring results. The monitoring, record keeping, sampling, notification and
reporting requirements including an identification of the pollutants to be
monitored, sampling location, sampling frequency, and sample type, based on
national pretreatment standards, including those in
40 CFR
403.12 as applicable, and applicable local
limits and requirements shall be specified in a permit when issued, provided
however the Control Authority may modify or require additional monitoring,
recording and reporting by written notification to the industrial
user.
2. The industrial user shall
be required, in the pretreatment permit, to retain any records of monitoring
activities and results for a minimum of three (3) years, unless otherwise
extended by the Control Authority upon written notification. The period of
retention shall be extended during the course of any unresolved litigation
regarding the industrial user or POTW.
3. Any holder of a permit, which requires
monitoring of the authorized discharge into a publicly owned treatment works
and then into the waters of the State, shall report periodically to the Control
Authority results of all required monitoring activities on appropriate forms
supplied by the Control Authority. The Control Authority shall notify the
industrial user of the frequency of reporting. All periodic reporting shall be
in accordance with the requirements described in
40 CFR
403.12(e)-(h).
4. The effluent limitations specified in the
pretreatment permit will be based on an allowable POTW headworks loading
methodology for deriving the value of the limiting pollutant for inclusion in
the permit after consideration of State water quality standards, sludge
disposal requirements, final determination of NPDES Permit limits, POTW
inhibition, and any other applicable criteria. The limiting factor selected
will then be compared to appropriate national pretreatment standards for
categorical discharges if applicable, and the most stringent will then be
incorporated into the permit. In instances where the potable water sources or
other incoming water sources have values that exceed limits based on water
quality standards, then an alternate limit may be derived on a case-by-case
basis after the evaluation of sampling conducted on the water sources by the
Control Authority. These alternate effluent limitations will be considered
local limits and will be enforced to comply with
40 CFR
403.5(c) and (d)
requirements.
(9)
Modification, Suspension and
Revocation of Pretreatment Permits:
Where the Approval Authority is acting as the Control
Authority, the following procedures shall apply:
(a) The Approval Authority may revise or
modify the schedule of compliance set forth in an issued pretreatment permit if
the industrial user requests such modification or revision in writing and such
modification or revision will not cause an interim date in the compliance
schedule to be extended more than one hundred and twenty (120) days or affect
the final date in the compliance schedule. If the industrial user requests in
writing the modification or revision of a schedule of compliance set forth in
an issued pretreatment permit which, if granted, would cause an interim date in
the compliance schedule to be extended more than one hundred and twenty (120)
days or affect the final date in compliance schedule, the Approval Authority
may revise or modify such schedule of compliance provided it is in accordance
with promulgated Federal regulations. The Approval Authority may grant a
request in accordance with this Subparagraph if it determines after documented
showing by the industrial user that good and valid cause, including acts of
God, strikes, floods, material shortages or other events over which the
industrial user has little or no control, exist for such revision.
(b) The Approval Authority may modify,
suspend or revoke an issued pretreatment permit in whole or in part during its
term for cause, including but not limited to, failure or refusal of the
industrial user to carry out the requirements of the Act or regulations
promulgated pursuant thereto and/or promulgated Federal regulations, if within
thirty (30) days following receipt of such proposed modifications, suspension
or revocation from the Approval Authority, there is no objection by the
industrial user in writing. In addition prior to any such modifications,
suspension or revocation of an issued pretreatment permit by the Approval
Authority (other than modification or revision of compliance schedule pursuant
to Subparagraph
391-3-6-.08(9)(a)
above or modification of the monitoring, recording and reporting requirements),
the Approval Authority will provide public notice in accordance with the
procedures set forth in Subparagraph
391-3-6-.08(7)(b).
Where the Approval Authority is acting as the Control Authority, the procedures
set forth in Chapter 391-1-2 shall apply to any person who is "aggrieved or
adversely affected" as provided for in Title 12 of the Official Code of Georgia
Annotated.