Code of Maine Rules
06 - DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION
096 - DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION - GENERAL
Chapter 420 - SOLID WASTE MANAGEMENT RULES: SEPTAGE MANAGEMENT RULES
Section 096-420-1 - Definitions

A. Alkaline Material. "Alkaline Material" means a high-pH material with a minimum pH of 10.5 standard units, which is not classified as hazardous, such as hydrated lime.

B. Board. "Board" means the Maine Board of Environmental Protection.

C. Commissioner. "Commissioner" means the Commissioner of Environmental Protection.

D. Constructed Drainage Ditch. "Constructed Drainage Ditch" means a trench or other excavation constructed to collect and re-direct surface water runoff or groundwater discharges.

E. Contamination.

F. Contaminated Grease. "Contaminated Grease" means grease which contains any amounts of septage, or sewage from a wastewater treatment facility.

G. Container. "Container" means a tank or other receptacle used to hold or store septage prior to utilization or disposal.

H. Department. "Department" means the Maine Department of Environmental Protection composed of the Board and the Commissioner.

I. Facility. "Facility" means any site or location where septage is handled.

J. Feed Crop. "Feed Crop" means a crop produced for consumption by domestic animals.

K. Fiber Crop. "Fiber Crops" means a crop grown for fiber content such as flax and cotton.

L. Food Crop. "Food Crops" means a crop produced for direct human consumption.

M. Grit. "Grit" means material such as sand, stones or similar material which settles out at the head-works of a wastewater treatment plant or pump station, and which does not contain screenings.

N. Handle. "Handle", as defined in 38 MRSA section1303.14, means to store, transfer, collect, separate, salvage, process, recycle, reduce, recover, incinerate, dispose of or treat.

O. Intermittent Stream or Brook. "Intermittent Stream or Brook" means a stream or brook, or portion of a stream or brook that flows only in direct response to precipitation, receiving little or no water from springs, and no continuous supply from melting snow or other sources. An intermittent stream or brook remains dry for a large part of the year, ordinarily more than three months.

P. Land Application. "Land Application" means placement of septage on the land surface, injection below the land surface, or incorporation into the soil.

Q. Municipality. "Municipality" means a city, town or plantation.

R. Natural Drainage. "Natural Drainage" means the drainage conditions that exist in soil which is undisturbed and which have not been artificially altered. Natural drainage is classified by the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service as: excessively-drained, somewhat excessively-drained, well-drained, moderately well-drained, somewhat poorly-drained, poorly drained, very poorly-drained.

S. One Hundred Year Floodplain. "One Hundred Year Floodplain" means the lowland and relatively flat areas adjoining inland and coastal waters, including flood-prone areas of offshore islands, which are inundated by a flood that has a one-percent or greater chance of recurring in a year or a flood of a magnitude equaled or exceeded once in 100 years, on the average, and which are delineated on the Federal Emergency Management Agency flood maps.

T. Pathogen. "Pathogen" means an organism capable of producing an infection or disease in a susceptible human host, chiefly a micro-organism, including a virus, bacteria, fungus, helminth ova, and all forms of animal parasites and protozoa.

U. Pathogen Reduction. "Pathogen Reduction" means to significantly decrease the number or concentration of pathogens.

V. Perennial Waterbody/Watercourse. "Perennial Waterbody/Watercourse" means a stream or brook, or portion of a stream or brook that flows constantly or contains water throughout the year.

W. Private Well. "Private Well" means a well which is not a public water system.

X. Public Water System. "Public Water System" means any publicly or privately-owned system of pipes, structures and facilities through which water is obtained for or sole, furnished or distributed to the public for human consumption; if such system has at least 15 service connections or serves at least 25 individuals daily at least 60 days out of the year. The term "public water system" shall include any collection, treatment, storage or distribution pipes, structures or facilities under the control of the supplier of water and used primarily in connection with such system, and any collection or pretreatment storage facilities not under such control which are used primarily in connection with such system. The system shall not include the portion of service pipe owned and maintained by a customer of the public water system. A retail store that purifies and bottles water from a "public water system" and sells the water on the premises is not a "public water system".

Y. Public Well. "Public Well" means a well which is a public water system.

Z. Screenings. "Screenings" means solid wastes such as wood, cloth, paper, plastic or other synthetic inert residue which is separated out from a wastewater treatment plant inflow at the head-works by a screening device, or which is separated out from septage by a screening device.

AA. Septage. "Septage" , as defined in 38 MRSA1303-C(27), means waste, refuse, effluent, sludge and any other materials from septic tanks, cesspools or any other similar facilities. For the purposes of these rules, septage is defined as a mixture of liquids and solids derived from residential sanitary wastewater, and includes sanitary wastewater from tanks connected to commercial and institutional establishments which have inputs similar to residential wastewater. Septage also includes wastes derived from portable toilets.

BB. Septage Facility. "Septage Facility" means a site used for land application and/or storage .

CC. Septage Land Application Site. "Septage Land Application Site" means a land area used for septage non-utilization or septage utilization.

DD. Septage Non-utilization. "Septage Non-utilization" means the land application of septage which has not been screened to remove foreign objects and which has not been stabilized to meet pathogen reduction and vector attraction reduction standards.

EE. Septage Storage Facility. "Septage Storage Facility" means a tank or similar structure designed and used to contain septage.

FF. Septage Utilization. "Septage Utilization" means the land application of septage which has been screened to remove foreign objects, has been stabilized to reduce pathogens and to reduce vector attraction, and is applied at a rate commensurate with the nitrogen requirements of the crop grown at the land application site and at times when nitrogen application is recommended.

GG. Significant Sand and Gravel Aquifer. "Significant Sand and Gravel Aquifer" means a porous formation of ice-contact and glacial outwash sand and gravel, as mapped by the Maine Geological Survey, that contains significant recoverable quantities of water which is likely to provide drinking water supplies.

HH. Spent Septic System Beds. "Spent Septic System Beds" means sand, stones, rock and other similar waste filter media which has been removed from residential septic systems. Spent septic system beds do not include pipes, filter fabric or other man-made materials.

II. Stabilization. "Stabilization" means the addition of sufficient alkaline material as a method to achieve pathogen reduction and/or vector attraction reduction.

JJ. Vector. "Vector" means an organism such as a rodent, bird or insect capable of transmitting disease to humans.

KK. Vector Attraction Reduction. "Vector Attraction Reduction" means a method or methods used to treat or handle septage such that the attraction of vectors to septage is reduced and offensive odors are minimized.

LL. Waters of the State. "Waters of the State" means any and all surface and subsurface waters which are contained within, flow through, or under or border upon this State or any portion thereof, including the marginal and high seas, except such waters as are confined and retained completely upon the property of one person and do not drain into or connect with any other waters of the State.

MM. Water Table. "Water Table" means the upper limit of the water-saturated zone in soil.

NN. Waterway. "Waterway" means a naturally-occurring drainage area, such as a drainage swale, which collects and carries surface water runoff.

OO. Well. "Well" means a bored, drilled, or driven shaft or a dug hole, that extends below the seasonal ground water table and is used as a primary drinking water supply.