Current through Register Vol. 49, No. 13, September 23, 2024
Subpart
1.
Waivers for Class III dams.
For Class III dams which are sponsored by a governmental
agency which will be responsible for operation and maintenance or for which the
design, construction supervision, and inspection is performed by a federal
agency, the commissioner may waive certain details of the required submittals,
provided that the federal agency will furnish the commissioner with adequate
facts on the design and construction inspection to allow the commissioner to
adequately evaluate the permit and approvals.
Subp. 2.
Permit application.
A separate application, including a preliminary report for
each new dam or each dam proposed to be enlarged, shall be filed with the
commissioner upon forms provided by the commissioner which shall contain the
following:
A. name and address of the
owner(s) or prospective owner;
B.
purpose;
C. location, type, size,
and height of the dam; and
D.
storage capacity of the impoundment.
For waste impoundment dams, the permit application shall
include facts necessary for the issuance of a permit which extends throughout
the life of the impoundment project.
Subp. 3.
Preliminary report.
The preliminary report shall consist of:
A. A general statement setting forth the
effect on the environment.
B. Maps
showing the location of county, township, and section lines; the outline of the
impoundments; the location of state, county, and township roads; the locations
of utilities, e.g. pipelines, transmission, telegraph, and telephone lines; the
topography; and other structure or facilities including dwellings affected by
the proposed dam. State, county, and USGS maps and aerial photographs may be
used for this purpose.
C. A written
report of surface conditions, i.e. geology, topography, which is based on a
field examination by the applicant's engineer and other qualified
personnel.
D. Typical
cross-sections of the dam accurately showing elevations, proposed impoundment
levels, and top width.
E. Logs of
borings in the foundation and in the borrow areas, and results of seismic and
resistivity subsurface investigations, when they are readily
available.
F. Preliminary design
assumptions, operational aspects, tentative conclusions, and references. The
design assumptions shall pertain to such hydrologic features as drainage area,
rainfall data, runoff, inflow, area-capacity-elevation data, and flood routing,
in addition to structural, geologic, and geotechnical assumptions.
G. A preliminary cost estimate.
H. Where applicable, future plans on ultimate
project size including dams and impoundments.
I. A general description of all other
activities and elements related to and part of the total dam project, such as
operational plans and details of smaller dams, dikes, diversions, reclaim water
facilities, and other facility and utility lines including pipelines, roads,
and railroads. The report shall identify each element or activity of the total
dam project which would require a permit under the provisions of parts
6115.0150 to 6115.0260.
Subp.
4.
Filing fees.
Each application for a permit must include a $15 fee in the
form of a check or money order payable to the commissioner of management and
budget.
Subp. 5.
Professional engineer's requirements.
The applicant must engage professional engineer(s) registered
in the state of Minnesota or acting solely as officers or employees of the
United States as provided in Minnesota Statutes, section
326.13, clause
(3), who are proficient in dam engineering to prepare the engineering
documents, plans, and specifications, to inspect the construction, or
enlargement, and to establish operation and maintenance procedures for the
structure.
Subp. 6.
Final design requirements.
Upon acceptance and agreement by the commissioner of the
preliminary report, the applicant shall submit to the commissioner, for
approval, a final design report, together with plans and specifications and the
initial inspection fee. The final design report shall include, but is not
limited to, the following:
A. general
description of the project, such as its service life, production rates,
required storage and area(s); geological considerations such as physiography,
topography, geology, seismicity, groundwater conditions, and maps; hydrologic
studies such as physical features, climatology, design, storm and design flood
characteristics, flood routing, water-material balance, free-board
requirements, dam-break flood; geotechnical information, such as rock-soil
sampling and logging, geophysical investigations, field and lab testing,
instrumentation data; considerations of construction materials and their
properties, such as quantities required, borrow and aggregate locations and
volumes, field and lab work and investigations, concrete, waste materials
generation and placement techniques, investigation of the stored waste
materials such as generations, transportation, mechanical/chemical/special
testing, disposal practice;
B.
analytical determinations, such as seepage and underseepage studies, stability,
deformation and settlement analysis; analytical and design details of
facilities, such as dam, foundation, impoundment, abutments, spillways (for the
purpose of these rules, spillway means any facility appurtenant to the dam
available to discharge excess water and/or waste from the impoundment) or
decant facilities, diversions, outlet works, instrumentation; operational
aspects, such as impoundment operating criteria, initial filling criteria,
responsibility and coordination, emergency procedures and warning systems: air,
water, and solid pollution controls, sedimentation, and erosion controls:
operational and postoperational maintenance and abandonment considerations;
surveillance and inspection programs; and
C. a detailed cost estimate.
Subp. 7.
Plans and
specifications.
Plans shall consist of a bound portfolio of the drawings with
all sheets being of the same size, and shall be of such scale that
specifications can be drafted, and construction accomplished. Specifications
shall contain:
A. general provisions,
specifying the rights, duties, responsibilities of the owner, designer,
contractor; the prescribed order of work;
B. technical provisions describing approved
work methods, equipment materials, and desired end results; and
C. special conditions.
Subp. 8.
Permit standards.
Approval or denial shall be based on the potential hazards to
the health, safety, and welfare of the public and the environment including
probable future development of the area downstream or upstream. The applicant
may be required to take measures to reduce risks, and the commissioner shall
furnish information and recommendations to local governments for present and
future land use controls to minimize risks to downstream areas.
The commissioner shall determine if the proposal is adequate
with respect to:
A. For Class I, a
showing of lack of other suitable feasible and practical alternative sites, and
economic hardship which would have a major adverse effect on population and
socioeconomic base of the area affected.
B. For Class II, a showing of lack of other
suitable feasible and practical alternative sites and that the dam will benefit
the population or socioeconomic base of the area involved.
C. The need in terms of quantifiable
benefits.
D. The stability of the
dam, foundation, abutments, and impoundment under all conditions of
construction and operation, including consideration of liquefaction, shear, or
seepage failure, overturning, sliding, overstressing and excessive deformation,
under all loading conditions including earthquake. This determination must be
based on current, prudent engineering practice, and the degree of conservatism
employed must depend on hazards.
E.
Discharge and/or storage capacity capable of handling the design flood based on
current, prudent engineering practice and the hazard classification.
F. Compliance with prudent, current
environmental practice throughout its existence.
Subp. 9.
Work inspection and
construction reports.
Work inspection and construction reports:
A. Conformity with approved designs, plans,
and specifications.
(1) The permittee shall
be responsible for providing adequate controls of construction and operation
activities and for the development of data in the ordinary course of those
activities on design, construction, and operation assumptions. The owner may
engage a professional engineer to operate and inspect the construction, but the
designer should also periodically monitor construction.
(2) All construction shall be carried out in
accordance with the approved design, plans, and specifications. No alteration,
modification, or addition to the approved designs, plans, and specifications
that could adversely affect the safety or environmental impact of the dam shall
be made by the permittee without prior permission of the commissioner. Such
approvals shall be provided, if a proper margin of safety is maintained, as
rapidly as possible to preclude interference with construction work schedules.
Emergency short-term revisions may be made by the permittee followed by prompt
notice to the commissioner. Records of alterations, modifications, or additions
to the approved design, plans, and specifications, for which written approval
of the commissioner was not required shall be submitted with the construction
report as provided in item C.
(3)
The commissioner shall make inspections for the purpose of securing conformity
with approved designs, plans, and specifications and shall require the owner to
perform, at the permittee's expense, work or tests as found necessary to
disclose sufficient information to determine if there is conformity.
(4) If, at any time as work progresses, the
commissioner finds that changes are necessary to protect health, safety,
welfare, and the environment, the commissioner shall order the owner to revise
designs, plans, and specifications.
(5) At the commissioner's discretion, the
commissioner may observe and approve foundation preparation and may approve
construction material placement on an intermittent or continuing basis when
field conditions dictate. The commissioner shall be notified at least three
days in advance of start of construction.
B. Permanent markers. At least one permanent
marker for vertical and horizontal control shall be established in the natural
ground by the permittee in the vicinity of each dam so as to be accessible and
protected against disturbance throughout its existence. The permanent marker
for vertical control must be based upon datum and degree of accuracy based upon
considerations of the hazards involved and the size of the dam, as specified by
the commissioner.
The permittee shall submit the locations of these permanent
markers plotted on the best available maps or plans within time limits
prescribed in the permit.
C. Construction report. The permittee may be
required to submit monthly reports on construction observation and quality
control, when construction is complex or hazardous, including: daily
construction documentation; foundation preparation and treatment, quality
control tests; records and summaries of actual tests of foundation and
construction materials, cutoff trench, grouting, etc; instrumentation
installation and maintenance of records and readings; geologic mapping, if any,
of exposed foundations; of logs of drill holes and other exploration features,
if any, completed during construction; review and evaluation of disclosed field
conditions by the designer; and any other items which may be pertinent to a
construction quality assurance program.
Subp. 10.
As-built plans and
data.
Immediately upon completion of construction the permittee
shall file supplementary drawings or descriptions of the dam as actually
constructed, or any other items which may be of permanent value bearing on the
adequacy and permanency of the dam. In enlargements the data need apply only to
the new work.
Subp. 11.
Statement of completion and affidavit of cost.
Within 90 days following completion of construction, the
permittee shall notify the commissioner, by certified mail, including a
statement of the designer or professional engineer in charge of construction
inspection that to the best of knowledge the dam was completed in accordance
with the approved designs, plans, and specifications and any revisions
thereof.
As soon as practicable thereafter, the permittee shall file
an affidavit stating the actual cost in detail or that the permittee is unable
to report the actual cost stating the reasons therefor. In the latter event the
commissioner shall make at the owner's expense an appraisal of the cost of
construction or enlargement and determine what further fee, if any, is
required. If a further fee is required, the commissioner shall notify the owner
by certified mail of the amount within 15 days including notice that permittee
may appear within 60 days thereafter to protest the amount of the fee, in whole
or in part and the sufficiency of the appraisal upon which such determination
was based.
Subp. 12.
Issuance of impoundment approval.
Impoundment approvals may be necessary for Class I and Class
II dams to allow adequate time for inspection before actual impoundment
begins.
The type, location, hazard involved, and the purpose served
by the dam will be considered in respect to the degree and nature of
impoundment approval needed. Certain waste disposal dams which will not be
constructed to maximum storage elevation in five years will require a series of
impoundment approvals for various stages of construction.
Pending issuance of an impoundment approval (or reissuance in
the event of termination) where required the owner of the dam shall not,
through action or inaction, allow an impoundment.
The impoundment approval shall contain such terms and
conditions as the commissioner may prescribe.
The commissioner may also revoke or amend the terms and
conditions of any approval.
Subp.
13.
Performance reports.
The permittee may be required in the case of complex or
hazardous dams to submit yearly a performance report detailing the
instrumentation data and analysis and interpretation of these data as they
relate to the safety of the dam and design assumptions. The frequency of
submission may be modified if field conditions so dictate.
Statutory Authority: MS s
105.535