Administrative Rules of Montana
Department 17 - ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY
Chapter 17.50 - SOLID WASTE MANAGEMENT
Subchapter 17.50.8 - Cesspool, Septic Tank, and Privy Cleaners
Rule 17.50.809 - SPECIFIC SITE CRITERIA

(1) A person may not apply pumpings to land within 500 feet of any occupied or inhabitable building.

(2) A person may not apply pumpings to land within 150 feet of any state surface water, including ephemeral or intermittent drainages and wetlands. The department or local health officer or the health officer's designated representative may require greater distances where slopes or other factors may increase the likelihood of runoff from the land application area.

(3) A person may not apply pumpings to land within 100 feet of any state, federal, county or city maintained highway or road.

(4) A person may not apply pumpings to land within 100 feet of a drinking water supply source. The department or local health officer or the health officer's representative may require greater distance where site conditions might increase the likelihood of contamination of a drinking water source.

(5) Topographical slopes on fields must be taken into account when a person is selecting land application areas. A person may not apply pumpings where ponding or runoff of septage is likely to occur.

(6) A person may not apply pumpings to land with slopes greater than 6%.

(7) A person may not apply pumpings to land through subsurface injection on slopes greater than 12%.

(8) Pumpings may be applied to the land surface only where at least six feet separate the land surface from seasonally high ground water. The department or local health officer or the health officer's designated representative may require greater separation where soil types or specific application processes might increase the likelihood of ground water contamination.

(9) A person may not apply any pumpings to land before that person obtains the express written permission of the land owner or the land owner's designated representative. If land is leased from a tribe or governmental agency, permission of the tribe or agency must be obtained before pumpings may be applied to the land. Permission must be provided on the form submitted to the department as part of the application process, or on the department-authorized form for additional site location. If the pumpings are to be applied to land owned by the owner of the land on which they were generated, the pumper shall keep a permission slip or signed receipt as specified in ARM 17.50.813.

(10) A pumper shall control litter at land application sites as necessary to prevent its spread to adjoining properties. Litter must be removed from a land application site within six hours after application.

(11) A person may not apply bulk septage or other pumpings to agricultural land, forest land, pasture land, or range land at a rate greater than the agronomic rate of the site for nitrogen on an annual basis.

(12) The annual application rate (AAR) for bulk septage, in gallons/acre/year, is determined by the formula AAR=N/0.0026, where N equals the amount of nitrogen, in pounds per acre per 365-day period, needed by the crop or vegetation grown on the land.

(13) A person may not apply bulk septage at a reclamation site in excess of the agronomic rate unless the person first obtains site-specific approval from the department.

(14) A person may not apply pumpings to land where a threatened or endangered species or its designated critical habitat is likely to be adversely affected.

(15) The local health officer or the local health officer's designated representative may reject sites for public health or public nuisance problems or for proximity to public water supplies, but in no case may a site be within 500 feet of an occupied or inhabitable building or within 100 feet of a drinking water source.

(16) The local health officer or the local health officer's designated representative may withdraw approval of previously approved sites if: