Current through Register Vol. 56, No. 24, December 18, 2024
(a)
This subchapter establishes a system of controls to ensure that underground
injection practices do not endanger underground sources of drinking water
(USDWs). The goal of this subchapter is preventive. The Department's policy is
to liberally interpret and enforce this subchapter to prevent the contamination
of the State's ground water resources.
(b) This subchapter regulates the disposal of
wastes by well injection as well as the underground storage of fluids
(including gases) which have been emplaced by means of an injection well and
the injection of water. Paragraph (b)1 below sets forth examples of the
underground injection activities regulated under this subchapter. All injection
wells are divided into five classifications, which are set forth at
N.J.A.C.
7:14A-8.2.
1. The following injection wells are among
the injection activities regulated under this subchapter:
i. Any injection well located on a drilling
platform within the State's territorial waters;
ii. Any well, including any dug hole, that is
deeper than its largest surface dimension, where the principal function of the
well is emplacement of fluids;
iii.
Any septic system, disposal bed, seepage pit, or cesspool used by a generator
of hazardous waste, or by an owner or operator of a hazardous waste management
facility to dispose of fluids containing hazardous waste;
iv. Any one subsurface disposal system or
multiple subsurface disposal systems, on a single property, for which the
aggregate sanitary wastewater design flow is in excess of 2000 gpd, calculated
in accordance with the minimum standards for average facilities listed in the
Department's Standards for Individual Subsurface Sewage Disposal Systems, at
N.J.A.C.
7:9A-7.4; and
v. Any injection well used to inject
industrial wastes, including but not limited to drywells, leaching fields,
septic systems, and seepage pits.
2. The following injection activities are not
regulated under this subchapter;
i. Any
injection well located on a drilling platform or other site that is beyond the
State's territorial waters;
ii. Any
single family residential subsurface sewage disposal system that is designed,
constructed, installed and operated in compliance with the Realty Improvement
Sewerage and Facilities Act,
N.J.S.A. 58:11-23 et seq., and the Department's
Standards for Individual Subsurface Sewage Disposal Systems, N.J.A.C. 7:9A,
where applicable;
iii. Any hole
which is not used for emplacement of fluids underground;
iv. Any injection into a pre-constructed tank
for the purpose of storage of fluids. Owners or operators of these injection
wells may be subject to the Underground Storage Tank rules at N.J.A.C. 7:14B;
and
v. Injection wells used for
injection of hydrocarbons which are pipeline quality and are gases at standard
temperature and pressure for the purpose of storage.
