Current through Register Vol. 56, No. 18, September 16, 2024
(a) Ground water
quality criteria for Class I-A areas are the natural quality for each
constituent. Class I-A is a non-degradation classification where natural
quality is to be maintained or restored. The Department shall not approve any
discharge to ground water or approve any human activity which results in a
degradation of natural quality within a Class I-A classification
area.
(b) Ground water quality
criteria for Class I-PL are as follows:
1.
Within Class I-PL (Preservation Area), ground water quality criteria shall be
the natural quality for each constituent. Class I-PL (Preservation Area) is a
nondegradation classification in which natural quality shall be maintained or
restored. The Department shall not approve any discharge or any other activity
which would result in the degradation of natural quality within a Class I-PL
(Preservation Area) classification area. However, the provisions of this
paragraph (b)1 shall not apply to activities that are in conformance with
N.J.A.C. 7:50-6 et seq.
2. Ground
water quality criteria for Class I-PL (Protection Area) shall be the background
water quality. The Department shall not approve any discharge or any other
activity which would result in the degradation of background water quality in
the Class I-PL (Protection Area) classification area. However, the provisions
of this paragraph (b)2 shall not apply to activities that are in conformance
with N.J.A.C. 7:50-6 et seq.
3. The
Department shall not approve any discharge to ground water within the Class
I-PL classification area which results in a violation of the Surface Water
Quality Standards applicable to the Pinelands National Reserve, as established
in N.J.A.C. 7:9B or successor rules.
(c) Ground water quality criteria for Class
II-A areas are established as follows:
1.
Specific criteria for ground water quality in Class II-A areas are listed in
Appendix Table l.
2. The Department
may establish an interim specific criterion, pursuant to (c)3 below, for a
constituent not listed in Appendix Table 1.
i. The Department shall maintain and make
available to the public on its website and by request a listing of all interim
specific criteria and the supplemental information used in their
derivation.
ii. Interim specific
criteria shall be replaced with specific criteria as soon as reasonably
possible by rule.
3. The
Department shall establish ground water quality criteria as follows:
i. If the Department promulgates in the Safe
Drinking Water Act rules at N.J.A.C. 7:10 a maximum contaminant level (MCL) for
a constituent, the health-based level used to establish the MCL shall be the
specific ground water quality criterion for the constituent.
ii. For all other constituents, the
Department shall develop ground water quality criteria for Class II-A ground
water based upon the weight of evidence available regarding each constituent's
carcinogenicity, toxicity, public welfare or organoleptic effects, as
appropriate for the protection of potable water, pursuant to (c)4
below.
4. Except as
provided at (c)4iv and v below, the Department shall use the equations, data
sources, and conventions at (c)4i through iii below to derive specific and
interim specific ground water quality criteria:
i. For constituents categorized as
carcinogens, the criteria shall be derived using the following equation:
Click here to view image.
ii. For constituents classified as
non-carcinogens and for constituents classified as carcinogens for which no
carcinogenic slope factor is applicable, the criterion shall be derived using
the following equation:
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iii. The criteria derived by the equations in
this paragraph shall be rounded to one significant figure.
iv. If the Department determines, based on
constituent-specific factors and/or data, as well as applicable USEPA guidance,
generally accepted scientific evidence and methodologies, and/or peer-reviewed
sources of information, that use of an alternative value(s) is more suitable
than a default value in the equation at (c)4i or ii above for the derivation of
a particular specific or interim specific criterion, the Department shall
derive the criterion using the alternative value(s). The Department will
explain the basis for using any alternative value in, as applicable, the
supplemental information accompanying an interim specific criterion made
available to the public on the Department's website in accordance with (c)2i
above, or in the Summary statement of the rulemaking for a specific
criterion.
v. If the Department
determines, based on constituent-specific factors and/or data, as well as
applicable USEPA guidance, generally accepted scientific evidence and
methodologies, and/or peer-reviewed sources of information, that use of a
modified equation is more suitable than the equation at (c)4i or ii above for
the derivation of a particular specific or interim specific criterion, the
Department shall derive the criterion using the modified equation. The
Department will explain the basis for using a modified equation in, as
applicable, the supplemental information accompanying an interim specific
criterion made available to the public on the Department's website in
accordance with (c)2i above, or in the Summary statement of the rulemaking for
a specific criterion.
5.
The Department shall publish in the New Jersey Register a notice of
administrative change subsequent to November 7, 2005:
i. To modify or add a new specific criterion
to Appendix Table 1 when the Department promulgates in the Safe Drinking Water
Act rules at N.J.A.C. 7:10 a new or revised maximum contaminant level (MCL) for
a ground water constituent; or
ii.
To modify a specific criterion in Appendix Table 1 where the USEPA revises the
carcinogenic slope factor or reference dose data contained in the Integrated
Risk Information System (IRIS) database on which a specific ground water
quality criterion in Appendix Table I is based.
iii. The notice of administrative change
shall identify the constituent, the basis for the administrative change and the
revised criterion to be listed in Appendix Table 1.
6. For a Synthetic Organic Chemical not
listed in Appendix Table 1, the applicable interim generic criterion in
Appendix Table 2 shall apply until an interim specific criterion is developed
or a specific criterion is promulgated in accordance with this
subsection.
(d) The
ground water quality criteria for Class II-B ground waters shall be the Class
II-A criteria.
(e) The ground water
quality criteria for Class III-A areas shall be the criteria of the most
stringent classification for vertically or horizontally adjacent ground waters
that are not Class III-A, unless the Department concludes (in the context of an
applicable regulatory program) that there is no significant potential for the
migration of ground water pollutants to that classification area. If there is
significant potential for pollutant migration, the criteria shall be those of
the classification area determined to be downgradient of the Class III-A area.
If there is no significant potential for pollutant migration, criteria shall be
determined for such Class III-A areas on a case by case basis in the context of
applicable regulatory programs. In each case where there is no significant
potential for pollutant migration, the criteria shall be no more stringent than
necessary to ensure that there will be no:
1.
Impairment of existing uses of the ground water;
2. Resulting violation of Surface Water
Quality Standards;
3. Release of
pollutants to the ground surface, structures or air in concentrations that pose
a threat to human health;
4.
Reasonable potential for a change in hydraulic gradient that could cause
pollutants to migrate from the Class III-A area to any classification area
other than Class III.
(f) The ground water quality criteria for
Class III-B areas shall be determined on an area by area basis in response to
case by case needs, in the context of applicable regulatory programs. In each
case, the criteria shall be no more stringent than necessary to ensure that
there will be no:
1. Impairment of existing
uses of ground water;
2. Resulting
violation of Surface Water Quality Standards;
3. Release of pollutants to the ground
surface, structures or air in concentrations that pose a threat to human
health;
4. Violation of constituent
standards for downgradient classification areas to which there is a significant
potential for migration of ground water pollutants.
(g) Where ground water that receives
pollutants from a discharge(s) subsequently flows to surface waters, the
Department shall regulate such discharges as necessary so as not to exceed the
Surface Water Quality Standards applicable to that body of surface water. The
discharger may request application of only the ground water quality standards
by showing, to the satisfaction of the Department, and in the context of the
applicable regulatory procedure, that the flow of ground water pollutants into
the surface water will not cause a violation of the Surface Water Quality
Standards.
(h) For constituents for
which specific or interim specific criteria have been derived, the Department
may evaluate potential toxicological interactions between or among constituents
in ground water by the sum of the risk levels of constituents with health-based
criteria that are based on carcinogenic risk, and by utilizing the hazard index
approach described in the USEPA Guidelines for the Health Risk Assessment of
Chemical Mixtures (51 FR 34014 (1986), and any subsequent revisions) for
non-carcinogens. Additional actions and more stringent criteria may be required
when either of the following conditions exists:
1. The total risk level for all carcinogens
present in ground water exceeds 1 x 10[-4]; or
2. There is a Hazard Index of greater than
one for noncarcinogenic effects.
(i) The Department shall regulate discharges
for compliance with each specific, interim specific and generic criterion
applicable to the discharge pursuant to this section.
