North Dakota Administrative Code
Title 33.1 - Department of Environmental Quality
Article 33.1-16 - Control, Prevention, and Abatement of Pollution of Surface Water
Chapter 33.1-16-01 - North Dakota Pollutant Discharge Elimination System
Section 33.1-16-01-01 - General - Definitions - Permit effect - Incorporation by reference
Universal Citation: ND Admin Code ยง 33.1-16-01-01
Current through Supplement No. 395, January, 2025
1. Authority. The authority for this chapter relating to the control, prevention, and abatement of pollution of natural surface and underground waters is provided by North Dakota Century Code section 61-28-04.
2. Scope and purpose. This chapter establishes procedures governing the application for, and the issuance, denial, modification, and revocation of, permits for the discharge of pollutants into the waters of the state, as defined by subsection 6 of North Dakota Century Code section 61-28-02. The establishment of such procedures is required as a condition precedent to participation by North Dakota in the national pollutant discharge elimination system, pursuant to the provisions of section 402(b) of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act [ 33 U.S.C. 1251 et seq.].
3. Definitions. As used in this chapter, unless the context otherwise indicates:
a. "Administrator" means the administrator of
the United States environmental protection agency.
b. "Applicable water quality standards" means
all water quality standards to which a discharge is subject under the Federal
Water Pollution Control Act and which have been:
(1) Approved or permitted to remain in effect
by the administrator following submission to the administrator pursuant to
section 303(a) of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act; or
(2) Promulgated by the administrator pursuant
to section 303(b) or (c) of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act.
c. "Biological monitoring" means
the determination of the effects on aquatic life, including accumulation of
pollutants in tissue, in receiving waters due to the discharge of pollutants:
(1) By techniques and procedures, including
sampling of organisms representative of appropriate levels of the food chain
appropriate to the volume and the physical, chemical, and biological
characteristics of the effluent; and
(2) At appropriate frequencies and
locations.
d.
"Department" means the department of environmental quality.
e. "Discharge" when used without
qualification includes a discharge of a pollutant, and a discharge of
pollutants.
f. "Discharge of a
pollutant" and "discharge of pollutants" each means any addition of any
pollutant to the waters of the state from any source, including the disposal of
pollutants into wells.
g. "Effluent
standard" or "effluent limitation" means any restriction established by the
department on quantities, rates, and concentrations of chemical, physical,
biological, and other constituents which are discharged from point sources into
the waters of the state. Such restrictions shall be at least as stringent as
standards adopted by the administrator pursuant to the provisions of the
Federal Water Pollution Control Act. Such restrictions shall include effluent
limitations and applicable compliance schedules, standards of performance,
toxic effluent standards and prohibitions, and pretreatment standards adopted
by the administrator pursuant to the aforesaid Act.
h. "EPA" means the United States
environmental protection agency.
i.
"Industrial user" means a source of indirect discharge as defined in section
33.1-16-01.1-01.
j. "Major facility" means any facility or
activity subject to regulation under the national pollutant discharge
elimination system which has been identified as a major facility by the
regional administrator in conjunction with the department.
k. "Minor discharge" means any discharge from
a facility or activity which has not been identified as a major
facility.
I. "Municipality" means a
city, county, district, association, or other public body created by or
pursuant to state law and having jurisdiction over disposal of wastes, as the
term is defined by subsection 2 of North Dakota Century Code section 61-28-02,
or a designated and approved management agency under section 209 of the Federal
Water Pollution Control Act.
m.
"National data bank" means a facility or system established or to be
established by the administrator for the purposes of assembling, organizing,
and analyzing data pertaining to water quality and the discharge of
pollutants.
n. "National pollutant
discharge elimination system (NPDES)" means the national system for the
issuance of permits under section 402 of the Federal Water Pollution Control
Act of 1972 and includes any state or interstate program which has been
approved by the administrator pursuant to section 402 of the Federal Water
Pollution Control Act.
o. "National
pollutant discharge elimination system application" or "application" means the
uniform national forms, including subsequent additions, revisions, or
modifications duly promulgated by the administrator pursuant to the Federal
Water Pollution Control Act, for application for a national pollutant discharge
elimination system permit and any state form that has been approved for use by
the administrator.
p. "National
pollutant discharge elimination system form" means any issued national
pollutant discharge elimination system permit and any uniform national form
developed for use in the national pollutant discharge elimination system and
prescribed in regulations promulgated by the administrator and any state form
that has been approved for use by the administrator.
q. "National pollutant discharge elimination
system permit" means any permit issued by the department pursuant to its
authority under North Dakota Century Code section 61-28-04, and subsequent to
approval by the administrator as described in subsection 5 of section
33.1-16-01-04.
r. "National pollutant discharge elimination
system reporting form" means the uniform national forms, including subsequent
additions, revisions, or modifications duly promulgated by the administrator
pursuant to the Federal Water Pollution Control Act, for reporting data and
information pursuant to monitoring and other conditions of national pollutant
discharge elimination system permits and any state form that has been approved
for use by the administrator.
s.
"Person" means the state or any agency or institution thereof, any
municipality, political subdivision, public or private corporation, individual,
partnership, association, any agency or instrumentality of the United States
government, or other entity, and includes any officer or governing or managing
body of any municipality, political subdivision, or public or private
corporation.
t. "Pollutant" means
"wastes" as defined in subsection 2 of North Dakota Century Code section
61-28-02, including dredged spoil, solid waste, incinerator residue, garbage,
sewage, sludge, munitions, chemical wastes, biological materials, radioactive
materials, heat, wrecked or discarded equipment, rock, sand, cellar dirt, and
industrial, municipal, and agricultural waste discharged into water.
u. "Refuse Act application" means the
application for a permit under section 13 of the River and Harbor Act of 1899 [
33 U.S.C.
407] .
v. "Regional administrator" means the
regional administrator of region VIII of the environmental protection agency,
which includes within its jurisdiction North Dakota.
w. "Schedule of compliance" means a schedule
of remedial measures, including an enforceable sequence of actions or
operations leading to compliance with an effluent limitation, other limitation,
prohibition, or standard.
x. "Toxic
pollutant" means those pollutants, or combinations of pollutants, including
disease-causing agents, which after discharge and upon exposure, ingestion,
inhalation, or assimilation into any organism, either directly from the
environment or indirectly by ingestion through food chains, will, on the basis
of information available to the administrator, cause death, disease, behavioral
abnormalities, cancer, genetic mutations, physiological malfunctions including
malfunctions in reproduction, or physical deformations, in such organisms or
their offspring.
y. "Waters of the
state" means all water included within the definitions given in subsection 15
of North Dakota Century Code section 61-28-02 or North Dakota Century Code
section 61-01-01.
4. Effect of a permit.
a. Except
for any toxic effluent standards and prohibitions and standards for sewage
sludge use or disposal, compliance with a permit constitutes compliance with
sections 301, 302, 307, 318, 403, and 405(a) and (b) of the Clean Water
Act.
b. The issuance of a permit
does not convey any property rights of any sort or any exclusive
privilege.
5. Incorporation by reference.
a.
The subchapters, parts, subparts, and appendices of title 40 Code of Federal
Regulations which are incorporated by reference into this chapter shall be
treated as if they were published in full in this chapter. Except as provided
in section
33.1-16-01-31 or otherwise
specified, any incorporation by reference shall be as it exists on January 1,
2018.
b. Any reference to "waters
of the United States" or "waters of the U.S." in any corporation by reference
shall include "waters of the state" as defined in this section.
General Authority: NDCC 61-28-04; S.L.2017, ch.199, § 1
Law Implemented: NDCC 61-28-04
Disclaimer: These regulations may not be the most recent version. North Dakota may have more current or accurate information. We make no warranties or guarantees about the accuracy, completeness, or adequacy of the information contained on this site or the information linked to on the state site. Please check official sources.
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