Current through all regulations passed and filed through December 16, 2024
Except as otherwise provided in this
rule, the definitions in sections
6111.01 and
6111.13 of the Revised Code
shall have the same meaning in this chapter as in those sections.
(A)
(1) "Act" means
Federal Water Pollution Control Act (commonly referred to as the Clean Water
Act)
33 U.S.C. sections
1251 to
1387
as amended through July 1, 2017.
(2) "Administrator"
means the administrator of the United States environmental protection
agency.
(3) "Applicable water quality standards" means all
water quality standards that apply under Chapter 3745-1 of the Administrative
Code and under federal regulations to the waters of the state, except as defined in rule
3745-33-07 of the Administrative
Code.
(4) "Applicable effluent guideline" means a
treatment-technology performance standard, prohibition or other performance standard promulgated by
U.S. EPA
under section 301, 306, or 307 of the act.
(5) "Applicable
effluent standards and limitations" means all state and federal effluent
standards and limitations to which a
discharge is subject under the act, including but not limited to, effluent limitations,
standards of performance, toxic effluent standards and prohibitions and pretreatment standards.
(6)
"Applicant" means any person who applies for an Ohio NPDES permit.
(7)
"Application" means the form used to apply for an Ohio NPDES permit.
(8)
"Area of initial mixing" or "AIM" means the limited zone where
discharge-induced mixing causes the effluent to mix rapidly with the receiving
water such that the area may not be physically inhabitable by aquatic life. The
inside mixing zone maximum criteria may be exceeded within the AIM, but must be met on the perimeter of the
AIM.
(B)
(1) "Best management
practices" or "BMPs" means activities, prohibitions or practices, maintenance
procedures and other management practices
to prevent or reduce the pollution of waters of the state. BMPs also include
treatment, operating procedures, and practices to control site runoff, spillage
or leaks, sludge or waste disposal, or drainage from raw material
storage.
(2) "Biological index measurement" means a measurement
of fish or macroinvertebrate communities in a water of the state using the
index of biological integrity (IBI), modified index of well
being (mIwb) or
the invertebrate community index (ICI) indices as specified in "Biological Criteria for the
Protection of Aquatic Life: Volume II, Users Manual for Biological Field
Assessment of Ohio Surface Waters," October 30, 1987, updated January 1, 1988,
amended September 30, 1989, updated November 8, 2006.
(3)
"Building sewer" means the part of the
horizontal piping of drainage system that receives and conveys the discharge
from a building drain to the public sanitary sewer, private sanitary sewer or
other point of disposal.
(C) "Cost effective" means the optimum combination of
monetary costs, environmental impacts, system operability and
reliability and public
acceptance.
(D)
(1) "Director" means
the director of the Ohio environmental protection agency.
(2)
"Discharge" means discharge of any pollutant or pollutants from a point
source.
(3) "Discharge of a pollutant or pollutants" means any
addition of any pollutant to waters of the state from a point source.
(4)
"Domestic sewage" means waste and wastewater from household operations that are
discharged to or otherwise enter treatment works.
(E)
"EC50" means the
median effective concentration which is a statistically or graphically
estimated concentration that is expected to cause one or more specified effects
in fifty per cent of a group of organisms under specified conditions.
(F) "Federal NPDES permit application" means an
application for a discharge permit filed under the 1899 Refuse Act
(33 U.S.C. sections
407 to
426
as amended through July 1, 2017) or an application for a discharge permit filed
under the act.
(L)
"LC50" means the
median lethal concentration which is a statistically or graphically estimated
concentration that is expected to be lethal to fifty per cent of a group of
organisms under specified conditions.
(M)
(1) "Method detection
limit" or "MDL" means the same as defined in section
6111.13 of the Revised
Code.
(2) "Minimum level" or "ML" means the concentration at
which the entire analytical system must give a recognizable signal and
acceptable calibration point. The ML is the concentration of a pollutant in a
sample that is equivalent to the concentration of the lowest calibration
standard analyzed by a specific analytical procedure, assuming that all the
method-specified sample weights, volumes and processing steps have been
followed.
(N)
(1)
"Nonpoint source" means any source of pollutants other than those defined or
designated as point sources.
(2) "NPDES" means
national pollutant discharge elimination system
(O)
(1) "Ohio EPA" means
the Ohio environmental protection agency or its director, as the context or
other law or regulations may require.
(2) "Ohio NPDES
permit" means a permit issued by the state of Ohio for a
point source discharge that
authorizes discharge levels to be protective of human
health and the environment.
(P)
(1)
"Person" means the same as defined in section
6111.01 of the Revised Code.
(2) "Point source" means any discernible, confined and
discrete conveyance, including but not limited to, any pipe, ditch, channel, tunnel, conduit, well,
discrete fissure, container, rolling stock, concentrated animal feeding
operation, or vessel or other floating craft from which pollutants are or may be
discharged.
(3) "Pollutant" means sewage, industrial waste or
other waste as defined by divisions (B) to (D) of section
6111.01 of the Revised
Code.
(4) "Practical quantification level" or "PQL" means
the same as defined in section
6111.13 of the Revised
Code.
(5) "Preliminary effluent limit" or "PEL" means the
most stringent applicable wasteload allocation (WLA) expressed as both an
average and a maximum. The average PEL is the lowest WLA to maintain chronic
criteria and the maximum PEL is the lowest WLA to maintain acute
criteria.
(6)
"Process wastewater" means any water that during
manufacturing or processing comes into direct contact with, or results from,
the production or use of any raw material, intermediate product, finished
product, byproduct or waste product.
(7) "Projected
effluent quality" or "PEQ" means the estimated level of a pollutant in an
effluent, as established in rule
3745-2-04 of the Administrative
Code.
(8) "Publicly owned treatment works" or "POTW" means
any device or system used in the treatment (including recycling and
reclamation) of domestic sewage or industrial waste of a liquid nature that is
owned by a municipality, county or state entity or any public body created
under state law that has authority over disposal of sewage.
(Q) "Quantification level" or "QL" means a measurement
of the concentration of a pollutant obtained by using a specified laboratory
procedure calibrated at a specified concentration above the method detection
limit. The QL is considered the lowest concentration at which a particular
pollutant can be measured using a specified laboratory procedure for the
monitoring of the pollutant.
(R)
(1)
"Reasonable potential" means the likelihood of a pollutant to cause or
contribute to an excursion of water quality standards.
(a)
For
determinations
of reasonable potential with respect to numeric
chemical-specific water quality standards, a grouping system for
assessing whether to establish water quality based effluent limitations as limits in
NPDES permits consists of the following five
categories that rank the reasonable potential:
(i) "Group one"
pollutants have no applicable criteria and the director has determined that
data are insufficient to calculate criteria or values. The reasonable potential
for this group cannot be determined.
(ii) "Group two"
pollutants have minimal potential based on water quality data to cause or
contribute to a water quality excursion.
(iii) "Group three" pollutants have some potential
based on water quality data to cause or contribute to a water quality
excursion; permit requirements may not be warranted based solely on water
quality considerations.
(iv) "Group four"
pollutants have significant potential based on water quality data to cause or
contribute to a water quality excursion; permit monitoring requirements are
generally warranted based solely on water quality considerations.
(v)
"Group five" pollutants have the highest potential based on water quality data
to cause or contribute to a water quality excursion; permit limitations are
generally warranted based solely on water quality considerations.
(b)
For
determinations of reasonable potential with respect to whole effluent toxicity,
the procedures in rules 3745-02-09 and
3745-33-07 of the Administrative
Code shall be followed.
(c)
For determinations of reasonable potential to cause or
contribute to exceedances of the narrative criteria in rule
3745-1-04 of the Administrative
Code, the director will use available environmental indicators (chemical,
physical, biological) relative to the specific criterion being evaluated and
modeling appropriate to the indicator designed to relate the source being
evaluated to the indicator of the specific narrative criterion.
(2) "Regional administrator" means the administrator
of U.S. environmental protection agency, region V.
(3) "Reservoir" means
any impoundment, or any potential impoundment, that will be created by a dam.
(S)
(1) "Schedule of
compliance" means the same as defined in section
6111.01 of the Revised
Code.
(2) "Semi-public disposal system" means a disposal
system that treats the sanitary sewage discharged from publicly or privately
owned buildings or place of assemblage, entertainment, recreation, education,
correction, hospitalization, housing or employment, but does not include a
disposal system that treats sewage in amounts of more than twenty-five thousand
gallons per day; a disposal system for the treatment of sewage that is exempt
from the requirements of division (F) of section
6111.04 of the Revised Code; or
a disposal system for the treatment of industrial waste.
(3)
"Septage" means the liquid and solid material pumped from a septic tank,
cesspool, or similar domestic sewage treatment system or a holding tank when
the system is cleaned and maintained.
(4) "Sewage sludge"
means the same as defined in section
6111.01 of the Revised
Code.
(5) "Surface waters of the state" or "water bodies"
means the same as defined in rule
3745-1-02 of the Administrative
Code.
(T)
(1)
"Tier I criteria" means the same as defined in rule
3745-1-02 of the Administrative
Code.
(2) "Tier II values" means
the same as defined in rule
3745-1-02 of the Administrative
Code.
(3)
"Total toxic organic pollutants" or "toxic organics" means
the organic chemicals listed in 40 C.F.R. Part 122, Appendix D.
(4)
"Total toxic
organics" or "TTO" means the subset of toxic organic pollutants regulated in
federal treatment technology-based standards in 40 C.F.R. Parts 401 through
471.
(5) "Toxicity test" means a test that determines the
toxicity of a chemical, substance, wastewater effluent or other aqueous mixture, using living organisms.
A toxicity test measures the degree of response of exposed test organisms to a
specific chemical substance, wastewater effluent or other aqueous mixture.
(6)
"Treatment
additive" means a chemical or substance used to improve the characteristics of
incoming water or to treat wastewater for purposes such as corrosion
inhibition, particle flocculation or disinfection. These include substances
used in cooling water, boiler water or in wastewater treatment
systems.
(7)
"Treatment technology-based effluent limitations" or
"TBELs" means limits established based on the performance of treatment
technologies. These include federal treatment standards established in 40
C.F.R. Part 133, and 40 C.F.R. Parts 401 through 471 as amended through July 1,
2017, best available demonstrated control technology (BADCT) treatment
standards established by Ohio EPA pursuant to rule
3745-1-05 of the Administrative
Code, and any such limitations established pursuant to rules
3745-33-05 and
3745-33-06 of the Administrative
Code.
(U)
(1)
"Upground reservoir" means a reservoir formed by artificial barriers on two or
more sides and that impounds water or liquefied material pumped or otherwise
imported from an exterior source. Lagoons are considered upground
reservoirs.
(2)
"U.S. EPA" means the United States environmental
protection agency.
(W)
(1) "Wasteload
allocation" or "WLA" means the portion of a receiving water's loading capacity
that is allocated to one of its existing or future point sources of pollution.
In the absence of a TMDL or TMDL implementation plan, a WLA is the allocation
for an individual point source that ensures that the level of water quality to
be achieved by the point source is derived from and complies with all
applicable water quality standards.
(2)
"Wastewater
treatment facility" means treatment works as defined by division (F) of section
6111.01 of the Revised Code that
convey or may convey effluents that will be discharged into the waters of the
state.
(3) "Water quality based effluent limitation" or
"WQBEL" means an effluent limitation determined on the basis of water quality
standards (contained in Chapter 3745-1 of the Administrative Code) or wasteload
allocation procedures (contained in Chapter 3745-2 of the Administrative
Code).
(4) "Waters of the state" means the same as defined in
section 6111.01 of the Revised
Code.
(5) "WET level" means numeric values defined in rule
3745-2-09 of the Administrative
Code.
(6) "Whole effluent toxicity" or "WET" means the total
toxic effect of an effluent measured directly with a toxicity test.
(AA)
Incorporation by
reference. The text of the incorporated materials is not included in the rules
contained in this chapter. The materials are hereby made a part of this
chapter. For materials subject to change, only the version specified in this
rule is incorporated. Any amendment or revision to a referenced document is not
incorporated unless and until this rule has been amended to specify the new
version.
(1)
Availability. The materials incorporated by reference are
available as follows:
(a)
Code of federal regulations (C.F.R.). Information and
copies may be obtained by writing to: "U.S. Government Publishing Office
Bookstore, 710 North Capitol Street N.W., Washington, D.C. 20403." The full
text of the C.F.R. is also available in electronic format at
http://www.gpoaccess.gov/cfr/. The C.F.R. compilations are also available for
inspection and copying at most public libraries and "The State Library of
Ohio."
(b)
Federal statutes. The full text is available in
electronic format at http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys. These laws are also available
for inspection and copying at most public libraries and "The State Library of
Ohio."
(2)
Incorporated materials.
(a)
Appropriate
"Federal Statutes." The statutes listed in this rule are those versions of the
laws amended through July 1, 2017, including the following:
(i)
1899 Refuse Act,
33 U.S.C. sections
407 to
426.
(ii)
Comprehensive
Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act (CERCLA),
42
U.S.C. sections 9601 to
9675.
(iii)
Federal Water
Pollution Control Act (commonly referred to as the Clean Water Act),
33 U.S.C. sections
1251 to
1387.
(iv)
Resource
Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA),
42 U.S.C.
6901 to
6992.
(3)
Appropriate "Code of
Federal Regulations." As used in this chapter "40 C.F.R." means Title 40
of the Code of Federal Regulations as amended
through July 1, 2017 and "50 C.F.R." means Title 50 of the Code of
Federal Regulations as amended through July 1, 2017.