South Carolina Code of Regulations
Chapter 61 - DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND ENVIRONMENTAL CONTROL
Subchapter 61-9 - Water Pollution Control Permits
Subchapter 61-9.122 - THE NATIONAL POLLUTANT DISCHARGE ELIMINATION SYSTEM
Part A - DEFINITIONS AND GENERAL PROGRAM REQUIREMENTS
Section 61-9.122.A.2 - Definitions
Current through Register Vol. 48, No. 9, September 27, 2024
(a) The following definitions apply to this regulation, R.61-9.124, R.61-9.125, R.61-9.129, R.61-9.133, and R.61-9.403. Terms not defined in this section have the meaning given by the Clean Water Act (CWA) or the Pollution Control Act (PCA).
(b) Definitions:
"Administrator" means the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency or any employee of the Agency to whom the Administrator may by order delegate the authority to carry out his functions under section 307(a)(a) of the CWA, or any person who shall by operation of law be authorized to carry out such functions.
Note: "Animal feeding operation" is defined at section 122.23.
"Applicable standards and limitations" means all State, interstate, and federal standards and limitations to which a discharge, a sewage sludge use or disposal practice, or a related activity is subject under the CWA, including effluent limitations, water quality standards, standards of performance, toxic effluent standards or prohibitions, best management practices, pretreatment standards, and standards for sewage sludge use or disposal under section 301, 302, 303, 304, 306, 307, 308, 403 or 405 of CWA.
"Applicant" means a person applying to the Department for a State or NPDES permit to discharge wastes into the waters of the State or to operate a treatment works.
"Application" means the uniform NPDES application form, including subsequent additions, revisions, or modifications thereof promulgated by the Administrator of EPA, and adopted for use by the Board or a State permit application form.
Note: "Aquaculture project" is defined at section 122.25.
"Average monthly discharge limitation" means the highest allowable average of daily discharges over a calendar month, calculated as the sum of all daily discharges measured during a calendar month divided by the number of daily discharges measured during that month.
"Average weekly discharge limitation" means the highest allowable average of daily discharges over a calendar week, calculated as the sum of all daily discharges measured during a calendar week divided by the number of daily discharges measured during that week.
"Best management practices" (BMP) means schedules of activities, prohibitions of practices, maintenance procedures, and other management practices to prevent or reduce the pollution of waters of the State. BMPs also include treatment requirements, operating procedures and practices to control plant site runoff, spillage or leaks, sludge or waste disposal, or drainage from raw material storage.
"BMP" means best management practices.
"Board" means the Board of Health and Environmental Control for the State of South Carolina and shall be inclusive of any agent designated by the Board to perform any function.
Note: "Bypass" is defined at section 122.41(m)(m).
"CFR" means the Code of Federal Regulations, as amended.
"Class I sludge management facility" means any POTW identified under R.61-9.403.8(a)(a), as being required to have an approved pretreatment program and any other treatment works treating domestic sewage classified as a Class I sludge management facility by the Regional Administrator in conjunction with the Department because of the potential for its sludge use or disposal practices to adversely affect public health and the environment.
"Code" means the South Carolina Code of 1976, as amended.
"Commissioner" means the Commissioner of the S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control, or his designated representative.
Note: "Concentrated animal feeding operation" is defined at section 122.23.
Note: "Concentrated aquatic animal feeding operation" is defined at section 122.24.
"Contiguous zone" means the entire zone established by the United States under Article 24 of the Convention on the Territorial Sea and the Contiguous Zone.
"Continuous discharge" means a discharge which occurs without interruption throughout the operating hours of the facility, except for infrequent shutdowns for maintenance, process changes, or other similar activities.
"CWA" means the Clean Water Act (formerly referred to as the Federal Water Pollution Control Act or Federal Water Pollution Control Act Amendments of 1972) Pub. L. 92-500, as amended by Pub. L. 95-217, Pub. L. 95-576, Pub. L. 96-483, and Pub. L. 97-117, 33 U.S.C. 1251 et seq. Specific references to sections within the CWA will be according to Pub. L. 92-500 notation.
"CWA and regulations" means the Clean Water Act (CWA) and applicable regulations promulgated thereunder and includes State NPDES program requirements.
"Daily discharge" means the discharge of a pollutant measured during a calendar day or any 24-hour period that reasonably represents the calendar day for purposes of sampling. For pollutants with limitations expressed in units of mass, the daily discharge is calculated as the total mass of the pollutant discharged over the day. For pollutants with limitations expressed in other units of measurement, the daily discharge is calculated as the average measurement of the pollutant over the day.
"Department" means the S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control and shall also be inclusive of those persons within the Department authorized by the Board to administer the NPDES program or take any action in behalf of the Board.
"Direct discharge" means the discharge of a pollutant.
"Discharge" means any discharge or discharge of any sewage, industrial wastes or other wastes into any of the waters of the State, whether treated or not.
"Discharge of a pollutant"
"Discharge Monitoring Report" (DMR) means the EPA uniform national form, including any subsequent additions, revisions, or modifications for the reporting of self-monitoring results by permittees, and modified to substitute the State Agency name, address, logo, and other similar information, as appropriate, in place of EPA's.
"Discharger" means any person who discharges any treated or untreated sewage, industrial wastes, or other wastes into any of the waters of the State.
"DMR" means Discharge Monitoring Report.
"Draft Permit" means a document prepared by the staff of the Department, in accordance with R.61-9.124.6, prior to public notice of an application for a permit by a discharger. This document indicates the Department's tentative decision to issue or deny, modify, revoke and reissue, terminate, or reissue a permit to discharge. It contains proposed effluent standards and limitations, proposed compliance schedules and other proposed conditions or restrictions deemed necessary by the Department for a discharge. A notice of intent to terminate a permit, and a notice of intent to deny a permit, as discussed in R.61-9.124.5, are types of draft permits. A denial of a request for modification, revocation and reissuance, or termination, as discussed in R.61-9.124.5, is not a draft permit. A "proposed permit" is not a draft permit.
"Effluent limitation" means any restriction imposed by the Department on quantities, discharge rates, and concentrations of pollutants which are discharged from point sources into waters of the State, the waters of the contiguous zone, or the ocean.
"Effluent limitations guidelines" means: A regulation published by the Administrator under section 304(b)(b) of CWA to adopt or revise effluent limitations.
"Effluent standards and limitations" means restrictions or prohibitions of chemical, physical, biological, and other constituents which are discharged from point sources into State waters, including but not limited to, effluent limitations, standards of performance, toxic effluent standards and prohibitions, pretreatment standards and schedules of compliance.
"Environmental Protection Agency" (EPA) means the United States Environmental Protection Agency.
"EPA" means the United States Environmental Protection Agency.
"Facility or activity" means any NPDES point source or any other facility or activity (including land or appurtenances thereto) that is subject to regulation under the NPDES program.
"Fact sheet" means a description of a discharge available to the public prepared by the Department staff pursuant to the guidelines, which includes, but is not limited to, information on the location of the discharge, rate of frequency of the discharge, components of the discharge, proposed requirements of the Department regarding the discharge, the location and identification of uses of the receiving waters, water quality standards and procedures for formulation of final requirements on the discharge by the Department.
"Federal Act" means the Federal Water Pollution Control Act (CWA), as amended.
"General permit" means an NPDES permit issued under section122.28 authorizing a category of discharges or activities under the PCA and CWA within a geographical area.
"Hazardous substance" means any substance designated under 40 CFR Part 116 pursuant to section 311 of CWA.
"Indian country" means:
"Indirect discharger" means a non-domestic discharge introducing pollutants to a publicly owned treatment works.
"Industry" means a private person, corporation, firm, plant or establishment which discharges sewage, industrial wastes or other wastes into the waters of the State.
"Interstate agency" means an agency of two or more States established by or under an agreement or compact approved by the Congress, or any other agency of two or more States having substantial powers or duties pertaining to the control of pollution as determined and approved by the Administrator under the CWA and regulations.
"Mailing list" means a list of persons requesting notification and information on public hearings, permits and other NPDES forms.
"Major Facility" means any NPDES facility or activity classified as such by the Regional Administrator in conjunction with the Department.
"Management agency" means an area-wide waste treatment management agency designated by the governor pursuant to section 208(a)(a) of the Federal Act.
"Maximum daily discharge limitation" means the highest allowable daily discharge.
"Minor discharge" means a discharge of wastewater which has a total volume of less than 50,000 gallons on every day of the year, does not closely affect the waters of another state and is not identified by the Department, the Regional Administrator or by the Administrator of EPA in regulations issued by him pursuant to section 307(a)(a) of the Federal Act, as a discharge which is not a minor discharge, except that in the case of a discharge of less than 50,000 gallons on any day of the year which represents 1 or 2 or more discharges from a single person which in total exceeds 50,000 gallons on any day of the year, then no discharge from the facility is a minor discharge.
Note: "Municipal separate storm sewer system" is defined at section s122.26 (b).
"Municipality" means a city, town, borough, county, parish, district, association, or other public body created by or under State law and having jurisdiction over disposal of sewage, industrial wastes, or other wastes, or an Indian tribe or an authorized Indian tribal organization, or a designated and approved management agency under section 208 of CWA.
"National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System" means the national program for issuing, modifying, revoking and reissuing, terminating, monitoring and enforcing permits, and imposing and enforcing pretreatment requirements, under section s307, 402, 318, and 405 of CWA.
"New discharger"
"New source" means any building, structure, facility, or installation from which there is or may be a discharge of pollutants, the construction of which commenced:
"NPDES" means National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System established by the CWA.
"NPDES form" means any issued permit or any uniform national form used by the Department developed for use in the NPDES, including a NPDES application, a Refuse Act permit application and a reporting form.
"NPDES permit" means a permit issued by the Department to a discharger pursuant to regulations adopted by the Board for all point source discharges into surface waters, and shall constitute a final determination of the Board.
" Non-compliance list" means a list of dischargers, prepared by the Department pursuant to this regulation and the guidelines for transmittal to the Regional Administrator, who fail or refuse to comply with a compliance schedule in a NPDES permit issued pursuant to the State law.
"Owner or operator" means the owner or operator of any facility or activity subject to regulation under the NPDES program.
"Permit" means an authorization, license, or equivalent control document issued by the Department to implement the requirements of this regulation, 40 CFR Parts 123, and R.61-9.124. Permit includes an NPDES general permit (section 122.28). Permit does not include any permit which has not yet been the subject of final agency action, such as a draft permit or a proposed permit.
"Person" means any individual, public or private corporation, political subdivision, association, partnership, corporation, municipality, State or Federal agency, industry, copartnership, firm, trust, estate, any other legal entity whatsoever, or an agent or employee thereof.
Pesticide discharges to waters of the State from pesticide application" means the discharges that result from the application of biological pesticides, and the application of chemical pesticides that leave a residue, from point sources to waters of the United States. In the context of this definition of pesticide discharges to waters of the United States from pesticide application, this does not include agricultural storm water discharges and return flows from irrigated agriculture, which are excluded by law ( 33 U.S.C. 1342(l); 33 U.S.C. 1362(14)).
"Pesticide residue" for the purpose of determining whether an NPDES permit is needed for discharges to waters of the State from pesticide application, means that portion of a pesticide application that is discharged from a point source to waters of the United States and no longer provides pesticidal benefits. It also includes any degradates of the pesticide.
"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, vessel, or other floating craft from which pollutants are or may be discharged. This term does not include return flows from irrigated agriculture.
"Point source discharge" means a discharge which is released to the waters of the State by a discernible, confined and discrete conveyance, including but not limited to a pipe, ditch, channel, tunnel, conduit, well, discrete fissure, container, rolling stock, concentrated animal feeding operation, vessel, or other floating craft from which waste is or may be discharged.
"Pollutant"
"Pollution Control Act" (PCA) means the South Carolina Pollution Control Act (PCA), S.C. Code Ann. section 48-1-10 et seq. (1976).
"POTW" means publicly owned treatment works.
"Primary industry category" means any industry category listed in the NRDC settlement agreement (Natural Resources Defense Council et al., v. Train, 8 E.R.C. 2120 (D.D.C. 1976), modified 12 E.R.C. 1833 (D.D.C. 1979)); also listed in Appendix A of this regulation.
"Privately owned treatment works" means any device or system which both is used to treat wastes from any facility whose operator is not the operator of the treatment works and is not a POTW.
"Process wastewater" means any water which, 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.
"Proposed permit" means a State NPDES permit prepared after the close of the public comment period (and, when applicable, any public hearing and administrative appeals) which is sent to EPA for review before final issuance by the State. A "proposed permit" is not a draft permit.
"Publicly owned treatment works" or POTW means a treatment works as defined by section 212 of the Clean Water Act, which is owned by a state or municipality (as defined by section 502[4] of the CWA). This definition includes any devices and systems used in the storage, treatment, recycling and reclamation of municipal sewage or industrial wastes of a liquid nature. It also includes sewers, pipes and other conveyances only if they convey wastewater to a POTW Treatment Plant. The term also means the municipality, as defined in section 502(4)(4) of the CWA, which has jurisdiction over the Indirect Discharges to and the discharge from such a treatment works.
"Recommencing discharger" means a source which recommences discharge after terminating operations.
"Refuse Act permit application" means an application for a permit issued under authority of section 13 of the United States Rivers and Harbors Act of March 3, 1899.
" Regi onal Administrator" means the Regional Administrator of Region IV of the Environmental Protection Agency or the authorized representative of the Regional Administrator.
"Reporting form" means the uniform NPDES reporting form, including subsequent additions, revisions or modifications thereof, adopted by the Department for use in administering this regulation, or a State form prescribed by the Department for use in administering this regulation, for reporting data and information to the Department by a discharger on monitoring and other conditions of permits.
"Satellite sewer system" means a sewer system that is owned or operated by one person that discharges to a system that is owned or operated by a different person. Satellite sewer systems depend on a separate person for final wastewater treatment and discharge and include systems approved under R.61-9.505.8.
"Schedule of compliance" means a schedule of remedial measures included in a "permit", including an enforceable sequence of interim requirements (for example, actions, operations, or milestone events) leading to compliance with the CWA and regulations.
"Secondary industry category" means any industry category which is not a primary industry category.
"Secretary" means the Secretary of the Army, acting through the Chief of Engineers.
"Septage" means the liquid and solid material pumped from septic tank, cesspool or similar domestic sewage treatment system, or a holding tank when the system is cleaned or maintained.
"Sewage from vessels" means human body wastes and the wastes from toilets and other receptacles intended to receive or retain body wastes that are discharged from vessels and regulated under section 312 of CWA.
"Sewage Sludge" means any solid, semi-solid, or liquid residue removed during the treatment of municipal waste water or domestic sewage. Sewage sludge includes, but is not limited to, solids removed during primary, secondary, or advanced waste water treatment, scum, septage, portable toilet pumpings, type III marine sanitation device pumpings ( 33 CFR Part 159 ), and sewage sludge products. Sewage sludge does not include grit or screenings or ash generated during the incineration of sewage sludge.
"Sewage sludge use or disposal practice" means the collection, storage, treatment, transportation, processing, monitoring, use or disposal of sewage sludge.
"Sewer system" means any system of wastewater collection lines, sewers, interceptors and pump stations, except for service connections, as defined by R.61-67. In this part, a sewer system includes "sewage system" as defined by the Pollution Control Act.
Note: "Silvicultural point source" is defined at section 122.27.
"Site" means the land or water area where any facility or activity is physically located or conducted, including adjacent land used in connection with the facility or activity.
"Sludge-only facility" means any "treatment works treating domestic sewage" whose methods of sewage sludge use or disposal are subject to regulations promulgated pursuant to section 405(d)(d) of the CWA and is required to obtain a permit under section 122.1(b)(2)(b)(2).
"Standards for sewage sludge use or disposal" means the regulations promulgated pursuant to section 405(d)(d) of the CWA which govern minimum requirements for sludge quality, management practices, and monitoring and reporting applicable to sewage sludge or the use or disposal of sewage sludge by any person.
"State" means the State of South Carolina.
"State/EPA Agreement" means an agreement between the Regional Administrator and the State which coordinates EPA and State activities, responsibilities and programs including those under the CWA programs.
"State Law" means the S.C. Pollution Control Act (PCA), specifically 48-1-10 through 48-1-350 of the South Carolina Code of 1976, and any subsequent amendments thereto.
"State permit" See R-61-9.505.2 for definition.
Note: "Storm water" is defined at section122.26(b)(13)(b)(13).
Note: "Storm water discharge associated with industrial activity" is defined at section 122.26(b)(14)(b)(14).
"Total dissolved solids" (TDS) means the total dissolved (filterable) solids as determined by use of the method specified in 40 CFR Part 136.
"Toxic pollutant" means any pollutant listed as toxic under section 307(a)(1)(a)(1) or, in the case of sludge use or disposal practices, any pollutant identified in regulations implementing section 405(d)(d) of the CWA.
"Trade secret" means the whole or any portion or phase of any manufacturing proprietary process or method, not patented, which is secret, useful in compounding an article of trade having a commercial value, and the secrecy of which the owner has taken reasonable measures to prevent from becoming available to persons other than those selected by the owner to have access thereto to limited purpose. It shall not be construed for purpose of this regulation to include any information relative to the quantity and character of waste products or their constituents discharged into waters of the State.
"Treatment works" means any plant, disposal field, lagoon, constructed drainage ditch or surface water intercepting ditch, incinerator, area devoted to sanitary landfills or other works not specifically mentioned herein, installed for the purpose of treating, neutralizing, stabilizing or disposing of sewage, industrial waste or other wastes.
"Treatment works treating domestic sewage" (TWTDS) means a POTW or any other sewage sludge or waste water treatment devices or system, regardless of ownership (including federal facilities), used in the storage, treatment, recycling, and reclamation of municipal or domestic sewage, including land dedicated for the disposal of sewage sludge. This definition does not include septic tanks or similar devices. For purposes of this definition, domestic sewage includes waste and waste water from humans or household operations that are discharged to or otherwise enter a treatment works. In States where there is no approved State sludge management program under section 405(f)(f) of the CWA, the Regional Administrator may designate any person subject to the standards for sewage sludge use and disposal in 40 CFR Part 503 as a treatment works treating domestic sewage, where he or she finds that there is a potential for adverse effects on public health and the environment from poor sludge quality or poor sludge handling use or disposal practices or where he or she finds that such designation is necessary to ensure that such person is in compliance with 40 CFR Part 503.
"TWTDS" means treatment works treating domestic sewage.
Note: "Upset" is defined at section 122.41(n)(n).
"Variance" means any mechanism or provision under section 301 or 316 of CWA, PCA, or R.61-9.125, or in the applicable effluent limitations guidelines which allows modification to or waiver of the generally applicable effluent limitation requirements or time deadlines of CWA. This includes provisions which allow the establishment of alternative limitations based on fundamentally different factors or on section 301(c)(c), 301(g),301(h), 301(i), or 316(a) of CWA.
"Vessel" means any contrivance used or capable of being used for navigation upon water, whether or not capable of self-propulsion, including foreign and domestic vessels engaged in commerce upon the waters of this State, passenger or other cargo carrying vessels, privately owned recreational watercraft or any other floating craft.
"Waste" shall be synonymous with sewage, industrial waste, and other wastes.
"Waters of the State" means lakes, bays, sounds, ponds, impounding reservoirs, springs, wells, rivers, streams, creeks, estuaries, marshes, inlets, canals, the Atlantic Ocean within the territorial limits of the State, and all other bodies of surface or underground water, natural or artificial, public or private, inland or coastal, fresh or salt, which are wholly or partially within or bordering the State or within its jurisdiction.
"Waters of the United States" or "waters of the U.S.";
"Wetlands" means those areas that are inundated or saturated by surface or groundwater at a frequency and duration sufficient to support, and that under normal circumstances do support, a prevalence of vegetation typically adapted for life in saturated soil conditions. Wetlands generally include swamps, marshes, bogs, and similar areas.
"Whole effluent toxicity" means the aggregate toxic effect of an effluent measured directly by a toxicity test.
