(1) General
(a) Introduction and Purpose
This rule
provides definitions of terms, general standards and procedures, and overview
information applicable to these rules.
The purpose of these rules
is to set forth criteria and procedures for developing and maintaining a
Priority Ranking System and List for the financing of wastewater treatment
works and wastewater facilities. The Priority Ranking System, as described in
this rule, is the basis of eligibility determinations and potential allocations
of financial assistance from the Department of Environment and Conservation.
Pursuant to T.C.A. Title 68, Chapter 221, Parts 8 and 10, the State of
Tennessee is authorized to provide financial assistance to local governments
for the construction of wastewater treatment works and wastewater facilities
identified on the Department's Project Priority List. Each project's Priority
Rank is generated from the Project Criteria Points and the Priority Point Value
(PPV) formula according to these rules. A potential applicant's project will be
placed on the Project Priority List following its evaluation and the assignment
of a Priority Rank. The process of being placed on the Project Priority List
may be initiated either by the Department or by written request from the
potential applicant. The Department will maintain the Project Priority
List.
(b) Use of Number and
Gender
As used in these rules:
1. Words in the masculine gender also include
the feminine and neuter genders; and
2. Words in the singular also include the
plural; and
3. Words in the plural
include the singular.
(c) Rule Structure
These rules are
organized, numbered, and referenced according to the following outline form:
(1) paragraph
(a) subparagraph
1. part
(i)
subpart
(I) item
I. subitem
A. Section
(A)
subsection
(2) Definitions and
References
When used in these rules, the following terms have the meanings
given below unless otherwise specified:
(a) Collector Sewer. The common lateral
sewers within a publicly owned treatment system that are primarily installed to
receive wastewater directly from facilities that convey wastewater from
individual systems or from private property. This term also includes service
connections for those facilities such as the following:
1. Crossover sewers that connect more than
one property on one side of a major street, road, or highway to a lateral sewer
on the other side when they are more cost effective than parallel sewers;
and
2. Pumping units and
pressurized lines serving individual structures or groups of structures when
such units are cost effective and are owned and maintained by the municipality
or utility district.
This definition excludes all facilities that convey
wastewater from individual structures or from private property to the public
lateral sewer.
(b) Combined Sewer Overflow (CSO). The
overflow discharge from a sewer line that is designed as a sanitary sewer and a
storm sewer.
(c) Conventional
Pollutants. The conventional pollutants in wastewater effluent are 5-day
biochemical oxygen demand (BOD5) and/or 5-day
carbonaceous biochemical oxygen demand (CBOD5), ammonia
nitrogen (NH3-N) and/or total nitrogen (N-Total),
phosphorus (P), dissolved oxygen (DO), fecal coliform and/or E. coli, total
suspended solids (TSS), settleable solids (SS), and pH.
(d) Effluent Trading Projects. Effluent or
water quality trading is an innovative approach to achieve water quality goals
more efficiently. Trading is based on the fact that sources in a watershed can
face very different costs to control the same pollutant. Trading programs allow
facilities facing higher pollution control costs to meet their regulatory
obligations by purchasing environmentally equivalent or superior pollution
reductions from another source at lower cost, thus achieving the same water
quality improvement at lower overall cost.
(e) Infiltration/Inflow (I/I) Correction.
Procedures to reduce or eliminate infiltration/inflows that do not involve
extensive excavation and/or replacement, including, but not limited to, the
following:
1. Pressure testing and sealing
procedures;
2. Limited excavation
and replacement where severe infiltration/inflow problems have been documented
and can be corrected. Examples of limited excavation and replacement are the
replacement or repair of manhole covers, the repair of crushed pipe within an
area of temporary or permanent groundwater, or the replacement or repair of a
sewer segment beneath a waterway; and
3. Trenchless technologies such as
sliplining, pipe bursting, cured-in-place pipe, etc.
(f) Interceptor Sewer (Interceptors). A sewer
that is designed for one or more of the following purposes:
1. To intercept wastewater from a final point
in a collector sewer and convey the wastewater directly to a treatment facility
or another interceptor;
2. To
replace an existing wastewater treatment facility and transport the wastewater
to an adjoining collector sewer or interceptor sewer for conveyance to a
treatment plant;
3. To transport
wastewater from one or more municipal collector sewers to another municipality
or to a regional plant for treatment; or
4. To intercept an existing major discharge
of a raw or inadequately treated wastewater for transport directly to another
interceptor or a treatment plant.
(g) Local Government. A county, incorporated
town or city, metropolitan government, water and/or wastewater authority, or
state agency that has authority to administer a wastewater facility, or any
combination of two or more of the foregoing acting jointly to construct a
wastewater facility. "Local government" shall also mean any publicly-owned
utility district existing on July 1, 1984, or if created after that date, any
publicly-owned utility district operating a wastewater facility with at least
500 customer connections.
(h) Major
Sewer Rehabilitation. Construction that involves the removal and replacement of
the existing pipes or manholes. This definition is considered applicable for
this chapter under one or more of the following conditions:
1 In locations where pipes or manholes have
lost their structural integrity, e.g., pipes or manholes are collapsed, broken,
or badly deteriorated and cracked;
2. In cases where pipe size enlargement,
change in grade, and/or line realignment are needed in addition to pipe
deficiency corrections; or
3. In
cases where damages to the existing pipes or manholes have been attributed to
corrosion, soil movement, an increasing traffic load, or other similar factors,
and it is desirable to prevent the recurrence of these damages by replacing the
existing structures with structures of better quality and greater
strength.
(i) National
Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) Permit. A permit issued by the
Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation, Division of Water
Resources, to discharge treated wastewater into a body of water.
(j) Nonpoint Source (NPS) Pollution.
Pollution occurring when precipitation moves over and through the ground,
picking up and carrying away pollutants, and depositing them into waters of the
state.
(k) Permit Limits.
Limitations for pollutants discharged from WWTPs that are identified in an
authorization, license, or equivalent control document issued by the Division
of Water Resources that implements the requirements of the Tennessee Water
Quality Control Act.
(l)
Planning/Design. Facilities planning consists of those necessary plans and
studies directly relating to existing and future conditions and effects of
wastewater facilities or treatment works as outlined in the application
requirements of Rule 0400-46-06-.06. Design consists of creating those
necessary bid/contract documents, plans, and specifications for the
construction of wastewater facilities or treatment works consistent with the
approved facilities plan and necessary to construct the proposed wastewater
facilities.
(m) Pump Station/Force
Main. A pump station is a mechanical device that raises and transfers
wastewater. A force main is a pipe conveyance system for wastewater that is
under hydraulic pressure due to energy imparted by a pump.
(n) Refinancing. A project previously
constructed for which State Revolving Fund Loan Program funds may buy or
refinance local debt obligations where the initial debt was incurred after
March 7, 1985. Projects that have incurred debt using their own means of
financing must have met the requirements of Chapter 0400-46-06 in order to be
eligible for refinancing.
(o)
Stormwater Projects. Projects that will convey, store, and/or treat accumulated
surface flow water from precipitation.
(p) Wastewater Treatment Plant (WWTP). Any
facility whose purpose is to store, treat, neutralize, stabilize, recycle,
reclaim, or dispose of municipal sewage or wastewater.
(q) Water-Quality Impaired Stream Segment.
Any stream segment that has been determined by the Division of Water Resources
not to meet its classified uses.
All other terms used in this chapter are
as defined in Chapter 0400-46-06 unless the context requires
otherwise.
