Texas Administrative Code
Title 31 - NATURAL RESOURCES AND CONSERVATION
Part 17 - TEXAS STATE SOIL AND WATER CONSERVATION BOARD
Chapter 523 - AGRICULTURAL AND SILVICULTURAL WATER QUALITY MANAGEMENT
Section 523.3 - Water Quality Management Plan Certification Program
Universal Citation: 31 TX Admin Code ยง 523.3
Current through Reg. 49, No. 38; September 20, 2024
(a) Purpose. The purpose of this program is to carry out the mandate in Agriculture Code § 201.026(g) relating to the abatement of agricultural and silvicultural nonpoint source pollution through a water quality management plan certification program.
(b) Definitions. For the purposes of this section the following definitions shall apply.
(1) Animal feeding operation--A lot or
facility (other than an aquatic animal production facility) where animals have
been, are, or will be stabled or confined and fed or maintained for a total of
45 days or more in any 12-month period, and the animal confinement areas do not
sustain crops, vegetation, forage growth, or postharvest residues in the normal
growing season.
(2) Coastal Zone
Act Reauthorization Amendments--The 1990 amendments to the federal Coastal Zone
Act that created the Coastal Nonpoint Program under §6217, "Protecting
Coastal Waters." Under §6217, all states with approved coastal zone
management programs must develop a Coastal Nonpoint Program to control polluted
runoff to coastal waters.
(3)
Dry-litter poultry facility--A poultry animal feeding operation that does not
use a liquid waste handling system.
(4) Clean Water Act--Federal Water Pollution
Control Act,
33 USC,
§§1251 -
1387
(1977, as amended).
(5) Field
Office Technical Guide (FOTG)--The official Natural Resources Conservation
Service guidelines, criteria, and standards for planning and applying
conservation practices.
(6) Natural
Resources Conservation Service (NRCS)--An agency of the United States
Department of Agriculture which includes the agency formerly known as the Soil
Conservation Service (SCS).
(7)
Operating unit--Land or lands, whether contiguous or non-contiguous, owned
and/or operated in a manner that contributes or has the potential to contribute
agricultural or silvicultural nonpoint source pollution to water in the state.
An operating unit must be determined through mutual agreement by the holder of
the water quality management plan, the soil and water conservation district,
and the State Board. When determining the applicability of an operating unit,
the following criteria must be considered:
(A)
Contiguous lands under the same ownership and/or operational control must be
considered one operating unit.
(B)
Non-contiguous lands under the same ownership and/or operational control may be
considered as more than one operating unit when there is mutual agreement by
the soil and water conservation district and the potential holder of the water
quality management plan unless the lands are associated with an animal feeding
operation.
(C) An operating unit,
when devised for an animal feeding operation, must at a minimum encompass all
land or lands owned and/or operated by the holder of the water quality
management plan that are used to produce feed that is consumed by the animals,
as well as all land or lands owned and/or operated by the potential holder of
the water quality management plan where manures or other agricultural
by-products are beneficially used as a source of nutrients to produce food or
fiber for any use.
(D) Land or
lands within the scope of an existing operating unit for a certified water
quality management plan may not be separated from the existing operating unit
to establish another operating unit unless the ownership of the lands being
separated into a new operating unit has changed.
(E) Where mutual agreement regarding an
operating unit's consistency with these rules is not achieved by the potential
holder of the water quality management plan, the soil and water conservation
district, and the State Board, the State Board will make a final determination
whether or not to certify the water quality management plan.
(8) Practice standard--A technical
specification for a conservation practice within the NRCS FOTG that contains
information on why and where the practice should be applied, and sets forth the
minimum quality criteria that must be met during the application of that
practice in order for it to achieve its intended purpose(s).
(9) Resource management system--A combination
of conservation practices and resource management activities for the treatment
of all identified resource concerns for soil, water, air, plants, animals, and
humans that meets or exceeds the quality criteria in the NRCS FOTG for resource
sustainability.
(10) Soil and water
conservation district (SWCD)--A governmental subdivision of this state and a
public body corporate and politic, organized pursuant to Chapter 201 of the
Agriculture Code.
(11) State
Board--The Texas State Soil and Water Conservation Board organized pursuant to
Chapter 201 of the Agriculture Code.
(12) Status Review--An assessment performed
by the State Board on a water quality management plan for the purpose of
determining adherence to the plan's implementation schedule and conservation
plan of operations.
(13) Texas
Nonpoint Source Management Program--The comprehensive management strategy to
protect and restore water impacted by nonpoint sources of pollution jointly
developed and administered by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality and
the State Board and approved by the Governor of the State of Texas and the
United States Environmental Protection Agency.
(14) Texas surface water quality
standards--The designation of water bodies for desirable uses and the narrative
and numerical criteria deemed necessary to protect those uses established by
the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality.
(15) Water in the state--Groundwater,
percolating or otherwise, lakes, bays, ponds, impounding reservoirs, springs,
rivers, streams, creeks, estuaries, wetlands, marshes, inlets, canals, the Gulf
of Mexico, inside the territorial limits of the state, and all other bodies of
surface water, natural or artificial, inland or coastal, fresh or salt,
navigable or nonnavigable, and including the beds and banks of all watercourses
and bodies of surface water, that are wholly or partially inside or bordering
the state or inside the jurisdiction of the state.
(16) Water quality management plan--A site
specific plan for agricultural or silvicultural lands which includes
appropriate land treatment practices, production practices, management
measures, technologies or combinations thereof which when implemented will
achieve a level of pollution prevention or abatement determined by the State
Board in consultation with the local SWCD and Texas Commission on Environmental
Quality to be consistent with Texas surface water quality standards.
(c) Certification.
(1) To be certified, a water quality
management plan must at a minimum meet the resource quality criteria for water
quality at the resource management system level specified within the NRCS FOTG
and encompass all lands that constitute an operating unit for agricultural or
silvicultural nonpoint source pollution abatement purposes. It is the decision
of the State Board that the implementation of a water quality management plan
based on the NRCS FOTG, including all practices required to minimally meet the
resource quality criteria for water quality at the resource management system
level, represents the best available technology for meeting Texas surface water
quality standards.
(2) The State
Board may conditionally certify a water quality management plan for the purpose
of demonstrating experimental technologies or alternative combinations of
practice standards at the request of a landowner or operator. Conditional
certification of a water quality management plan shall provide the landowner or
operator all the benefits and limitations of certification under traditional
circumstances. Conditional certification will remain applied to a water quality
management plan until such time that the experimental technologies or
alternative combinations of practice standards have been determined by the
State Board to be equivalently effective as the traditionally applied practices
for water quality criteria at the resource management system level within the
NRCS FOTG. If the experimental technologies or alternative combinations of
practice standards are determined to be not as effective as the traditionally
applied practices for water quality criteria at the resource management system
level within the NRCS FOTG, the State Board shall remove the conditional
certification and the water quality management plan shall be considered not
certified. Landowners or operators receiving conditional certification must
enter into an agreement with the State Board allowing for intense monitoring of
soil and water quality and compliance with management measures contained within
the water quality management plan.
(d) A water quality management plan should be modified and re-certified when there is a land use change of any part of the operating unit; an addition or deletion of significant acreage to or from the operating unit covered by the water quality management plan; alteration of planned permanent practice measures including addition or deletion of such; changes identified by research and advanced technology as being needed to meet Texas surface water quality standards; or when more stringent measures become necessary to meet Texas surface water quality standards.
(e) Process for obtaining or modifying a Water Quality Management Plan.
(1) Landowners
and operators may request the development of a plan or plan modification by the
local SWCD. Landowners and operators, following consultation with their SWCD,
will be encouraged and aided in working with the SWCD in the preparation of a
plan or plan modification based on standards adopted by the State Board to
prevent or abate their nonpoint source pollution.
(2) The SWCD will determine the priority of
plan development or plan modification and subsequently cause the development
and approval of the plan or plan modification.
(3) Landowners and operators may appeal SWCD
decisions relative to practices and practice standards to the State Board in
the manner prescribed by the State Board.
(4) When determined to be consistent with the
provisions of subsection (c) of this section, the State Board may certify the
plan.
(f) Practice selection.
(1) Practices eligible for water
quality management planning will be selected by the State Board in consultation
with the SWCD.
(2) Practices will
address activities determined by the State Board in consultation with the SWCD
to be in need of pollution prevention or abatement.
(3) Insofar as practicable, those practices
shall be consistent with the Texas Nonpoint Source Management Program developed
by the State Board and the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality pursuant
to the federal Clean Water Act, §319 and Coastal Zone Act Reauthorization
Amendments §6217.
(g) Practice standards.
(1) Practice standards will be based on
specific local conditions.
(2)
Practice standards will be based on criteria in the NRCS, FOTG; however,
modification of those practice standards to ensure consistency with Texas
surface water quality standards and the Texas Nonpoint Source Management
Program will be made as necessary.
(3) Practice standards will be selected or
developed in consultation with the local SWCD, with assistance and advice of
the NRCS, Texas AgriLife Extension Service, Texas Forest Service, Texas
AgriLife Research, Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, the local
underground water conservation district and others as determined to be needed
by the State Board.
(h) Implementation schedule.
(1) A water quality
management plan must contain an implementation schedule.
(2) The implementation schedule will, as far
as is practicable, balance the state's need for protecting water quality with
need of agricultural and silvicultural producers to have sufficient time to
implement practices in an economically feasible manner.
(3) Highest priority will be given to the
implementation of the most cost effective and most needed pollution abatement
practices.
(4) The State Board in
consultation with affected SWCD will conduct status reviews of plan
implementation.
(5) The State Board
in consultation with the local SWCDs may withdraw certification of a water
quality management plan that is not being implemented in accordance with its
schedule. Prior to certification being withdrawn, a landowner will be notified
and provided a reasonable period of time to implement the water quality
management plan according to the schedule or a modified schedule approved by
the SWCD.
(6) The holder of a
certified water quality management plan shall notify the local SWCD in the
event he or she deviates from the implementation schedule.
(i) Applicability of Texas surface water quality standards. To the extent allowed by available technology, water quality management plan development, approval and certification will be based on Texas surface water quality standards as established by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality.
(j) Water Quality Management Plans for Poultry Facilities.
(1) All poultry facilities producing poultry
for commercial purposes are required to develop and implement a certified water
quality management plan covering the poultry operating unit. Poultry facilities
must request development and certification or recertification of a water
quality management plan prior to placing poultry at a new facility or placing
additional poultry at an existing facility.
(2) Poultry facilities may obtain a water
quality management plan as prescribed in subsections (e) - (h) of this section,
unless a facility is unable to attain certification based on conditions
prescribed in paragraph (3) of this subsection.
(3) After September 1, 2009 the State Board
may not certify a water quality management plan for a proposed newly
constructed poultry facility, or an existing poultry facility that proposes to
expand by more than 50 percent the number of birds included in the existing
certified water quality management plan as of September 1, 2009, that is
located less than one half of one mile from a neighbor if the presence of the
facility is likely to create a persistent nuisance odor for such neighbors,
unless the facility provides an odor control plan the Texas Commission on
Environmental Quality determines is sufficient to control odors. A facility
that will house fewer than 10,000 total birds is unlikely to create a
persistent nuisance odor. Within this paragraph and subparagraphs, the term
neighbor includes business, off-site permanently inhabited residence, place of
worship, or other poultry farm under separate ownership; and proposed facility
has the meaning described in paragraph (2) of this subsection.
(A) Factors that are considered likely to
create a persistent nuisance odor and will require the proposed facility to
submit an odor control plan are:
(i) Any
neighbor within one quarter of one mile of a proposed facility;
(ii) Any neighbor between one quarter and one
half of one mile in the prevailing wind direction of a proposed facility,
considering both cool and warm seasons;
(iii) Any school, place of worship,
healthcare facility, or other poultry facility within one half of one mile of a
proposed facility;
(iv) Proposed
facility will house more than 225,000 birds per flock;
(v) Proposed facility will use a liquid waste
handling system; or
(vi) A notice
of violation from the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality for odor has
been issued to the proposed facility within the previous 12 months.
(B) If none of the factors in
subparagraph (A) of this paragraph apply to the proposed facility, the
following table will be used to assess the site to determine if the proposed
facility is likely to create a persistent nuisance odor for neighbors. If the
total score from the assessment of each of the factors exceeds 50 points, the
presence of the proposed facility is likely to cause a persistent nuisance odor
for neighbors, and the proposed facility must provide an odor control plan the
Texas Commission on Environmental Quality determines is sufficient to control
odors.
(C) Any
facility whose water quality management plan was previously certified by
meeting the conditions of subparagraphs (A) or (B) of this paragraph or an
approved odor control plan and proposes to expand the number of poultry at the
facility, regardless of the percent of the expansion, must again submit to the
process in subparagraphs (A) or (B) before the water quality management plan
can be recertified.
(D)
Alternatively to meeting conditions of subparagraphs (A), (B), or (C) of this
paragraph a proposed facility may obtain certification of a water quality
management plan if subsections (e) - (h) of this section are met and each
neighbor within one half of one mile of the proposed facility provides a
consent form properly signed by the neighbor or authorized legal
representative(s) of the neighbor. The form must contain the name, physical and
mailing addresses of the neighbor and consent to location and operation of
permanent odor sources of a poultry facility within one half of one mile of the
neighbor. Such form(s) must be contained in the water quality management
plan.
(4) The State
Board will maintain a listing of poultry facilities that have requested a
certified water quality management plan. The list will indicate date of plan
approval by the SWCD and date of certification by the State Board. The listing
will also indicate status of implementation.
(5) The State Board in consultation with the
local SWCD will conduct status reviews of certified water quality management
plans covering poultry facilities on a schedule determined by the State
Board.
(6) The State Board, in
consultation with the local SWCD may withdraw certification of a water quality
management plan that is not being implemented according to its schedule. Prior
to certification being withdrawn, the owner/operator of the facilities will be
notified and provided a reasonable period of time, as determined by the State
Board, to implement the water quality management plan, which may, at the
discretion of the local SWCD in accordance with State Board guidance be
modified to allow implementation to occur.
(7) The list developed and maintained under
paragraph (4) of this subsection will be made available to the Texas Commission
on Environmental Quality.
(8)
Landowners and operators after consultation with the SWCD may appeal SWCD
decisions to the State Board.
Disclaimer: These regulations may not be the most recent version. Texas 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.
This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google
Privacy Policy and
Terms of Service apply.
