Current through Register Vol. 41, No. 3, September 23, 2024
An owner whose application is accepted by the board will
receive coverage under the following permit and shall comply with the
requirements in the permit and be subject to all requirements of
9VAC25-610.
GENERAL PERMIT FOR GROUNDWATER WITHDRAWALS FROM THE SURFICIAL
AQUIFER OF THE EASTERN SHORE GROUNDWATER MANAGEMENT AREA.
Effective date: December 21, 2022.
Expiration date: December 21, 2037.
Pursuant to § 62.1-256 of the Ground Water Management
Act of 1992 (§ 62.1-254 et seq. of the Code of Virginia) and Groundwater
Withdrawal Regulations (9VAC25-610), the State Water Control Board hereby
authorizes the permittee to withdraw and use groundwater in accordance with
this permit.
The authorized withdrawals shall be in accordance with the
information submitted with the application, this cover page, Part I - Operating
Conditions, and Part II - Conditions Applicable to All Groundwater Withdrawal
Permits, as set forth in this general permit.
PART I
Operating Conditions
A. Authorized withdrawal. The withdrawal of
groundwater shall be limited to the wells identified in the groundwater
withdrawal application submitted in accordance with 9VAC25-910-80.
B. Reporting.
1. Water withdrawn from each well shall be
recorded monthly at the end of each month, and reported to the department
annually, in paper or electronic format, on a form provided by the department,
by July 10 for the respective previous 12 months. Records of water use shall be
maintained by the permittee in accordance with Part II F 1 through F 4 of this
general permit.
2. The permittee
shall report any amount in excess of the permitted withdrawal limit by the
fifth day of the month following the month when such a withdrawal occurred.
Failure to report may result in compliance or enforcement activities.
C. Water conservation and
management plan.
1. The permittee shall
conduct an annual water audit quantifying the flows of the water in the system
to understand its usage, reduce losses, and improve water conservation. The
audit shall include:
a. Documentation of an
annual review of the amount of water used compared with the expected need of
the system to ensure that the water system uses the minimum amount of water
necessary;
b. A list of any new
water saving equipment, procedures, or improvements installed or water saving
processes implemented during the previous year;
c. Documentation of implementation and
evaluation of a leak detection and repair process; including documented
quarterly visual monitoring during withdrawal periods where the permittee will
locate and correct system leaks; and
d. A Groundwater Withdrawal Water
Conservation and Management Audit Form, completed in its entirety, provided by
the department.
2.
Results of the annual audit shall be maintained onsite and available to the
department upon request.
3. When a
drought emergency is declared by the Commonwealth of Virginia in the Eastern
Shore Drought Evaluation Region or in accordance with the county or locality
drought management ordinance, the permittee shall implement either the
provisions directed by the Commonwealth or the drought management ordinance,
whichever is the most restrictive. The permittee shall be responsible for
determining when drought emergencies are declared. The permittee shall retain
records documenting that mandatory conservation measures were implemented
during declared drought emergencies.
D. Mitigation plan. In cases where the area
of impact does not remain on the property owned by the applicant or existing
groundwater withdrawers will be included in the area of impact, the applicant
shall provide and implement a plan to mitigate all adverse impacts on existing
groundwater users. Approvable mitigation plans shall, at a minimum, contain the
following features and implementation of the mitigation plan shall be included
as enforceable permit conditions:
1. The
rebuttable presumption that water level declines that cause adverse impacts to
existing wells within the area of impact are due to the proposed
withdrawal;
2. A commitment by the
applicant to mitigate undisputed adverse impacts due to the proposed withdrawal
in a timely fashion;
3. A speedy,
nonexclusive, low-cost process to fairly resolve disputed claims for mitigation
between the applicant and any claimant; and
4. The requirement that the claimant provide
documentation that the claimant is the owner of the well; documentation that
the well was constructed and operated prior to the initiation of the
applicant's withdrawal; the depth of the well, the pump, and screens and any
other construction information that the claimant possesses; the location of the
well with enough specificity that it can be located in the field; the historic
yield of the well, if available; historic water levels for the well, if
available; and the reasons the claimant believes that the applicant's
withdrawals have caused an adverse impact on the well.
E. Property rights. The issuance of coverage
under this general permit neither conveys property rights in either real or
personal property or exclusive privileges nor authorizes injury to private
property, an invasion of personal property rights, or an infringement of
federal, state, or local laws or regulations. The fact that an owner obtains
coverage under this general permit shall not constitute a defense in a civil
action involving private rights.
F.
Well tags. Each well that is included in the coverage under this general permit
shall have affixed to the well casing, in a prominent place, a permanent well
identification plate that records, at a minimum, the DEQ well identification
number, the groundwater withdrawal permit number, the total depth of the well,
and the screened intervals in the well. Such well identification plates shall
be in a format specified by the board and are available from the
department.
G. Well abandonment.
The permittee shall permanently abandon out-of-service wells in accordance with
the Virginia Department of Health regulations and shall submit documentation to
the Department of Environmental Quality within 30 calendar days of abandonment.
At least two weeks prior to the scheduled abandonment, the permittee shall
notify the department of the scheduled abandonment date.
PART II
Conditions Applicable to All Groundwater Withdrawal
Permits
A. Duty to comply. The
permittee shall comply with all conditions of the permit. Nothing in this
permit shall be construed to relieve the permit holder of the duty to comply
with all applicable federal and state statutes, regulations, and prohibitions.
Any permit violation is a violation of the law and is grounds for enforcement
action, permit termination, revocation, modification, or denial of a permit
application.
B. Duty to cease or
confine activity. It shall not be a defense for a permittee in an enforcement
action that it would have been necessary to halt or reduce the activity for
which a permit has been granted in order to maintain compliance with the
conditions of the permit.
C. Duty
to mitigate. The permittee shall take all reasonable steps to avoid all adverse
impacts that may result from this withdrawal as defined in
9VAC25-610-10 and to
provide mitigation of the adverse impact in accordance with Part I D of this
general permit.
D. Inspection,
entry, and information requests. Upon presentation of credentials, the
permittee shall allow the board, the department, or any duly authorized agent
of the board, at reasonable times and under reasonable circumstances, (i) to
enter upon the permittee's property, public or private; (ii) to have access to,
inspect, and copy any records that must be kept as part of the permit
conditions; and (iii) to inspect any facilities, well, water supply system,
operations, or practices (including sampling, monitoring and withdrawal) that
are regulated or required under the permit. For the purpose of this section,
the time for inspection shall be deemed reasonable during regular business
hours. Nothing contained in this general permit shall make an inspection time
unreasonable during an emergency.
E. Duty to provide information. The permittee
shall furnish to the board or department, within a reasonable time, information
that the board may request to determine whether cause exists for modifying,
revoking, reissuing, or terminating the permit or to determine compliance with
the permit. The permittee shall also furnish to the board or department, upon
request, copies of records required to be kept by regulation or this
permit.
F. Water withdrawal volume
records requirements.
1. The permittee shall
maintain a copy of the permit on-site and shall make the permit available upon
request.
2. Measurements taken for
the purpose of monitoring shall be representative of the metered
activity.
3. The permittee shall
retain records of all metering information, including (i) all calibration and
maintenance records, (ii) copies of all reports required by the permit, and
(iii) records of all data used to complete the application for the permit for a
period of at least three years from the date of the expiration of coverage
under this general permit. This period may be extended by request of the board
at any time.
4. Records of metering
information shall include, as appropriate:
a.
The date, exact place and time of measurements;
b. The names of the individuals that
performed measurements;
c. The date
the measurements were performed; and
d. The results of the measurements.
G. Water withdrawal
volume metering and equipment requirements. Each well or impoundment or
impoundment system shall have an in-line totalizing flow meter to read gallons,
cubic feet, or cubic meters installed prior to beginning the permitted use.
Meters shall produce volume determinations within plus or minus 10% of actual
flows.
1. A defective meter or other device
shall be repaired or replaced within 30 business days of discovery.
2. A defective meter is not grounds for not
reporting withdrawals. During any period when a meter is defective, generally
accepted engineering methods shall be used to estimate withdrawals. The period
during which the meter was defective must be clearly identified in the
groundwater withdrawal report required by Part I B of this general permit. An
alternative method for determining flow may be approved by the board on a
case-by-case basis.
H.
Well construction. At least 30 calendar days prior to the scheduled
construction of any well, the permittee shall notify the department of the
construction timetable and shall receive prior approval of the well location
and acquire the DEQ well number. All wells shall be constructed in accordance
with the following requirements.
1. A well
site approval letter or well construction permit shall be obtained from the
Virginia Department of Health prior to construction of the well.
2. For wells constructed with a maximum depth
greater than 80 feet, a complete suite of geophysical logs (16"/64" Normal,
Single Point, Self-Potential, Lateral, and Natural Gamma) shall be completed
for the well and submitted to the department along with the corresponding
completion report.
3. The
permittee's determination of the surficial aquifer depth shall be submitted to
the department for review and approval, or approved on site by the department's
geologist, prior to installation of any pump.
4. A completed Uniform Water Well Completion
Report, Form GW-2 and any additional water well construction documents shall be
submitted to the department within 30 calendar days of the completion of any
well and prior to the initiation of any withdrawal from the well. The assigned
DEQ well number shall be included on all well documents.
I. Transfer of permits.
1. Permits are not transferable to any person
except after notice to the department.
2. Coverage under this permit may be
automatically transferred to a new permittee if:
a. The current permittee notifies the
department within 30 business days of the proposed transfer of the title to the
facility or property, unless permission for a later date has been granted by
the board;
b. The notice includes a
written agreement between the existing and new permittees containing a specific
date for transfer of permit responsibility, coverage, and liability between
them; and
c. The board does not
notify the existing permittee and the proposed new permittee of its intent to
deny the new permittee coverage under the permit. If this notice is not
received, the transfer is effective on the date specified in the agreement
mentioned in Part II I 2 b of this general permit.
J. Notice of planned change. The
permittee shall give notice to the department at least 30 business days prior
to any planned alterations or additions to the permitted water withdrawal
system.
K. Revocation and
termination of coverage.
1. General permit
coverage may be revoked in accordance with
9VAC25-610-290
and
9VAC25-610-300.
2. The permittee may terminate coverage under
this general permit by filing a complete notice of termination with the
department. The notice of termination may be filed after one or more of the
following conditions have been met:
a.
Operations have ceased at the facility and there are no longer withdrawals from
the surficial aquifer.
b. A new
owner has assumed responsibility for the facility. A notice of termination does
not have to be submitted if a Change of Ownership Agreement Form has been
submitted.
c. All groundwater
withdrawals associated have been covered by an individual groundwater
withdrawal permit.
d. Termination
of coverage is being requested for another reason, provided the board agrees
that coverage under this general permit is no longer needed.
3. The notice of termination shall
contain the following information:
a. The
owner's name, mailing address, telephone number, and email address, if
available;
b. The facility name and
location;
c. The general permit
number;
d. A completed Termination
Agreement Form obtained from the department; and
e. The basis for submitting the notice of
termination, including:
(1) A statement
indicating that a new owner has assumed responsibility for the
facility;
(2) A statement
indicating that operations have ceased at the facility, and there are no longer
groundwater withdrawals from the surficial aquifer;
(3) A statement indicating that all
groundwater withdrawals have been covered by an individual Groundwater
Withdrawal permit; or
(4) A
statement indicating that termination of coverage is being requested for
another reason (state the reason); and
(5) The following certification: "I certify
under penalty of law that all groundwater withdrawals from the surficial
aquifer at the identified facility that are authorized by this general permit
have been eliminated, or covered under a groundwater withdrawal individual
permit, or that I am no longer the owner of the facility, or permit coverage
should be terminated for another reason listed above. I understand that by
submitting this notice of termination, that I am no longer authorized to
withdraw groundwater in accordance with the general permit, and that
withdrawing groundwater is unlawful where the withdrawal is not authorized by a
groundwater withdrawal permit or otherwise excluded from permitting. I also
understand that the submittal of this notice of termination does not release an
owner from liability for any violations of this permit or the Virginia
Groundwater Management Act."
4. The notice of termination shall be signed
in accordance with
9VAC25-610-150.
L. Continuation of coverage.
Permit coverage shall expire at the end of its term. However, expiring permit
coverages are automatically continued if the owner has submitted a complete
application at least 90 calendar days prior to the expiration date of the
permit, or a later submittal established by the board, which cannot extend
beyond the expiration date of the original permit. The permittee is authorized
to continue to withdraw until such time as the board either:
1. Issues coverage to the owner under this
general permit; or
2. Notifies the
owner that the withdrawal is not eligible for coverage under this general
permit.
M. Duty to
reapply. If the permittee wishes to continue an activity regulated by this
permit after the expiration date of this permit, the permittee shall apply for
and obtain coverage under a new permit. All permittees with currently effective
permit coverage shall submit a new application at least 90 calendar days before
the expiration date of the existing permit, unless permission for a later date
has been granted in writing by the board. The board shall not grant permission
for application to be submitted later than the expiration date of the existing
permit.
Statutory Authority: §§ 62.1-256 and 62.1-262.1
of the Code of Virginia.
