Wyoming Administrative Code
Agency 020 - Environmental Quality, Dept. of
Sub-Agency 0011 - Water Quality
Chapter 27 - UNDERGROUND INJECTION CONTROL PROGRAM CLASS I AND V WELLS
Section 27-15 - Environmental Monitoring Program
Universal Citation: WY Code of Rules 27-15
Current through September 21, 2024
(a) The monitoring program shall be adequate to ensure knowledge of migration and behavior of the discharge in the receiver.
(i) Monitoring may
be required for any circumstance where groundwaters of the state could be
affected.
(ii) The extent and
design of a monitoring system shall be sufficient to deal with the pollution
potential of the proposed discharge.
(iii) Before construction or installation of
a Class I or V facility, a monitoring program, when required, shall be adequate
to establish baseline conditions of the receiver.
(b) The monitoring program shall consist of any or all of the following:
(i)
Pre-discharge or pre-operational monitoring.
(ii) Operational monitoring.
(iii) Post-discharge or post-operational
monitoring.
(iv) Record keeping and
reporting.
(v) Such additional
requirements established by the administrator to meet the purposes of the
Wyoming Environmental Quality Act and these regulations.
(c) Each monitoring program shall include maps and cross-sections, where appropriate, showing the location, lithology, and screening interval of each monitoring site.
(d) The operator is responsible for properly installing, operating, maintaining and removing all necessary monitoring equipment.
(e) The operator shall develop and follow a written waste analysis plan that describes the procedures to be carried out to obtain detailed chemical and physical analyses of a representative sample of the waste, including quality assurance procedures to be used. Once approved by the department, the operator shall not deviate from the plan without filing an amended plan and obtaining department approval for that amended plan. At a minimum, any plan shall include:
(i) The parameters for which the waste will
be analyzed, the rationale for the selection of these parameters, and the test
methods to be used to test for these parameters.
(ii) The sampling method that will be used to
obtain a representative sample of the waste.
(iii) The operator shall repeat the analysis
of the injected wastes in the manner and on the schedule described in the waste
analysis plan, and when process or operating changes occur that may
significantly alter the characteristics process, or operating changes occur
that may significantly alter the characteristics of the waste stream.
(A) The operator shall conduct continuous or
periodic monitoring of selected parameters as required by the
administrator.
(B) The operator
shall ensure that the plan remains accurate and the analyses remain
representative.
(f) Requirements for Class I Wells:
(i) At a minimum, the permittee shall monitor
the pressure in the injection zone annually, including at a minimum, a shutdown
of the well for a time sufficient to conduct a valid observation of the
pressure falloff curve.
(ii) When
prescribing a monitoring system, the administrator may also require:
(A) Continuous monitoring for pressure
changes in the first aquifer overlying the confining zone. When such a well is
installed, the operator shall, on a quarterly basis, sample the aquifer and
analyze for constituents specified by the administrator.
(B) The use of indirect, geophysical
techniques to determine the position of the waste front, the water quality in a
formation designated by the administrator, or to provide other site specific
data.
(C) Periodic monitoring of
the groundwater quality in the first aquifer overlying the receiver.
(D) Periodic monitoring of the groundwater
quality in the lowermost underground source of drinking water; and
(E) Any additional monitoring necessary to
determine whether fluids are moving into or between any aquifers penetrated by
the well.
(F) The administrator may
require seismicity monitoring when he has reason to believe that the injection
activity may have the capacity to cause seismic disturbances.
(iii) Testing and monitoring
requirements for all Class I hazardous waste wells shall include:
(A) Submission of information by the
applicant demonstrating that the waste stream and its anticipated reaction
products will not alter the permeability, thickness, or other relevant
characteristics of the confining or discharge zones such that they would no
longer meet the requirements specified when the area of review was
calculated.
(B) Submission of
information by the applicant demonstrating that the waste will be compatible
with the well materials with which the waste is expected to come into contact
and a description of the methodology used to make that determination.
Compatibility for purposes of this requirement is established if contact with
injected fluids will not cause the well materials to fail to satisfy any design
requirement imposed under Section
12 of this chapter.
(C) The administrator shall require
continuous corrosion monitoring of the construction materials in the well for
all wells where the pH of the injection fluid is less than two (2) or greater
than eleven (11), and may require such monitoring of other wastes. This
monitoring may be conducted by placing samples of the well construction
materials in contact with the waste stream or routing the waste stream through
a loop constructed of the same materials used in the well, or by using an
alternative method approved by the administrator.
(D) If a corrosion monitoring program is
required, the test shall use identical materials to those used in the
construction of the well, and such materials shall be continuously exposed to
the operating pressures, temperatures, and flow rates of the injection
operation as measured at the well head. The operator shall monitor the
materials for loss of mass, thickness, pitting, and other signs of corrosion on
a quarterly basis to ensure that the well components meet the minimum standards
for material strength and performance set forth in Section
12 of this chapter.
(iv) In addition to the above-mentioned
requirements, operators of Class I hazardous waste wells shall also conduct
mechanical integrity testing as follows:
(A)
The long string casing, injection tubing, and annular seals shall be tested by
means of an approved pressure test with liquid or gas on an annual basis and
whenever there has been a well workover.
(B) The bottom-hole cement shall be tested by
means of an approved radioactive tracer survey annually.
(C) An approved temperature, noise, or other
approved log shall be run at least once every five (5) years to test for
movement of fluid along the borehole. The administrator may require such tests
whenever the well is worked over.
(D) Casing inspection logs shall be run at
least once every five (5) years, unless the administrator waives this
requirement due to well construction or other factors which limit the test's
reliability.
(E) Any other test
approved by the administrator may also be used. Procedures for approval of
unauthorized mechanical integrity tests are outlined in Section
6(h)(i)(B) of this
chapter.
(F) The administrator
shall be given the opportunity to witness all logging and drill stem testing
done by the operator at any time during the permitting of any well under this
chapter. The operator shall submit a schedule of such planned logging and
testing to the administrator at least thirty (30) days prior to the first
test.
(g) Requirements for Class V Wells:
(i) All Class
V permits shall contain a point of compliance. The point of compliance shall be
the point of injection or specific monitor wells located down gradient of the
injection facilities.
(A) For facilities where
the point of compliance is the point of injection, the fluid to be injected
shall be limited to the class of use standards for the receiver as found in
Chapter 8 of these regulations or any primary drinking water standard found in
40 CFR 141, (as of June 6, 2001) whichever is more stringent. The permittee may
be required to maintain monitor wells in the vicinity of the discharge for the
purpose of monitoring flow direction and monitoring groundwater quality in the
event of non-compliance with the permit.
(B) For facilities where the point of
compliance is at one or more down gradient monitor wells, the department shall
establish permit limitations at the monitor well(s) consistent with the class
of use of the receiver or any secondarily affected aquifer or surface water.
Where necessary to protect existing or future uses, permit limitations may be
established at the point of compliance which are more stringent than the class
of use standard.
(C) Facilities
where subsurface treatment is anticipated may be required to monitor the
injected fluid at the point of injection. Permit limits may be established at
the point of injection which exceeds the class of use standard for the affected
aquifer, provided that a demonstration is made showing that a class of use
standards violation will not occur at a point of compliance downgradient from
the point of injection. Permit limits of this nature are intended to provide
early warning of possible non-compliance at the point of
compliance.
(h) Procedures and methods for sample collection and analyses shall be implemented by the permittee to ensure that the samples are representative of the groundwater, water, or wastes being sampled.
(i) Sample collection of groundwater shall be of such frequency and of such variety (season, time, location, depth, etc.) to properly describe the groundwater, and shall be accomplished by the methods and procedures described in the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency manual RCRA Groundwater Monitoring Technical Enforcement Guidance Document, September, 1986, unless alternate methods and procedures are approved by the administrator.
(j) Analysis of all samples shall be accomplished pursuant to Chapter 8, Water Quality Rules and Regulations, Sections 7 and 8.
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