2023 New Hampshire Revised Statutes › Title L - Water Management and Protection › Chapter 485-A - Water Pollution and Waste Disposal › Section 485-A:13 - Water Discharge Permits.

485-A:13 Water Discharge Permits. –
I. (a) It shall be unlawful for any person or persons to discharge or dispose of any sewage or waste to the surface water or groundwater of the state without first obtaining a written permit from the department of environmental services. Applications for permits shall be made upon forms prescribed by the department of environmental services and shall contain such relevant information as the department of environmental services may require. The department of environmental services shall include in such permits effluent limitations, which may be based upon economic and technological factors, upon the classification enacted by the legislature, upon the projected best use of the surface water downstream or upon the requirements of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act as amended from time to time, and all regulations, guidelines and standards promulgated thereunder, whichever provides the most effective means to abate pollution. The department of environmental services may also prescribe such other reasonable conditions as may be necessary or desirable in order to fulfill the purpose of this chapter or applicable federal law. Such permits may contain, in the case of sources not in compliance with such effluent limitations at the time the permit is issued, compliance schedules, including interim requirements necessary or desirable in order to fulfill the purposes or requirements of this chapter, and any such compliance schedules may be imposed without regard to the time limits for abatement of pollution referred to in RSA 485-A:12, II and shall be consistent with the purposes and requirements of applicable federal law. The department of environmental services may prescribe a monitoring program to be performed by the applicant with periodic reports to the department of environmental services, including, where appropriate in terms of the nature of the effluent, continuous monitoring. Permits shall be issued for a fixed term, not to exceed 5 years. The department of environmental services may revise, modify or suspend in whole or in part or terminate any permit, following hearing, upon a finding that just cause exists for such action. Further, whenever in its judgment the purposes of this chapter will be best served, the department of environmental services may require as a condition to the granting of such permits that either the ownership and operation of the collection and treatment facilities involved be vested in the municipality or any subdivision thereof in which the system is located, if said municipality by legal action agrees thereto, or such other reasonable conditions as will ensure continuous and continuing operation and maintenance of the facilities. No permit shall be granted to utilize the entire assets of the surface water, or in any other case in which the department of environmental services determines that the grant of a permit would be inconsistent with the purposes of this chapter. Any determination by the department of environmental services under this paragraph shall be subject to appeal as provided for in RSA 485-A:19.
(b) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, no permit to discharge sewage or waste shall be issued authorizing any of the following discharges:
(1) The discharge of any radiological, chemical or biological warfare agent or high level radioactive waste.
(2) Any discharge into navigable waters which the secretary of the army of the United States acting through the chief of engineers determines would substantially impair anchorage and navigation.
(3) Any discharge to which the regional administrator of the United States Environmental Protection Agency, or his successor in jurisdiction, has objected in writing pursuant to any right to object each provided such official in section 402(d) of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act, as amended from time to time; provided, that this subparagraph and subparagraph (2) above shall not preclude the department of environmental services or any other person from availing itself of the judicial review of any such objection, or any determination by the secretary of the army, available under applicable federal law.
(4) Any discharge from a point source which is in conflict with a plan or amendment to such plan approved pursuant to section 208(b) of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act, as amended from time to time.
(c) Any person responsible for a bypass or upset at a wastewater facility shall give immediate notice of the bypass or upset to all public or privately owned water systems drawing water from the same receiving water and located within 20 miles downstream of the point of discharge. The permittee shall maintain a list of persons, and their telephone numbers, who are to be notified immediately by telephone. In addition, written notification, which shall be postmarked within 3 days of the bypass or upset, shall be sent to such persons.
II. On application of the department of environmental services, the superior court or any justice of such court, in term time, or in vacation may enjoin any act in violation of any lawful order of the department of environmental services.
III. In the interim between the effective date of classification legislation hereafter enacted affecting any surface water of the state or section of such water, and the time limit for abatement of pollution set thereafter either by the department of environmental services under RSA 485-A:12, II or by the legislature, it shall be unlawful for person or persons to dispose of any sewage or waste into said surface water of the state in excess of the maximum quantity or of a different character, than that being disposed of during the period of one year prior to the effective date of such legislative classification without first obtaining written permission from the department of environmental services.
Source.
1989, 339:1. 1990, 248:3. 1996, 228:108, eff. July 1, 1996.