Arizona Administrative Code › Title 18 - ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY › Chapter 9 - DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY - WATER POLLUTION CONTROL › Article 6 - UNDERGROUND INJECTION CONTROL › Part D - PERMIT CONDITIONS FOR UNDERGROUND INJECTION › Section R18-9-D639 - Corrective Action

Current through Register Vol. 30, No. 28, July 12, 2024
A. Applicants
				  for Class I, II, or III injection well permits shall identify the location of
				  all known wells within the injection well's area of review that penetrates the
				  injection zone, or in the case of Class II wells operating over the fracture
				  pressure of the injection formation, all known wells within the area of review
				  penetrating formations affected by the increase in pressure. For such wells
				  that are improperly sealed, completed, or abandoned, the applicant shall also
				  submit a plan consisting of such steps or modifications as are necessary to
				  prevent movement of fluid into USDWs. Where the plan is adequate, the Director
				  shall incorporate it into the permit as a condition. Where the Director's
				  review of an application indicates that the permittee's plan is inadequate, the
				  Director shall require the applicant to revise the plan, prescribe a plan for
				  corrective action as a condition of the permit under subsection (B) through (E)
				  of this Section, or deny the application. The Director may disregard the
				  provisions of R18-9-B612 and this Section when reviewing an application to
				  permit an existing Class II well.
B. Any permit issued for an existing
				  injection well, other than Class II wells, requiring corrective action shall
				  include a compliance schedule requiring any corrective action accepted or
				  prescribed under subsection (A) of this Section to be completed as soon as
				  possible.
C. No owner or operator
				  of a new injection well may begin injection until all required corrective
				  action has been taken.
D. The
				  Director may require as a permit condition that injection pressure be so
				  limited that pressure in the injection zone does not exceed hydrostatic
				  pressure at the site of any improperly completed or abandoned well within the
				  area of review. This pressure limitation shall satisfy the corrective action
				  requirement. Alternatively, such injection pressure limitation can be part of a
				  compliance schedule and last until all other required corrective action has
				  been taken.
E. When setting
				  corrective action requirements for Class III wells, the Director shall consider
				  the overall effect of the project on the hydraulic gradient in potentially
				  affected USDWs, and the corresponding changes in potentiometric surface or
				  surfaces and flow direction or directions rather than the discrete effect of
				  each well. If a decision is made that corrective action is not necessary based
				  on the determinations above, the monitoring program required in R18-9-G647(B)
				  shall be designed to verify the validity of such determinations.
F. In determining the adequacy of corrective
				  action proposed by the applicant under this Section and in determining the
				  additional steps needed to prevent fluid movement into USDWs, the following
				  criteria and factors shall be considered by the Director:
1. Nature and volume of injected
				  fluid;
2. Nature of native fluids
				  or by-products of injection;
3.
				  Potentially affected population;
4.
				  Geology;
5. Hydrology;
6. History of the injection
				  operation;
7. Completion and
				  plugging records;
8. Abandonment
				  procedures in effect at the time the well was abandoned; and
9. Hydraulic connections with
				  USDWs.