Arizona Administrative Code › Title 18 - ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY › Chapter 9 - DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY - WATER POLLUTION CONTROL › Article 6 - UNDERGROUND INJECTION CONTROL › Part A - GENERAL PROVISIONS › Section R18-9-A601 - Definitions

Current through Register Vol. 30, No. 28, July 12, 2024
The following terms apply to this Article:
1. "Abandoned well" means a well whose use
				  has been permanently discontinued or which is in a state of disrepair such that
				  it cannot be used for its intended purpose or for observation
				  purposes.
2. "Administrator" means
				  the Administrator of the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA),
				  or an authorized representative.
3.
				  "Application" means the ADEQ prescribed method, such as a form, for applying
				  for a permit, including any additions, revisions or modifications
				  thereof.
4. "Appropriate Act and
				  regulations" means the Solid Waste Disposal Act, as amended by the Resource
				  Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA); or Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA),
				  whichever is applicable; and applicable regulations promulgated under those
				  statutes.
5. "Aquifer" means a
				  geological formation, group of formations, or part of a formation that is
				  capable of yielding a significant amount of water to a well or
				  spring.
6. "Area of review" means
				  the area surrounding an injection well described according to the criteria set
				  forth in R18-9-B612 or in the case of an area permit, the project area plus a
				  circumscribing area the width of which is either 1/4 of a mile or a number
				  calculated according to the criteria set forth in R18-9-B612.
7. "Arizona UIC Memorandum of Agreement"
				  means the agreement between the Administrator and the Director that coordinates
				  EPA and ADEQ activities, responsibilities, and programs under the Arizona UIC
				  Program.
8. "Arizona UIC Program"
				  means the UIC program administered by the Director and approved by EPA
				  according to
				  42 U.S.C. §
											300h-1.
9. "Casing" means a pipe or tubing of
				  appropriate material, of varying diameter and weight, lowered into a borehole
				  during or after drilling to support the sides of the hole and prevent the walls
				  from caving; to prevent loss of drilling mud into porous ground; or to prevent
				  water, gas, or other fluid from entering or leaving the hole.
10. "Catastrophic collapse" means the sudden
				  and utter failure of overlaying strata caused by removal of underlying
				  materials.
11. "Cementing" means
				  the operation whereby a cement slurry is pumped into a drilled hole and/or
				  forced behind the casing.
12.
				  "Cesspool" means a drywell that receives untreated sanitary waste containing
				  human excreta, and which sometimes has an open bottom and/or perforated
				  sides.
13. "Confining zone" means a
				  geological formation, group of formations, or parts of a formation that is
				  capable of limiting fluid movement above an injection zone.
14. "Contaminant" means any physical,
				  chemical, biological, or radiological substance or matter in water.
15. "Conventional mine" means an open pit or
				  underground excavation for the production of minerals.
16. "Director" means the Director of the
				  Arizona Department of Environmental Quality or the Director's
				  designee.
17. "Disposal well" means
				  a well that is used for the disposal of waste into a subsurface
				  stratum.
18. "Draft permit" means a
				  document prepared under R18-9-C618 indicating the Director's tentative decision
				  to issue, renew, modify, revoke and reissue, or terminate a permit. A notice of
				  intent to terminate a permit, and a notice of intent to deny a permit, as
				  discussed in R18-9-C631 are types of draft permits. A denial of a request for
				  modification, revocation and reissuance, or termination, of a permit is not a
				  draft permit, except as discussed in R18-9-C631(B).
19. "Drilling mud" means a heavy suspension
				  used in drilling an injection well, introduced down the drill pipe and through
				  the drill bit.
20. "Drywell" means
				  a well, other than an improved sinkhole or subsurface fluid distribution
				  system, completed above the water table so that its bottom and sides are
				  typically dry except when receiving fluids.
21. "Effective date of the Arizona UIC
				  Program" means the date that the Arizona UIC Program is approved or established
				  by the Administrator.
22.
				  "Emergency permit" means a UIC permit issued in accordance with
				  R18-9-C625.
23. "Environmental
				  Protection Agency" or "EPA" means the United States Environmental Protection
				  Agency.
24. "Exempted aquifer"
				  means an aquifer or its portion that meets the criteria in the definition of
				  underground source of drinking water (USDW) but has been exempted according to
				  the procedures in R18-9-A605.
25.
				  "Existing injection well" means an injection well other than a new injection
				  well.
26. "Experimental technology"
				  means a technology which has not been proven feasible under the conditions in
				  which it is being tested.
27.
				  "Facility" or "activity" means any UIC injection well subject to regulation
				  under this Article.
28. "Fault"
				  means a surface or zone of rock fracture along which there has been
				  displacement.
29. "Final permit
				  decision" means the Director's decision to issue, renew, modify, revoke and
				  reissue, deny or terminate a permit as described in R18-9-C627.
30. "Flow rate" means the volume per time
				  unit given the flow of gases or other fluid substance which emerges from an
				  orifice, pump, turbine, or passes along a conduit or channel.
31. "Fluid" means any material or substance
				  which flows or moves whether in a semisolid, liquid, sludge, gas, or any other
				  form or state.
32. "Formation"
				  means a body of consolidated or unconsolidated rock characterized by a degree
				  of lithologic homogeneity which is prevailingly, but not necessarily, tabular
				  and is mappable on the earth's surface or traceable in the
				  subsurface.
33. "Formation fluid"
				  means fluid present in a formation under natural conditions as opposed to
				  introduced fluids, such as drilling mud.
34. "Generator" means any person, by site
				  location, whose act or process produces hazardous waste identified or listed in
				  A.A.C. Title 18, Chapter 8 (Hazardous Waste Management).
35. "Geologic sequestration" means the
				  long-term containment of a gaseous, liquid, or supercritical carbon dioxide
				  stream in subsurface geologic formations. This term does not apply to carbon
				  dioxide capture or transport.
36.
				  "Ground water" means water below the land surface in a zone of
				  saturation.
37. "Hazardous waste"
				  means a hazardous waste as defined in A.R.S. §
										49-921.
38. "Improved sinkhole" means a naturally
				  occurring karst depression or other natural crevice found in volcanic terrain
				  and other geologic settings which have been modified by man for the purpose of
				  directing and emplacing fluids into the subsurface.
39. "Indian lands" means Indian country as
				  defined in
				  18 U.S.C.
				  1151.
40. "Indian Tribe" means any Indian Tribe
				  having a Federally recognized governing body carrying out substantial
				  governmental duties and powers over a defined area.
41. "Injection well" means a well into which
				  fluids are being injected.
42.
				  "Injection zone" means a geological formation group of formations, or part of a
				  formation receiving fluids through a well.
43. "Lithology" means the description of
				  rocks on the basis of their physical and chemical characteristics.
44. "Major facility" means any UIC facility
				  or activity classified as such by the Administrator in conjunction with the
				  Director.
45. "New injection wells"
				  means an injection well which began injection after the effective date of the
				  Arizona UIC Program.
46. "Owner" or
				  "operator" means the owner or operator of any facility or activity subject to
				  regulation under the Arizona UIC program.
47. "Packer" means a device lowered into a
				  well to produce a fluid-tight seal.
48. "Permit" means an authorization issued by
				  the Director pursuant to this Article. 'Permit' includes an area permit under
				  R18-9-C624 and an emergency permit under R18-9-C625. 'Permit' does not include
				  UIC authorization by rule or any permit which has not yet been subject to a
				  final permit decision, such as a 'draft permit.'"
49. "Person" means an individual, employee,
				  officer, managing body, trust, firm, joint-stock company, consortium, public or
				  private corporation, Partnership, association or state, a political subdivision
				  of this state, a commission, the United States government or any federal
				  facility, interstate body, Tribal agency, or other entity.
50. "Plugging" means the act or process of
				  stopping the flow of water, oil or gas into or out of a formation through a
				  borehole or well penetrating that formation.
51. "Plugging record" means a systematic
				  listing of permanent or temporary abandonment of water, oil, gas, test,
				  exploration and waste injection wells, and may contain a well log, description
				  of amounts and types of plugging material used, the method employed for
				  plugging, a description of formations which are sealed and a graphic log of the
				  well showing formation location, formation thickness, and location of plugging
				  structures.
52. "Pressure" means
				  the total load or force per unit area acting on a surface.
53. "Project" means a group of wells in a
				  single operation.
54. "Radioactive
				  Waste" means any waste which contains radioactive material in concentrations
				  which exceed those listed in 10 CFR part 20, appendix B, table II column
				  2.
55. "RCRA" means the Solid Waste
				  Disposal Act as amended by the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act of 1976 (
				  Pub. L. 94580, as amended by Pub. L. 95-609, Pub. L. 96-510,
				  42 U.S.C.
				  6901 et seq.).
56. "Sanitary waste" means liquid or solid
				  wastes originating solely from humans and human activities, such as wastes
				  collected from toilets, showers, wash basins, sinks used for cleaning domestic
				  areas, sinks used for food preparation, clothes washing operations, and sinks
				  or washing machines where food and beverage serving dishes, glasses, and
				  utensils are cleaned. Sources of these wastes may include single or multiple
				  residences, hotels and motels, restaurants, bunkhouses, schools, ranger
				  stations, crew quarters, guard stations, campgrounds, picnic grounds, day-use
				  recreation areas, other commercial facilities, and industrial facilities
				  provided the waste is not mixed with industrial waste.
57. "Schedule of compliance" means a schedule
				  of remedial measures included in a permit including an enforceable sequence of
				  interim requirements leading to compliance with this Article.
58. "SDWA" or "Safe Drinking Water Act" means
				  the Safe Drinking Water Act ( Pub. L. 93-523, as amended;
				  42
				  U.S.C. 300f et seq.).
59. "Septic system" means a well that is used
				  to emplace sanitary waste below the surface and is typically comprised of a
				  septic tank and subsurface fluid distribution system or disposal
				  system.
60. "Site" means the land
				  or water area where any facility or activity is physically located or
				  conducted, including adjacent land used in connection with the facility or
				  activity.
61. "Stratum" means a
				  single sedimentary bed or layer, or series of layers that consists of generally
				  the same kind of rock material regardless of thickness. The plural of stratum
				  is strata.
62. "Subsidence" means
				  the lowering of the natural land surface in response to earth movements;
				  lowering fluid pressures; removal of underlying support material by mining or
				  solution of solids, either artificially or from natural causes; compaction due
				  to wetting; oxidation of organic matter in soils; or added load on the land
				  surface.
63. "Subsurface fluid
				  distribution system" means an assemblage of perforated pipes, drain tiles, or
				  other similar mechanisms intended to distribute fluids below the surface of the
				  ground.
64. "Surface casing" means
				  the first string of well casing to be installed in the well.
65. "Total dissolved solids" or "TDS" means
				  the total dissolved (filterable) solids as determined by use of the method
				  specified in A.A.C.
				  R9-14-610
				  or
				  R9-14-611.
66. "Transferee" means the owner or operator
				  receiving ownership and/or operational control of the well.
67. "Transferor" means the owner or operator
				  transferring ownership and/or operational control of the well.
68. "Underground injection" means a well
				  injection; which excludes the underground injection of natural gas for purposes
				  of storage and the underground injection of fluids or propping agents (other
				  than diesel fuels) pursuant to hydraulic fracturing operations related to oil,
				  gas, or geothermal production activities.
69. "Underground Injection Control" or "UIC"
				  means the Underground Injection Control program under Part C of the Safe
				  Drinking Water Act, including the Arizona UIC Program.
70. "USDW," "USDWs," or "Underground source
				  of drinking water" means an aquifer or aquifers or its portion that:
a. Supplies any public water system;
				  or
b. Contains a sufficient
				  quantity of ground water to supply a public water system; and
i. Currently supplies drinking water for
				  human consumption; or
ii. Contains
				  fewer than 10,000 mg/l total dissolved solids; and
c. Is not an exempted aquifer.