Florida Administrative Code › 62 - DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION › 62 - Departmental › Chapter 62-528 - UNDERGROUND INJECTION CONTROL › Section 62-528.200 - Underground Injection Control: Definitions

Current through Reg. 50, No. 138; July 16, 2024
When used in this chapter, the following words shall have the
				  indicated meanings unless the context clearly indicates otherwise:
(1) "Abandoned well" means a well the use of
				which 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) "Acidizing" means the
				injection of acid through the borehole or "well" into a "formation" to increase
				permeability and porosity.
(3)
				"Allowable stress" means the allowable stress for a material is the maximum
				stress that may be safely applied, which equals the yield-point stress divided
				by an appropriate factor of safety.
(4) "Annular monitor well" means any pipe or
				tubing which is permanently placed in the annulus of an injection well to
				monitor a discrete zone.
(5)
				"Annulus" or "Annular space" means any artificially created void existing
				between a well casing or liner pipe and a borehole wall or between two casings
				or between tubing and casing or liner pipe.
(6) "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.
(7) "Area of review" means the area
				surrounding an "injection well" described according to the criteria set forth
				in subsection  62-528.300(4),
				F.A.C., or in the case of a well field permit, the project area plus a
				circumscribing area with a fixed width of not less than one mile.
(8) "Casing" means a pipe or tubing of
				appropriate material, of varying diameter and weight, lowered into a borehole
				during or after drilling in order to support the sides of the hole and thus
				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.
(9) "Catastrophic collapse"
				means the sudden and utter failure of adjacent or overlying strata which has
				been caused by removal of underlying materials.
(10) "Cementing" means the operation whereby
				a cement slurry is pumped into a drilled hole or forced behind the
				casing.
(11) "Centralizer" means a
				casing accessory used to properly align a casing within the open hole, or to
				properly align one casing within another casing, or to properly align a tubing
				within a casing.
(12) "Cesspool"
				means a "drywell" that receives untreated sanitary waste containing human
				excreta, and which sometimes has an open bottom and perforated sides.
(13) "Cluster well" means a well where two or
				more monitor tubes of different lengths are placed within a single borehole to
				monitor two or more discrete zones.
(14) "Confining bed" means a layer of
				impermeable or distinctly less permeable material stratigraphically adjacent to
				one or more aquifers.
(15)
				"Confining zone" means a geological formation, group of formations, or part of
				a formation that is capable of limiting fluid movement from an injection
				zone.
(16) "Contaminant" means any
				substance which is harmful to plant, animal or human life.
(17) "Conventional mine" means an open pit or
				underground excavation for the production of minerals.
(18) "Department" means the Department of
				Environmental Protection or its successor agency or agencies.
(19) "Disposal well" means a well used for
				the disposal of waste into a subsurface stratum.
(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)
				"Earth-coupled heat pump system" means any space heating/cooling system in
				which fluid is circulated through a continuous section of buried pipe such that
				the earth is utilized as a thermal exchange medium, but no fluid is either
				extracted from or injected into any underground formation.
(22) "Emergency disposal method" is an
				effluent disposal method that, after prior Department approval and receipt of
				all appropriate authorizations or permits, is available for short term
				discharges under emergency conditions when the primary disposal method is
				inoperable.
(23) "Exempted aquifer"
				means an aquifer or its portion that meets the criteria in the definition of
				"underground source of drinking water" but which has been exempted according to
				the procedures of subsection
				 62-528.300(3),
				F.A.C.
(24) "Experimental
				technology" means a technology which has not been proven feasible under the
				conditions in which it is being tested.
(25) "Exploratory pilot hole" means a hole
				drilled for the purpose of obtaining subsurface information or as a guide for
				the drill bit to follow when drilling the final hole.
(26) "Exploratory well" means a cased well
				drilled in an area in which there is limited hydrologic and geologic data, to
				obtain sufficient data to determine feasibility of using an injection well at
				the site.
(27) "Facility or
				activity" means any installation as defined by Section
				 403.031(4),
				F.S., that is subject to regulation under the Underground Injection Control
				Program. These terms shall include federal facilities and activities.
(28) "Factor of safety" means the ultimate
				load divided by the safe load, or the ultimate strength divided by the
				allowable stress.
(29) "Fault"
				means a surface or zone of rock fracture along which there has been
				displacement.
(30) "Flow rate"
				means the volume per unit time of the flow of fluids which emerge from an
				orifice, pump, turbine or which pass along a conduit or channel.
(31) "Fluid" means 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 rock characterized by a degree of lithologic homogeneity or
				similarity 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, injected fluids or dilute products of injected fluids.
(34) "Ground water" means water below the
				land surface in a zone wherein all of the interstices are filled with
				water.
(35) "Hazardous waste" means
				a hazardous waste as defined in Rule
				 62-730.030, F.A.C.
(36) "Hydrogeology" means the branch of
				hydrology that deals with ground water, its occurrence and movements, its
				replenishment and depletion, the properties of rocks that control the ground
				water movement and storage, and the methods of investigation and use of ground
				water.
(37) "Improved sinkhole"
				means a naturally occurring karst depression or other natural crevice found in
				volcanic terrain and other geologic settings that has been modified by humans
				for the purpose of directing and emplacing fluids into the
				subsurface.
(38) "Injection
				pressure" means the pressure required to inject fluid, as measured at the
				wellhead.
(39) "Injection well"
				means a well into which fluids are being or will be injected, by gravity flow
				or under pressure.
(40) "Injection
				well system" means that portion of the disposal system from the effluent side
				or pressure side of the injection pump to the bottom of the injection
				well.
(41) "Injection zone" means a
				geological formation, group of formations, or part of a formation receiving
				fluids directly through a well.
(42) "Lithology" means the description of
				rocks on the basis of their physical and chemical characteristics.
(43) "Major Class V well" means any Class V,
				Group 3 well used to inject fluids into or above the lowermost formation
				containing, within one-quarter mile of the well bore, an underground source of
				drinking water, any Class V, Group 1 well used to inject fluids through an open
				loop system or containing additives, or any Class V, Group 2, 4, 5, 7, 8, or 9
				well as defined in paragraph
				 62-528.300(1)(e),
				F.A.C., except swimming pool drainage wells.
(44) "Multihorizon monitor well" means any
				well which is used to monitor in each of two or more discrete zones.
(45) "Municipal injection well" means an
				injection well, publicly or privately owned, which is used to inject only
				fluids that have passed through the head of a permitted domestic wastewater
				treatment facility and received at least secondary treatment pursuant to Rule
				 62-600.420, F.A.C.
(46) "New injection well" means a well for
				which a final construction permit has been issued by the Department and which
				began injection after April 1, 1982.
(47) "On-site monitor well" means a well
				associated with an injection well or facility, that is used primarily to
				monitor fluid movement adjacent to the wellbore or to monitor the effectiveness
				of the confining beds overlying the injection zone.
(48) "Overdrill" means the amount by which
				the nominal diameter of the open hole exceeds the diameter of the casing to be
				set in the hole.
(49) "Owner" means
				the person, entity, or corporation with legal title to the property on which an
				injection well exists.
(50)
				"Packer" means a device lowered into a well to produce a fluid-tight
				seal.
(51) "Permittee" means the
				person or entity to which a permit for an injection well or injection well
				system is issued by the Department. Upon transfer of ownership of the facility,
				the permittee shall comply with Rule
				 62-4.120, F.A.C.
(52) "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.
(53) "Point of injection" means the last
				accessible sampling point prior to waste fluids being released into the
				subsurface environment through a Class V injection well. For example, the point
				of injection of a Class V septic system might be the distribution box, which is
				the last accessible sampling point before the waste fluids drain into the
				underlying soils. For a drywell, it is likely to be the well bore
				itself.
(54) "Radioactive waste"
				means any waste which contains radioactive material in concentrations which
				exceed those listed in 10 C.F.R. pt. 20, Appendix B, Table II, Column 2
				(1994).
(55) "Regional monitor
				well" means a well used primarily to monitor the distant effects of injection
				from one or more injection facilities.
(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 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) "Satellite monitor well" means a well
				associated with an injection facility that is used primarily to monitor the
				effects of injection from a single injection well or facility.
(58) "Secretary" means the Secretary of the
				Department of Environmental Protection.
(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) "Subsidence" means the
				lowering of the natural land surface in response to: earth movements; lowering
				of fluid pressure; removal of underlying supporting material by mining or
				solution of solids, either artificially or from natural causes; compaction due
				to wetting (hydrocompaction); oxidation of organic matter in soils; or added
				load on the land surface.
(61)
				"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.
(62)
				"Surface casing" means the first string of well casing to be installed in the
				well.
(63) "Technical Advisory
				Committee" means a group of professionals knowledgeable in underground
				injection control requirements, geology, ground water hydrology, well drilling,
				geophysical logging, and pollution control, assembled for the purposes of
				advising the permitting authority on underground injection projects. The
				composition of the Technical Advisory Committee is specified in subsection
				 62-528.100(2),
				F.A.C.
(64) "Test injection well"
				means the first injection well constructed in a well field, which is used for
				specific formation testing and to verify the feasibility of the injection well
				system. This well is designed and constructed to be used as an injection well,
				if injection is proven feasible and environmentally acceptable.
(65) "Tubing" means piping material placed
				inside the final string of casing to protect the casing and to convey the
				injected fluid to the injection zone.
(66) "Underground source of drinking water"
				means an "aquifer" or its portion:
(a) Which
				supplies drinking water for human consumption, is classified by subsection
				 62-520.410(1),
				F.A.C., as Class F-I, G-I or G-II ground water, or contains a total dissolved
				solids concentration of less than 10, 000 mg/L; and
(b) Which is not an "exempted
				aquifer."