Hawaii Administrative Rules › Title 11 - DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH › Subtitle 1 - GENERAL DEPARTMENTAL PROVISIONS › Chapter 62 - WASTEWATER SYSTEMS › Subchapter 1 - PROHIBITIONS AND GENERAL REQUIREMENTS › Section 11-62-03 - Definitions

Current through June, 2024
As used in this chapter:
"Activated sludge process" means a biological wastewater
					 treatment process in which a mixture of wastewater and microorganisms is
					 agitated with induced aeration. Aeration supplies dissolved oxygen and
					 wastewater supplies the organic substrate necessary for microorganism growth.
					 This process includes sedimentation units which follow the aeration and where
					 settled solids are withdrawn for disposal or returned to the aeration
					 unit.
"Aerobic treatment unit system" shall have the same meaning
					 as defined in Chapter
					 23 5,
					 HRS.
"Aerosol" means a solid suspended in air with or without
					 preceding evaporation.
"Bedrock" means a continuous horizontal layer of hardened
					 mineral deposits that does not support the growth of common plant life.
"Bedroom" means any room within a dwelling that is or might
					 reasonably be used as a sleeping room. A room is presumed to be a bedroom if it
					 has a superficial floor area not less than seventy square feet and is provided
					 with windows or skylights with an area of not less than one-tenth of the floor
					 area or ten square feet, whichever is greater.
"Best management practices" or "BMPs" means the most
					 effective, practical schedules of activities, prohibitions of conduct,
					 maintenance procedures, and other specifications of conduct to prevent or
					 reduce the pollution. BMPs also include treatment requirements, operating
					 procedures, and practices to site runoff, spillage or leaks, sludge or waste
					 disposal, and drainage from raw material storage.
"BODs" means five days biochemical oxygen demand as
					 measured by a standard test indicating the quantity of oxygen utilized by
					 wastewater under controlled conditions of temperature and time.
"Building" means a structure, permanent or temporary,
					 built, erected, and framed of component structural parts used or designed for
					 the housing, shelter, workplace, enclosure or support of persons, animals or
					 property of any kind.
"Building modification" means any change to an existing
					 building's configuration that may result in the increase in wastewater flows or
					 change in the wastewater characteristics.
"Cesspool" means an individual wastewater system consisting
					 of an excavation in the ground whose depth is greater than its widest surface
					 dimension, which receives untreated wastewater, and retains or is designed to
					 retain the organic matter and solids discharging therein, but permits the
					 liquid to seep through its bottom or sides to gain access to the underground
					 formation.
"Collection system" means the conveyance system, which
					 includes the building and street sewer laterals, Interceptor sewer, sewage pump
					 station, and force main, used to transport the sewage to the treatment
					 unit.
"Composite sample" means sample(s) collected on regular
					 intervals in proportion to the existing flow or volume and then combined to
					 form a sample that represents the flow or volume over a period of time or
					 space.
"Compost toilet" means a non-flush, waterless toilet that
					 employs an aerobic composting process to treat toilet wastes.
"Confined work areas" means any area having a limited means
					 of egress, which is subject to the accumulation of toxic or flammable
					 contaminants or has an oxygen deficient atmosphere. Confined work areas
					 include, but are not limited to, storage tanks, process vessels, bins,
					 ventilation or exhaust ducts, sewers, underground utility vaults, tunnels,
					 pipelines, and open top spaces more than four feet in depth such as pits, tubs,
					 vaults and vessels.
"Construction" in the context of a wastewater system means
					 the building of the system in the ground; construction is not completed until
					 the system has been fully installed so that it is ready for hookup.
"Contractor" means the installer of a wastewater system or
					 any part of a wastewater system.
"County" means any county of the state.
"Critical Wastewater Disposal Area (CWDA)" means an area
					 where the disposal of wastewater has or may cause adverse effects on human
					 health or the environment due to existing hydrogeological conditions.
"Department" means the department of health.
"Director" means the director of health or the director's
					 duly authorized agent, including a contractor of the director.
"Disinfection" means a process to destroy, neutralize, or
					 inhibit the growth of pathogenic microbes.
"Disposal system" means any sewer, sewer outfall, sewer
					 lateral, seepage pit, cesspool, injection well, soil absorption system,
					 disposal trench, or other facility used in the disposal of wastewater or
					 wastewater sludge, including any wastewater transmission lines, pumps, power,
					 or other equipment associated with the ultimate disposal of wastewater or
					 wastewater sludge.
"Distribution box" means a watertight chamber from which
					 effluent from a treatment unit is distributed evenly to various portions of a
					 disposal system.
"Drip irrigation" means application of water and
					 wastewater, including recycled water, from emitters, either on the surface or
					 subsurface, that are part of a piping system alongside the plants being
					 irrigated and that discharges at a rate not to exceed two gallons per hour per
					 emitter.
"Domestic sewage" is waste and wastewater from humans or
					 household operations that is:
(1) Discharged to or otherwise enters a treatment works;
					 or
(2) Of a type that is usually discharged to or otherwise
					 enters a treatment works or an individual wastewater system.
"Domestic wastewater" has the same meaning as "domestic
					 sewage".
"Dwelling" means any building which is wholly or partly
					 used or intended to be used for living or sleeping by human occupants and
					 includes, but is not limited to, apartment houses, single family houses, duplex
					 houses, cluster houses, townhouses, and planned developments, but excludes
					 hotels and lodging houses.
"Dwelling unit" means any habitable room or group of
					 habitable rooms located within a dwelling and forming a single habitable unit
					 with facilities which are used or intended to be used for living, sleeping
					 cooking, and eating.
"Engineer" means a professional engineer registered in the
					 State of Hawaii.
"EPA" means the United States Environmental Protection
					 Agency.
"EPA's methods for chemical analysis of water and wastes"
					 means the 1979 edition of '"Methods for Chemical Analysis of Water and Wastes"
					 as published by the EPA.
"Evapotranspiration system** means a subsurface disposal
					 system which relies on soil capillarity and plant uptake to dispose of treated
					 effluent through surface evaporation and plant transpiration.
"Exceptional quality sludge" means wastewater sludge that
					 has been treated to a level specified in this chapter in which it may be used
					 with little or no restrictions for land application.
"Existing" means constructed under a valid county permit or
					 with written approval from the director before the effective date of this
					 rule.
"Filter fabric" means a woven or spun-bonded sheet material
					 used to impede or prevent the movement of sand, silt and clay through the
					 filter material. This material shall be non-biodegradable, resistant to acids
					 and alkalies within a pH range of 4 to 10, and resistant to common
					 solvents.
"Grab sample" means a single discrete sample of wastewater
					 collected at a particular time and place which represents the composition of
					 the source at that time and place.
"Graywater" shall have the same meaning as defined in HRS
					 section
					 342D-1.
"Haul" means the transport of an item by vehicle or
					 boat.
"Holding tank" means a nonportable, watertight closed vault
					 used or designed to temporarily hold domestic wastewater.
"Household aerobic unit" means an individual wastewater
					 system which receives domestic wastewater from dwellings or from other sources
					 generating wastewater of a similar volume and strength, and retains solids,
					 aerobically digests organic matter over a period of time, and allows the
					 clarified effluent to discharge outside the tank into a disposal system.
"Individual permit" means a document issued under this rule
					 to a specific person for a specific facility, or practice to generate, treat,
					 use, dispose, or discharge of wastewater and wastewater sludge at a specific
					 location.
"Individual wastewater systems" means facilities, such as
					 septic systems, aerobic treatment units, and cesspools, that are not connected
					 to a sewer and are used and designed to receive and dispose of:
(1) No more than one thousand gallons per day of domestic
					 wastewater; or
(2) Greater than one thousand gallons per day of domestic
					 wastewater from buildings with highly variable flows.
"Injection well" has the same meaning as defined in chapter
					 11-23.
"Land application" means the spraying or spreading of
					 wastewater sludge onto the land surface, the injection of wastewater sludge
					 below the land surface, or the incorporation of wastewater sludge into the soil
					 such that the wastewater sludge can either condition the soil or fertilize
					 crops or vegetation grown in the soil.
"Large capacity cesspool" means a cesspool that serves more
					 than one residential dwelling or, for a non-residential cesspool, has the
					 capacity to serve twenty or more persons per day.
"'Living area" means the portion (s) of a dwelling unit
					 including, but not limited to, the bedroom, kitchen, bathroom, living room,
					 family room, covered lanai, den, and library, but excluding the garage,
					 carport, open lanai, fence, and utility shed.
"Makai" means toward the sea or the area outside the
					 Underground Injection Control (UIC) Line encircling the protected
					 aquifer.
"Manual of Septic Tank Practice" means the United States
					 Department of Health, Education and Welfare Publication No. (HSM) 72-10020,
					 formerly known as "PHS Publication No. 526", revised in 1967.
"Modal time" means the amount of time elapsed between the
					 time that a tracer, such as salt or dye, is injected into the influent at the
					 entrance to a chamber and the time that the highest concentration of the tracer
					 is observed in water where it is discharged from the chamber.
"Mound system" means a soil absorption system which is
					 installed in or below an artificially created mound or earth.
"MPN" means most probable number.
"New" means constructed on or after the effective date of
					 this chapter.
" Non-domestic wastewater" means all wastewater excluding
					 domestic wastewater.
" Non-exceptional quality wastewater sludge" means
					 wastewater sludge that is not exceptional quality wastewater sludge.
"Owner" means a person(s) who has legal title to a
					 treatment works or individual wastewater system, or duly authorized
					 representative of the owner.
"Pathogenic organisms" means disease-causing organisms.
					 These include, but are not limited to, certain bacteria, protozoa, viruses, and
					 viable helminth ova.
"Person" has the same meaning as defined in section
					 342D-1, HRS.
"Person who prepares wastewater sludge" means anyone who
					 generates wastewater sludge during the treatment of wastewater in a wastewater
					 treatment works, a person who derives a material from wastewater sludge, a
					 person who provides treatment of wastewater sludge, or a person who changes the
					 quality of wastewater sludge.
"pH" means the logarithm of the reciprocal of the hydrogen
					 ion concentration measured at 25 degrees Celsius or measured at another
					 temperature and then converted to an equivalent value at 25 degrees
					 Celsius.
"Private" means not owned or operated by a federal, state,
					 or county authority.
"Proposed" means put forward for consideration or suggested
					 to the director. For the purposes of this chapter, "proposed" shall refer to
					 the plans for a wastewater system or activity.
"Public" means, for issues of ownership, owned or operated
					 by a federal, state, or county authority.
"Public water system" has the same meaning as defined in
					 chapter
					 11-20.
"Qualified cesspool" shall have the same meaning as defined
					 in Chapter
					 235, HRS.
"Qualified expenses" shall have the same meaning as defined
					 in Chapter
					 235, HRS.
" R-1 water" means recycled water that has been oxidized,
					 filtered, and disinfected to meet the corresponding standards set in this
					 chapter.
" R-2 water" means recycled water that has been oxidized
					 and disinfected to meet the corresponding standards set in this chapter.
" R-3 water" means recycled water that has been oxidized to
					 meet secondary treatment standards as set forth by EPA.
"Recycled water" means treated wastewater that by design is
					 intended or used for a beneficial purpose.
"Recycled water system" means a facility which conveys to
					 users or uses recycled water. Recycled water systems are subdivided into
					 distribution and use systems. Recycled water systems include all piping,
					 storage, and repressurization facilities to deliver recycled water to users,
					 but exclude treatment units.
"Residential large capacity cesspool" shall have the same
					 meaning as defined in HRS section
					 342D-1.
"Reuse guidelines" means the "Guidelines for the treatment
					 and use of reclaimed water", Hawaii State Department of Health, Wastewater
					 Branch, November 23, 1993, revised January 2 016.
"Seepage pit" means an excavation in the ground whose depth
					 is greater than its widest surface dimension and which receives the discharge
					 from treatment units and permits the effluent to exit through its bottom or
					 sides for gradual seepage into the ground which does not result in
					 contamination of water-bearing formations or surface water.
"Septage" means either a liquid or solid material removed
					 from a septic tank, cesspool, portable toilet, Type III marine sanitation
					 device, or similar treatment works that receives wastewater.
"Septic system" shall have the same meaning as defined in
					 Chapter
					 235, HRS.
"Septic tank" means a watertight receptacle that receives
					 the raw wastewater, retains after settling solid matter or sewage for treatment
					 by bacteria, and discharges a partially treated effluent.
"Sewage sludge" means any solid, semi-solid, or liquid
					 residue removed during the treatment of municipal wastewater or domestic
					 sewage. Sewage sludge includes, but is not limited to, solids removed during
					 primary, secondary, or advanced wastewater treatment, scum, septage, portable
					 toilet pumping, Type III Marine Sanitation device pumpings (33 Code of Federal
					 Regulations Part 159), and sewage sludge products. Sewage sludge does not
					 include grit, screenings, or ash generated during the incineration of sewage
					 sludge.
"Sewer" means a pipe or conduit or any other appurtenances
					 that carry wastewater from a building or buildings to a specific point for
					 treatment and disposal.
"Sewer system" shall have the same meaning as defined in
					 Chapter
					 235, HRS.
"Soil absorption" means a process which uses the soil to
					 treat and dispose of effluent from a treatment unit.
"Spray irrigation" means application of water and
					 wastewater, including recycled water, to the land to maintain vegetation or
					 support the growth of vegetation by spraying the water and wastewater above
					 ground from sprinklers, micro-sprinklers, or orifices in piping,
"SS" means suspended solids and indicates the
					 characteristic state of solids in wastewater.
"Standard methods" means the 22n<i edition, 2014, of
					 'Standard Methods for the Examination of Water and Wastewater" as published by
					 the American Water Works Association, American Public Health Association and
					 the Water Pollution Control Federation, unless another edition is specified by
					 the director.
"State waters" shall have the same meaning as defined in
					 section
					 342D-1, HRS.
"Subsurface disposal system" means a disposal system that
					 allows the gradual seepage of effluent into the ground which does not result in
					 contamination of water-bearing formations or surface water, such as a seepage
					 pit, cesspool, soil absorption system, or other facility used in the disposal
					 of wastewater, including any wastewater transmission lines, pumps, power, or
					 other equipment associated with the disposal of wastewater.
"Siibsurface drip irrigation" means the application of
					 water and wastewater, including recycled water, to the land to maintain
					 vegetation or to support the growth of vegetation by discharging or emitting
					 the water and wastewater from orifices in piping below the surface or finished
					 grade.
"Suitable soil" means a soil which acts as an effective
					 filter in the removal of organisms and suspended solids before the effluent
					 reaches any highly permeable earth formations, bedrock, or groundwater.
"Surface disposal" means the placing of wastewater sludge
					 on the land for final disposal and includes storage on land for two or more
					 years.
"Surface irrigation" means the application of water and
					 wastewater, including recycled water, by means other than spraying.
"Ten States Standards" means the 1980 edition of the
					 Recommended Standards for Individual Sewage Systems, a report by the committee
					 of the Great Lakes-Upper Mississippi River Board of State Sanitary Engineers on
					 the policies for review and approval of plans and specifications for individual
					 wastewater systems.
"Theoretical detention time" means the value obtained by
					 dividing the volume of a chamber, through which fluid flows, by the flow rate
					 expressed in amount of fluid volume per unit of time.
"Treatment unit" means any plant, facility, or equipment
					 used in the treatment of wastewater, including the necessary pumps, power
					 equipment, blowers, motors, holding tanks, flow splitter, and other process
					 equipment.
"Treatment works" means any treatment unit and its
					 associated collection system and disposal system, excluding individual
					 wastewater systems.
"Vector attraction" means the characteristic of wastewater
					 sludge that attracts rodents, flies, mosquitoes, or other organisms capable of
					 transporting infectious agents.
"Wastewater" means any liquid waste, whether treated or
					 not, and whether animal, mineral, or vegetable, including agricultural,
					 industrial, and thermal wastes.
"Wastewater sludge" has the same meaning as 'sewage
					 sludge".
"Wastewater sludge facility" means a facility which
					 collects, handles, stores, treats, or disposes of wastewater sludge. Wastewater
					 sludge facilities shall exclude individual wastewater systems.
"Wastewater system" means the category of all wastewater
					 and wastewater sludge treatment, use, and disposal systems, including all
					 wastewater treatment works, collection systems, wastewater sludge facilities,
					 recycled water systems, and individual wastewater systems.
"Water pollution" has the same meaning as defined in
					 section
					 342D-1, HRS.
"Watertight" means constructed so that no water can enter
					 and discharge except through the inlet and outlet pipe
					 respectively.