Compilation of Rules and Regulations of the State of Georgia › Department 391 - RULES OF GEORGIA DEPARTMENT OF NATURAL RESOURCES › Chapter 391-3 - ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION › Subject 391-3-4 - SOLID WASTE MANAGEMENT › Rule 391-3-4-.05 - Criteria for Siting

Current through Rules and Regulations filed
				through June 27, 2024
(1) The following criteria must be met for a
				site proposed as a solid waste handling facility:
(a) Zoning. The site must conform to all
				local zoning/land use ordinances. Written verification must be submitted to the
				Division by the applicant demonstrating that the proposed site complies with
				local zoning and land use ordinances, if any. This verification shall include a
				letter from the local governmental authority stating that the proposed site
				complies with local zoning or land use ordinances, if any. This verification
				shall be provided at the time of submission of a permit application and
				reaffirmed by the governmental authority prior to permit issuance.
(b) Disposal Facility Siting Decision.
				Whenever any county, municipality group of counties, or authority begins a
				process to select a site for a municipal solid waste disposal facility,
				documentation shall be submitted which demonstrates compliance with O.C.G.A.
				12-8-26(a), and
				whenever the governing authority of any county or municipality takes action
				resulting in a publicly- or privately-owned municipal solid waste disposal
				facility siting decision, documentation shall be submitted which demonstrates
				compliance with O.C.G.A.
				12-8-26(b).
(c) Airport Safety:
1. New MSWLF units or lateral expansions of
				existing units shall not be located within 10,000 feet (3,048 meters) of any
				public-use or private-use airport runway end used by turbojet aircraft or
				within 5,000 feet (1,524 meters) of any public-use or private-use airport
				runway end used by only piston-type aircraft.
2. Owners or operators of existing MSWLF
				units, that are located within 10,000 feet (3,048 meters) of any public- use or
				private-use airport runway end used by turbojet aircraft or within 5,000 feet
				(1,524 meters) of any public- use or private-use airport runway end used by
				only piston-type aircraft must demonstrate that the units are designed and
				operated so that the MSWLF units do not pose a bird hazard to
				aircraft.
3. Owners or operators
				proposing to site new MSWLF units and lateral expansions within a five-mile
				radius of any public-use or private-use airport runway end used by turbojet or
				piston-type aircraft must notify the affected airport and the Federal Aviation
				Administration (FAA).
4. The owner
				or operator must place the demonstration in paragraph 2. of this section in the
				operating record and notify the Director that it has been placed in the
				operating record not later than October 1, 1993.
5. For purposes of this section:
a. "Public-use airport" means an airport open
				to the public without prior permission and without restrictions within the
				physical capacities of available facilities.
b. "Private-use airport" means an airport
				that is not open to the public and which may not be used without prior
				permission of the airport owner and which has restrictions other than the
				physical capacities of available facilities and such airport is shown on the
				Sectional Aeronautical Charts published by the U.S. Department of Commerce for
				Atlanta, Jacksonville, or New Orleans, which charts are dated at least one year
				prior to the submission of a MSWLF permit or major permit modification
				application.
c. "Bird hazard" means
				an increase in the likelihood of bird/aircraft collisions that may cause damage
				to the aircraft or injury to its occupants.
(d) Floodplains. A solid waste handling
				facility located in the 100-year floodplain shall not restrict the flow of the
				100-year flood, reduce the temporary water storage capacity of the floodplain,
				or result in a washout of solid waste so as to pose a hazard to human health
				and the environment. The owner or operator must place a demonstration of
				compliance in the operating record and notify the Director that it has been
				placed in the operating record.
1. For
				purposes of this section:
a. "Floodplains"
				means the low land and relatively flat areas adjoining inland and coastal
				waters, including flood-prone areas of offshore islands, that are inundated by
				the 100-year flood.
b. "100-year
				flood" means a flood that has a 1-percent or greater chance of recurring in any
				given year or a flood of a magnitude equalled or exceeded once in 100 years on
				the average over a significantly long period.
c. "Washout" means the carrying away of solid
				waste by waters of the base flood.
(e) Wetlands. A solid waste handling facility
				shall not be located in wetlands, as defined by the U.S. Corps. of Engineers,
				unless evidence is provided to the Director, by the applicant, that use of such
				wetlands has been permitted or otherwise authorized under all other applicable
				state and federal laws and rules. The owner or operator must place a
				demonstration of compliance in the operating record and notify the Directory
				that it has been placed in the operating record.
(f) Fault Areas.
1. New landfill units and lateral expansions
				of existing landfills shall not be located within 200 feet (60 meters) of a
				fault that has had displacement in Holocene time unless the owner or operator
				demonstrates to the Director that an alternative setback distance of less than
				200 feet (60 meters) will prevent damage to the structural integrity of the
				landfill unit and will be protective of human health and the
				environment.
2. For the purposes of
				this section.
a. "Fault" means a fracture or a
				zone of fractures in any material a long which strata on one side have been
				displaced with respect to that on the other side.
b. "Displacement" means the relative movement
				of any two sides of a fault measured in any direction.
c. "Holocene" means the most recent epoch of
				the Quaternary period, extending from the end of the Pleistocene Epoch to the
				present.
(g)
				Seismic Impact Zones.
1. New landfill units
				and lateral expansions shall not be located in seismic impact zones, unless the
				owner or operator demonstrates to the Director that all containment structures,
				including liners, leachate collection systems, and surface water control
				systems, are designed to resist the maximum horizontal acceleration in
				lithified earth material for the site. The owner or operator must place the
				demonstration in the operating record and notify the Director that it has been
				placed in the operating record.
2.
				For the purposes of this section:
a. Seismic
				impact zone means an area with a ten percent or greater probability that the
				maximum horizontal acceleration in lithified earth material, expressed as a
				percentage of the earth's gravitational pull will exceed 0.10g in 250
				years.
b. Maximum horizontal
				acceleration in lithified earth material means the maximum expected horizontal
				acceleration depicted on a seismic hazard map, with a 90 percent or greater
				probability that the acceleration will not be exceeded in 250 years, or the
				maximum expected horizontal acceleration based on a site -specific seismic risk
				assessment.
c. Lithified earth
				material means all rock, including all naturally occurring and naturally formed
				aggregates or masses of minerals or small particles of older rock that formed
				by crystallization of magma or by induration of loose sediments. This term does
				not include man-made materials, such as fill
,
concrete, and
				asphalt, or unconsolidated earth materials, soil, or regolith lying at or near
				the earth surface.
(h) Unstable areas.
1. Owners or operators of new landfill units,
				existing landfill units, and lateral expansions located in an unstable area
				must demonstrate that engineering measures have been incorporated into the
				landfill unit's design to ensure that the integrity of the structural
				components of the landfill unit will not be disrupted. The owner or operator
				must place the demonstration in the operating record and notify the Director
				that it has been placed in the operating record. The owner or operator must
				consider the following factors, at a minimum, when determining whether an area
				is unstable:
a. On-site or local soil
				conditions that may result in significant differential settling;
b. On-site or local geologic or
				geomorphologic features; and
c.
				On-site or local human-made features or events (both surface and
				subsurface).
2. For the
				purposes of this section:
a. "Unstable area"
				means a location that is susceptible to natural or human-induced events or
				forces capable of impairing the integrity of some or all of the landfill
				structural components responsible for preventing releases from a landfill.
				Unstable areas can include poor foundation conditions, areas susceptible to
				mass movements, and karst terrains.
b. "Structural components" means liners,
				leachate collection systems, final covers, run- on/run- off systems, and any
				other component used in the construction and operation of the landfill that is
				necessary for protection of human health and the environment.
c. "Poor foundation conditions" means those
				areas where features exist which indicate that a natural or man-induced event
				may result in inadequate foundation support for the structural components of a
				landfill unit.
d. "Areas
				susceptible to mass movement" mean those areas of influence (i.e., areas
				characterized as having an active or substantial possibility of mass movement)
				where the movement of earth material at, beneath, or adjacent to the landfill
				unit, because of natural or man-induced events, results in the downslope
				transport of soil and rock material by means of gravitational influence. Areas
				of mass movement include, but are not limited to, landslides, avalanches,
				debris slides and flows, soil fluction, block sliding, and rock fall.
e. "Karst terrains" means areas where karst
				topography, with its characteristic surface and subterranean features, is
				developed as the result of dissolution of limestone, dolomite, or other soluble
				rock. Characteristic physiographic features present in karst terrains include,
				but are not limited to, sinkholes, sinking streams, caves, large springs, and
				blind valleys.
(i) Significant Groundwater Recharge Areas. A
				new municipal solid waste landfill or lateral expansion of an existing
				municipal solid waste landfill shall not have any part of such site located
				within two miles of any area that has been designated by the Director as a
				significant groundwater recharge area unless such municipal solid waste
				landfill will have a liner and leachate collection system. In the case of a
				regional landfill which accepts solid waste generated outside the counties or
				special districts constituting the region or a municipal solid waste landfill
				which accepts solid waste generated outside the county in which the landfill is
				located, no part of such site shall be within any area that has been designated
				as a significant groundwater recharge area.
(j) Hydrogeological Assessment. A
				hydrogeological site investigation shall be conducted with the following
				factors, as a minimum, evaluated:
1. Distance
				to nearest point of public or private drinking water supply: all public water
				supply wells or surface water intakes within two miles and private (domestic)
				water supply wells within one-half mile of a landfill must be
				identified;
2. Depth to the upper
				most aquifer: for landfills, the thickness and nature of the unsaturated zone
				and its ability for natural contamination control must be evaluated;
3. Uppermost aquifer gradient: for landfills,
				the direction and rate of flow of groundwater shall be determined in order to
				properly evaluate the potential for contamination at a specific site.
				Measurements of water levels in site exploratory borings and the preparation of
				water table maps are required. Borings to water are required to estimate the
				configuration and gradient of the uppermost aquifer;
4. Topographic setting: features which shall
				be provided include, but are not limited to, all upstream and downstream
				drainage areas affecting or affected by the proposed site, floodplains,
				gullies, karst conditions, wetlands, unstable soils and percent
				slope;
5. Geologic setting: for
				landfills, the depth to bedrock, the type of bedrock and the amount of
				fracturing and jointing in the bedrock shall be determined. In limestone or
				dolostone regions, karst terrain shall not be used for waste disposal. This
				consideration does not preclude the siting of landfills in limestone terrains,
				but rather is intended to prevent landfills from being sited in or adjacent to
				sink-holes, provided, however, that the demonstration required by subparagraph
				(h) has been made.
6. Hydraulic
				conductivity: evaluation of landfill sites shall take into consideration the
				hydraulic conductivity of the surface material in which the wastes are to be
				buried, as well as the hydraulic conductivity of the subsurface materials
				underlying the fill;
7. Sorption
				and attenuation capacity: for landfills, the sorptive characteristics of an
				earth material and its ability to absorb contaminants shall be determined;
				and
8. Distance to surface water:
				municipal solid waste landfills shall not be situated within two miles
				upgradient of any surface water intake for a public drinking water source
				unless engineering modifications such as liners and leachate collection systems
				and ground-water monitoring systems are provided.
(k) New MSWLF units shall not be located
				within two miles of a federally restricted military air space which is used for
				a bombing range unless the MSWLF was permitted and operational on July 1,
				1997.