Alabama Administrative Code › Title 335 - ALABAMA DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT › WATER DIVISION - WATER QUALITY PROGRAM › Chapter 335-6-6 - NATIONAL POLLUTANT DISCHARGE ELIMINATION SYSTEM › Section 335-6-6-.08 - Application Format And Procedures For New Permits And For Permit Reissuance

Current through Register Vol. 42, No. 9, June 28, 2024
(1) Applications
				shall be made using forms designated by the Director, and shall consist of the
				following:
(a) Information required under 40
				CFR Part 122 Subpart B (2019) and 40 CFR 125 [2005] where applicable to the
				particular discharges;
(b) Trade
				name and chemical composition of all biocides and corrosion inhibitors
				used;
(c) Type of business entity,
				whether corporation, general or limited partnership, sole proprietorship or
				other;
(d) If applicable, name of
				applicant's parent corporation or subsidiary corporations;
(e) If a corporation, location of
				incorporation;
(f) A listing of
				corporate officers and their names and addresses; and the name and address of
				the agent designated by the corporation for purposes of service. If a
				partnership, the names and addresses of the general partners and, if a
				proprietorship, the name and address of the proprietor;
(g) Permit numbers for applicant's previously
				issued NPDES permits and identification of any other state environmental
				permits presently held by the applicant or its parent corporation or subsidiary
				corporations within the state;
(h)
				Identification of administrative complaints, notices of violation, directives,
				or administrative orders, or litigation concerning water pollution, if any,
				against the applicant, its parent-corporation or subsidiary corporations within
				the state;
(i) if the discharge is
				to be from a new processing facility or new waste treatment facility, the
				Department may require the submittal of a preliminary engineering report and/or
				preliminary plans and specifications prior to permitting or the Department may
				elect to require one or more of these documents prior to discharge or the
				Department may waive the requirement for one or all of these documents. This
				requirement applies whether or not an existing facility is present at the same
				location which may possess an NPDES permit, but does not apply to mining
				operations regulated pursuant to the Alabama Surface Mining Control and
				Reclamation Act of 1981; and
(j) A
				best management practices (BMP) plan if required by the Director prior to
				permitting. BMP plans shall be developed in accordance with good engineering
				practices and may be required to:
1. Be
				documented in narrative form and shall include any necessary plot plans,
				drawings or maps;
2. Examine each
				facility component or system with respect to its potential for causing a
				release of significant amounts of pollutants into waters due to equipment
				failure, improper operation, natural phenomena such as rain, freezing
				temperatures, etc.;
3. Include a
				prediction of the direction, rate of flow and total quantity of pollutants
				which could be discharged from the facility as a result of equipment failure,
				natural phenomena or other circumstances;
4. Establish best management practices
				addressing each system capable of causing a release of significant amounts of
				pollutants into waters of the state;
5. Reflect applicable requirements for Spill
				Prevention Control and Countermeasure (SPCC) plans under Section 311 of the
				FWPCA and 40 CFR Part 112 (1994), and may incorporate such plans into the BMP
				plan by reference;
6. Assure the
				proper management of solid and hazardous waste;
7. Address the following points for materials
				storage areas, process and material handling areas, loading and unloading
				areas, plant site runoff, and sludge and waste disposal areas: statement of
				policy, employee training, inspections, preventative maintenance, and
				housekeeping; and
8. Provide
				impervious liners, dikes, or other structures sufficient to prevent the
				discharge of a pollutant to groundwater.
(k) the Department may require that an
				application for an NPDES permit provide additional reports, specifications,
				plans, quantitative data, bioassays, stream models, or other information
				reasonably required to assess the discharges of the facility and the potential
				water quality impact of the discharges and to determine whether to issue an
				NPDES permit; and
1. Applicable fees as
				required by chapter 335-1-6.
2.
				Signatory requirements for permit applications shall comply with the
				requirements of Rule
				335-6-6-.09.
3. Applicants shall keep records of all data
				used to complete permit applications and any supplemental information submitted
				under this chapter for a period of at least three years from the date the
				application is signed or if the applicant is involved in litigation with the
				Department until such time that the litigation is resolved.
4. Any application which is incomplete or
				otherwise deficient shall not be processed until such time as the applicant has
				supplied the missing information or otherwise corrected the deficiency and
				shall not constitute compliance with Rule
				335-6-6-.12 or Rule
				335-6-6-.06, except that
				information requested under the authority of subparagraph
				335-6-6-.08(1)(k)
				above after submittal of the initial application shall not render the initial
				application incomplete unless such information was requested at least 180 days
				prior to the expiration of an existing permit.
5. Permit applications shall be submitted by
				the operator of the wastewater treatment and disposal system or, in instances
				where wastewater is discharged without treatment, by the operator of the
				process or facility generating the wastewater. Permit applications for storm
				water discharge permits from municipalities and other governmental agencies
				shall be submitted by the person owning or having control over the storm sewer
				system.
6. Permit applications
				submitted for publicly owned treatment works, that have design effluent flows
				equal to or greater than one million gallons per day or that receive a
				discharge from a significant industrial discharger, shall include the results
				of a valid whole effluent biological toxicity test, performed within the twelve
				month period immediately preceding the application submittal date.
7. The permit writer shall determine if a
				permit application is complete as defined by this rule and if all the
				information necessary for determining permit conditions has been submitted. If
				additional information is required, the permit writer shall request the
				information from the applicant in writing and failure to respond by the
				applicant shall be grounds for denial of the permit application.
8. Applications for new sources, new
				dischargers, permit reissuance and for permit modifications (except as in
				subparagraph
				335-6-6-.08(k)9.)
				shall be submitted at least 180 days prior to the applicant's desired date for
				commencement of the new discharge and for permit reissuance at least 180 days
				prior to expiration of the current permit.
9. Applications for individual NPDES permits
				for storm water discharge shall contain the information required by 40 CFR 122
				(2000) and shall be submitted in accordance with the requirements of 40 CFR 122
				(2000).
(l) Except as
				specified in subparagraph
				335-6-6-.08(1)(1)2.
				or 3., quantitative data provided in a permit application shall be collected in
				accordance with sufficiently sensitive analytical methods approved under 40 CFR
				Part 136 or required under 40 CFR chapter I, subchapter N.
1. For the purposes of this requirement, a
				method approved under 40 CFR Part 136 or required under 40 CFR chapter I,
				subchapter N is "sufficiently sensitive" when:
(i) The method minimum level (ML) is at or
				below the level of the applicable water quality criterion for the measured
				pollutant or pollutant parameter; or
(ii) The method minimum ML is above the
				applicable water quality criterion, but the amount of the pollutant or
				pollutant parameter in a facility's discharge is high enough that the method
				detects and quantifies the level of the pollutant or pollutant parameter in the
				discharge; or
(iii) The method has
				the lowest ML of the analytical methods approved under 40 CFR Part 136 or
				required under 40 CFR chapter I, subchapter N for the measured pollutant or
				pollutant parameter.
2.
				When there is no analytical method that has been approved under 40 CFR Part
				136, required under 40 CFR chapter I, subchapter N or 0, and is not otherwise
				required by the Director, the applicant may use any suitable method but shall
				provide a description of the method. When selecting a suitable method, other
				factors such as a method's precision, accuracy, or resolution may be considered
				when assessing the performance of the method.
3. Consistent with 40 CFR Part 136,
				applicants have the option of providing matrix or sample specific minimum
				levels rather than the published levels. Further, where an applicant can
				demonstrate that, despite a good faith effort to use a method that would
				otherwise meet the definition of "sufficiently sensitive", the analytical
				results are not consistent with the QA/QC specifications for that method, then
				the Director may determine that the method is not performing adequately, and
				the applicant shall select a different method from the remaining EPA-approved
				methods that is sufficiently sensitive consistent with subparagraph
				335-6-6-.08(1)(1)1.
				Where no other EPA-approved methods exist, the applicant should select a method
				consistent with subparagraph
				335-6-6-.08(1)
				(1)2.