Iowa Administrative Code › Agency 567 - Environmental Protection Commission › Title IV - Wastewater Treatment and Disposal › Chapter 69 - Private Sewage Disposal Systems › Rule 567-69.1 - General

Current through Register Vol. 47, No. 3, July 24, 2024
(1)
Applicability.
These rules are applicable only to private
				sewage disposal systems.
(2)
Definitions.
"Administrative authority"
means the
				  department and the local board of health as authorized by Iowa Code section
				  455B.172 and Iowa Code chapter 137.
"Aerobic treatment unit"
means a disposal
				  system employing bacterial action which is maintained by the utilization of air
				  or oxygen and includes the aeration plant and equipment and the method of final
				  effluent disposal.
"Approved"
means accepted or acceptable
				  under an applicable specification stated or cited in these rules or accepted by
				  the administrative authority as suitable for the proposed use.
"Area drain"
means a drain installed to
				  collect surface or storm water from an open area of a building or
				  property.
"Building drain"
means that part of the
				  lowest horizontal piping of a drainage system which receives the discharge from
				  soil, waste, and other drainage pipes inside the walls of any building and
				  conveys the same to the building sewer.
"Building sewer"
means that part of the
				  horizontal piping from the building wall to its connection with the main sewer
				  or the primary treatment portion of a private sewage disposal system conveying
				  the drainage of a building site.
"Chamber system"
means a buried structure,
				  typically with a domed or arched top, providing at least a 6-inch height of
				  sidewall soil exposure below the invert of the inlet and creating a covered
				  open space above a buried soil infiltrative surface.
"Conventional,"
when used in reference to
				  sewage treatment, means a soil absorption system involving a series of 2- to
				  3-foot-wide trenches filled with gravel 1 foot deep, containing a
				  4-inch-diameter rigid pipe or other alternative trench technologies to convey
				  the sewage effluent.
"Distribution box"
means a structure
				  designed to accomplish the equal distribution of wastewater to two or more soil
				  absorption trenches.
"Domestic sewage"
or
"domestic
				  wastewater"
means the water-carried waste products from residences,
				  public buildings, institutions, or other buildings, including bodily discharges
				  from human beings together with groundwater infiltration and surface water as
				  may be present.
"Drip irrigation"
means a form of subsurface
				  soil absorption using shallow pressure distribution with low-pressure drip
				  emitters.
"Drop box"
means a structure used to divert
				  wastewater flow into a soil absorption trench. When the trench is filled to a
				  set level, the drop box then allows any additional wastewater not absorbed by
				  that trench to flow to the next drop box or soil absorption trench.
"Dwelling"
means any house or place used or
				  intended to be used by humans as a place of residence.
"Expanded polystyrene (EPS) aggregate
				  systems"
means cylinders comprised of expanded polystyrene (EPS)
				  synthetic aggregate contained in high-strength polyethylene netting. The
				  cylinders are 12 inches in diameter and are produced both with and without a
				  distribution pipe. Cylinders may be configured in a trench, bed, at-grade and
				  mound applications to obtain the desired width, height and length. Cylinders
				  containing a distribution pipe shall be connected end-to-end with an internal
				  coupling device.
"Fill soil"
means clean soil, free of debris
				  or large organic material, which has been mechanically moved onto a site and
				  has been in place for less than one year.
"Foundation drain"
means that portion of a
				  building drainage system which is provided to drain groundwater, not including
				  any wastewater, from the outside of the foundation or over or under the
				  basement floor and which is not connected to the building drain.
"Free access filter"
means an intermittent
				  sand filter constructed within the natural soil or above the ground surface,
				  with access to the distributor pipes and top of the filter media for
				  maintenance and media replacement.
"Gravel"
means stone screened from river
				  sand or quarried and washed free of clay and clay coatings. Concrete aggregate
				  designated as Class II by the department of transportation is
				  acceptable.
"Gravelless pipe system"
means a soil
				  absorption system comprised of 10-inch-diameter corrugated plastic pipe,
				  perforated with holes on a 120-degree arc centered on the bottom, wrapped in a
				  sheath of geotextile filter wrap, and installed level in a trench without
				  gravel bedding or cover.
"Grease interceptor"
means a watertight
				  device designed to intercept and retain or remove grease and fatty substances.
				  The device may be located inside (grease separator) or outside (grease tank or
				  grease trap) a facility.
"Intermittent sand filter"
means a bed of
				  granular materials 24 to 36 inches deep underlain by graded gravel and
				  collecting tile. Wastewater is applied intermittently to the surface of the bed
				  through distribution pipes, and the bed is underdrained to collect and
				  discharge the final effluent. Uniform distribution is normally obtained by
				  dosing so as to utilize the entire surface of the bed. Filters may be designed
				  to provide free access (open filters) or may be buried in the ground (buried
				  filters or subsurface sand filters).
"Lake"
means a natural or man-made
				  impoundment of water with more than one acre of water surface area at the high
				  water level.
"Limiting layer"
means bedrock, seasonally
				  high groundwater level, or any layer of soil with a stabilized percolation rate
				  exceeding 60 minutes for the water to fall one inch.
"Mound system"
means an aboveground soil
				  absorption system used to disperse effluent from septic tanks in cases in which
				  a seasonally high water table, high bedrock conditions, slowly permeable soils,
				  or limited land areas prevent conventional subsurface soil absorption
				  systems.
"Packed bed media filter"
means a watertight
				  structure filled with uniformly sized media that is normally placed over an
				  underdrain system. The wastewater is dosed onto the surface of the media
				  through a distribution network and is allowed to percolate through the media to
				  the underdrain system. The underdrain collects the filtrate and discharges the
				  final effluent.
"Percolation test"
means a falling water
				  level procedure used to determine the ability of soils to absorb primary
				  treated wastewater. (See Appendix B.)
"Pond"
means a natural or man-made
				  impoundment of water with a water surface area of one acre or less at the high
				  water level.
"Pretreated effluent"
means septic tank
				  effluent treated through aeration or other methods that, upon laboratory
				  analysis, meets or exceeds a monthly average for biochemical oxygen demand
				  (BOD) of 30 mg/L and total suspended solids (TSS) of 30 mg/L.
"Primary treatment unit"
means a unit or
				  system used to separate the floating and settleable solids from the wastewater
				  before the partially treated effluent is discharged for secondary
				  treatment.
"Private sewage disposal system"
means a
				  system which provides for the treatment or disposal of domestic sewage from
				  four or fewer dwelling units or the equivalent of less than 16 individuals on a
				  continuing basis, including domestic waste, whether residential or
				  nonresidential, but not including industrial waste of any flow rate except as
				  provided for in
				  567-6811.
				  (455B). "Private sewage disposal system" includes, but is not limited to,
				  septic tanks, holding tanks for waste, chemical toilets, impervious vault
				  toilets and portable toilets.
"Professional soil analysis"
means an
				  alternative to the percolation test which depends upon a knowledgeable person
				  evaluating the soil characteristics, such as color, texture, and structure, in
				  order to determine an equivalent percolation or loading rate. A person
				  performing a professional soil analysis shall demonstrate training and
				  experience in soil morphology, such as testing absorption qualities of soil by
				  the physical examination of the soil's color, mottling, texture, structure,
				  topography, and hillslope position.
"Qualified sampler,"
for the purposes of
				  collecting compliance effluent samples required under NPDES General Permit No.
				  4, means one of the following persons: a city or county environmental health
				  staff person; an Iowa-certified wastewater treatment operator; or an individual
				  who has received training approved by the department to conduct effluent
				  sampling.
"Roof drain"
means a drain installed to
				  receive water collecting on the surface of a roof and discharging into an area
				  or storm drain system.
"Secondary treatment system"
means a system
				  which provides biological treatment of the effluent from septic tanks or other
				  primary treatment units to meet minimum effluent standards as required in these
				  rules and NPDES General Permit No. 4. Examples include soil absorption systems,
				  media filters, aerobic treatment units, or other systems providing equivalent
				  treatment.
"Septage"
means the liquid and solid
				  material pumped from a septic tank, cesspool, or similar domestic sewage
				  treatment system, or from a holding tank, when the system is cleaned or
				  maintained.
"Septic tank"
means a watertight structure
				  into which wastewater is discharged for solids separation and digestion
				  (referred to as part of the closed portion of the treatment system).
"Sewage sludge"
means any solid, semisolid,
				  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 pumpings, Type III marine device pumpings as defined
				  in 33 CFR Part 159, and sewage sludge products. "Sewage sludge" does not
				  include grit, screenings, or ash generated during the incineration of sewage
				  sludge.
"Stream"
means any watercourse listed as a
				  "designated use segment" in rule 567-61.3(455B) which includes any watercourse
				  that maintains flow throughout the year or contains sufficient pooled areas
				  during intermittent flow periods to maintain a viable aquatic community.
"Subsurface sand filter"
means a system in
				  which the effluent from the primary treatment unit is discharged into
				  perforated pipes, filtered through a layer of sand, and collected by lower
				  perforated pipes for discharge to the surface or to a subsurface soil
				  absorption system. A subsurface sand filter is an intermittent sand filter that
				  is placed within the ground and provided with a natural topsoil cover over the
				  crown of the distribution pipes.
"Subsurface soil absorption system"
means a
				  system of perforated conduits connected to a distribution system, forming a
				  series of subsurface, water-carrying channels into which the primary treated
				  effluent is discharged for direct absorption into the soil (referred to as part
				  of the open portion of the treatment system).
(3)
General regulations.
a.
Connections to approved sewer
				system.
(1) No private sewage
				disposal system shall be installed, repaired, or rehabilitated where a publicly
				owned treatment works (POTW) is available or where a local ordinance requires
				connection to a POTW. The POTW may be considered as unavailable when such POTW,
				or any building or any exterior drainage facility connected thereto, is located
				more than 200 feet from any proposed building or exterior drainage facility on
				any lot or premises which abuts and is served by such POTW. Final determination
				of availability shall be made by the administrative authority.
(2) When a POTW becomes available within 200
				feet, any building then served by a private sewage disposal system shall be
				connected to said POTW within a time frame or under conditions set by the
				administrative authority.
(3) When
				a POTW is not available, every building wherein persons reside, congregate, or
				are employed shall be provided with an approved private sewage disposal
				system.
(4) If a building is to be
				connected to an existing private sewage disposal system, that existing system
				shall meet the standards of these rules and be appropriately sized.