Mississippi Administrative Code › Title 11 - Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality › Part 6 - Wastewater Pollution Control Regulations › Chapter 4 - Mississippi Commission on Environmental Quality State Revolving Fund Loan Program Regulations (Effective for Projects Funded Prior to 10/1/2000) › Rule 11-6-4.1 - Introductory Provisions

Current through June 25, 2024
A. Scope of
				Regulations. These regulations, adopted pursuant to Section
				49-17-61,
				Mississippi Code of 1972, as amended, shall govern the Mississippi Water
				Pollution Control Revolving Fund Program. These regulations may be superceded
				by the SRF loan agreement when approved by the Department staff and when not in
				conflict with any state or federal law or executive order.
B. Effective Date of Regulations. These
				regulations are effective December 1, 1999. These regulations shall also apply
				to loan agreements executed prior to this date unless the loan recipient
				requests that the previously effective regulations apply.
C. Definitions. The following words and
				terms, when used in this regulation, shall have the following meanings, unless
				the context clearly indicates otherwise:
(1)
				Act - The Federal Water Pollution Control Act, as amended,
				33 USC
				1251, et seq., including any future
				amendments.
(2) Alternative
				Technology - Proven wastewater treatment processes and techniques which provide
				for the reclaiming and reuse of water, productively recycle wastewater
				constituents or otherwise eliminate the discharge of pollutants, or recover
				energy. Specifically, alternative technology includes land application of
				effluent and sludge; aquifer recharge; aquaculture; direct reuse (non-potable);
				horticulture; revegetation of disturbed land; containment ponds; sludge
				composting and drying prior to land application; self-sustaining incineration;
				methane recovery; individual and onsite systems; and small diameter pressure
				and vacuum sewers and small diameter gravity sewers carrying partially or fully
				treated wastewater.
(3) Authorized
				Representative - The signatory agent of the applicant authorized and directed
				by the applicant's governing body to make application for assistance and to
				sign documents required to undertake and complete the project, on behalf of the
				applicant. The signatory agent must be a member of, or an employee of, the
				applicant's governing body, and may not be under a separate contract with the
				applicant at any time during the execution of the project.
(4) Best Practicable Waste Treatment
				Technologies - The cost-effective technology that can treat wastewater,
				combined sewer overflows and nonexcessive infiltration and inflow in publicly
				owned or individual wastewater treatment works to meet the applicable
				provisions of federal and state effluent limitations, groundwater protection,
				or other applicable standards.
(5)
				Binding Commitment - A legal obligation, enforceable under State law,
				specifying the terms and schedules under which assistance is
				provided.
(6) Building - The
				erection, acquisition, alteration, remodeling, improvement or extension of
				treatment works.
(7) Capitalization
				Grant - Federal grant assistance awarded to the State for the establishment of
				the State Water Pollution Control Revolving Fund.
(8) Change Order - The documents issued by
				the loan recipient, upon recommendation of the consulting engineer, authorizing
				a change, alteration, or variance in previously approved engineering plans,
				specifications, and contract documents, including but not limited to, additions
				or deletions of work to be performed pursuant to the contract or a change in
				costs or time for work performed pursuant to the contract.
(9) Collector Sewer - The common lateral
				sewers, within a publicly owned treatment system, which are primarily installed
				to receive wastewaters directly from facilities which convey wastewater from
				individual systems, or from private property.
(10) Commission - The Mississippi Commission
				on Environmental Quality or its successors.
(11) Construction - Any one or more of the
				following: erection, building, acquisition, alteration, remodeling, improvement
				or extension of treatment works.
(12) Construction Fund - A dedicated source
				of funds, created and maintained by the applicant in a separate account at an
				official depository, or a designated depository approved by the Department
				staff, used solely for the purposes of construction and other allowable costs
				of a project funded by the Commission.
(13) Consulting Engineer - The engineer or
				engineering firm retained by the loan recipient to provide professional
				engineering services during the planning, design, and/or construction of a
				project.
(14) Cost-Effectiveness
				Analysis - An analysis performed to determine which waste treatment management
				system or component part will result in the minimum total monetary (resources)
				costs over time, without overriding nonmonetary considerations, to meet
				federal, state, and local requirements and objectives.
(15) Department - The Mississippi Department
				of Environmental Quality and staff.
(16) Effluent Limitation - Any restriction
				established by the Department or the EPA administrator on quantities, rates,
				and concentrations of chemical, physical, biological and other constituents
				which are discharged from a point source into waters of the State.
(17) Eligible Applicant - A public waste
				treatment or collection management agency or any city, town, county, district,
				or other public body created by or pursuant to state law which has authority to
				dispose of domestic wastewater, industrial wastewater, wastewater sludges
				resulting from the treatment of such wastewater, stormwater, or nonpoint
				sources of pollution, has the authority under State and Federal law to receive
				SRF loan assistance, and has the ability to comply with this regulation and the
				requirements of the SRF loan agreement.
(18) Enforceable Requirements of the Act -
				Those conditions and limitations of permits issued pursuant to the Act,
				Sections 402 and 404, which, if violated, could result in issuance of a
				compliance order or initiation of a civil or criminal action under the Act,
				Section 309. Where a permit has not been issued, but issuance is anticipated,
				the term means any requirement which will be in the permit when
				issued.
(19) Environmental
				Determination - A finding by the Department regarding the potential
				environmental impacts of a proposed project and describing what mitigative
				measures, if any, the applicant will be required to implement as a condition of
				financial assistance.
(20)
				Environmental Information Document - A written analysis prepared by the
				applicant describing the potential environmental impacts of a proposed project,
				sufficient in scope to enable the Department staff to make an environmental
				assessment to allow an environmental determination to be made by the
				Department.
(21) Environmental
				Review - The process whereby an evaluation is undertaken by the Department,
				consistent with the National Environmental Policy Act and other federal, state,
				and local laws and requirements, to determine whether a proposed project may
				have significant impacts on the environment.
(22) EPA - The Environmental Protection
				Agency.
(23) EPA Administrator -
				The chief officer of the Environmental Protection Agency appointed by the
				President of the United States.
(24) Estuary Management Plan - A plan for the
				conservation and management of an estuary of national significance as described
				in Section 320 of the Act.
(25)
				Executive Director - The executive director of the Mississippi Department of
				Environmental Quality, or his designee.
(26) Facilities Planning - Those necessary
				plans and studies which directly relate to treatment works needed to comply
				with enforceable requirements of the Act and other eligible treatment works,
				and which consist of a systematic evaluation of alternatives that are feasible
				in light of the unique demographic, topographic, hydrologic and institutional
				characteristics of the area and will demonstrate the selected alternative is
				cost-effective, practical to implement and environmentally sound.
(27) Financial Assistance - Loans by the
				Commission from the Water Pollution Control Revolving Fund.
(28) Fund - The State Water Pollution Control
				Revolving Fund, created pursuant to Section
				49-17-61,
				Mississippi Code of 1972, as amended.
(29) Infiltration - Water other than
				wastewater that enters a sewer system (including sewer service connections and
				foundation drains) from the ground through such means as defective pipes, pipe
				joints, connections, or manholes. Infiltration does not include, and is
				distinguished from, inflow.
(30)
				Inflow - Water other than wastewater that enters a sewer system (including
				sewer service connections) as a result of rainfall or rainfall induced soil
				moisture from sources such as, but not limited to, roof leaders, cellar drains,
				yard drains, area drains, drains from springs and swampy areas, manhole covers,
				cross connections between storm sewers and sanitary sewers, catch basins,
				cooling towers, storm waters, surface runoff, street wash waters or drainage.
				Inflow does not include, and is distinguished from, infiltration.
(31) Innovative Technology - Developed
				wastewater treatment processes and techniques which have not been fully proven
				under the circumstances of their contemplated use and which represent a
				significant advancement over the state of the art in terms of significant
				reduction in life cycle cost or significant environmental benefits through the
				reclaiming and reuse of water, otherwise eliminating the discharge of
				pollutants, utilizing recycling techniques such as land treatment, more
				efficient use of energy and resources, improved or new methods of waste
				treatment management for combined municipal and industrial systems, or the
				confined disposal of pollutants so that they will not migrate to cause water or
				other environmental pollution.
(32)
				Intended Use Plan - A plan identifying the intended uses of the amount of funds
				available in the SRF for each fiscal year as described in Section 606(c) of the
				Act.
(33) Interceptor Sewer - A
				sewer which is designed for one or more of the following purposes:
(a) To intercept wastewater from a final
				point in an existing or proposed collector sewer and convey such wastes
				directly to a treatment facility or another interceptor or pump
				station.
(b) To replace an existing
				wastewater treatment facility and transport the wastes to an adjoining
				collector sewer or interceptor sewer for conveyance to a treatment
				plant.
(c) To transport wastewater
				from one or more municipal collector sewers to another municipality or to a
				regional facility for treatment.
(d) To intercept an existing discharge of raw
				or inadequately treated wastewater for transport directly to another
				interceptor, pump station or to a treatment plant.
(34) Nonpoint Source Pollution Plan - A plan
				for managing nonpoint source pollution as described in Section 319 of the
				Act.
(35) Permit, Waste Discharge
				Permit - The authority granted by the Mississippi Environmental Quality Permit
				Board to discharge treated wastewater into or adjacent to waters of the
				state.
(36) Plans, Specifications
				and Contract Documents - The engineering description of the project including
				engineering drawings, maps, technical specifications, design reports and
				construction contract documents in sufficient detail as required by the
				Department staff, to allow contractors to bid on and construct the
				work.
(37) Point Source - Any
				discernible, confined and discrete conveyance, including but not limited to any
				pipe, ditch, channel, tunnel, conduit, well, discrete fissure, container,
				rolling stock, concentrated animal feeding operation, or vessel or other
				floating craft, from which pollutants are or may be discharged. This term does
				not include agricultural stormwater discharges and return flows from irrigated
				agriculture.
(38) Priority List - A
				list of projects for which SRF assistance has been requested, and which
				displays projects that are both fundable during the current fiscal year and are
				planned for possible future funding, consistent with the current Priority
				System.
(39) Priority System - The
				method of ranking projects for which SRF funding assistance has been requested,
				in order of priorities established by the Commission.
(40) Project - The scope of work for which
				assistance is awarded under the SRF.
(41) Project Completion - The date of the
				final construction inspection as performed by the Department.
(42) Project Performance Standards - The
				performance and operational requirements applicable to a project including, but
				not limited to, the enforceable requirements of the Act and the specifications,
				which the project is planned to meet.
(43) Refinancing - To provide SRF assistance
				for a project or project portion where the debt obligation was incurred and
				construction began prior to the date of the SRF loan award.
(44) Regional Facility - Wastewater
				collection and treatment facilities, which incorporate multiple service areas
				into an area wide service facility, thereby reducing the number of required
				facilities, or any system which serves an area that is other than a single
				county, city, special district, or other political subdivision of the state,
				the specified size of which is determined by any one or combination of
				population, number of governmental entities served, and/or service
				capacity.
(45) Service Line - A
				conduit intended to carry wastewater, together with minor quantities of
				infiltration and inflow that are not admitted intentionally, from residences,
				public buildings and businesses to a collector sewer.
(46) State Allotment - The sum allocated to
				the State of Mississippi for a federal fiscal year, from funds appropriated by
				Congress pursuant to the Act.
(47)
				SRF - The State Revolving Fund.
(48) Treatment Works - Any devices and
				systems which are used in the storage, treatment, recycling, and reclamation of
				waste or which are necessary to recycle or reuse water at the most economical
				cost over the estimated life of the works, including intercepting sewers,
				outfall sewers, sewage collection systems, pumping, power, and other equipment
				and their appurtenances; extensions, improvements, remodeling, additions, and
				alterations thereof; elements essential to provide a reliable recycled supply
				such as standby treatment units and clear well facilities; and any works,
				including site acquisition of the land that will be an integral part of, or
				used in connection with, the treatment process (including land used for the
				storage of treated water in land treatment systems prior to land application)
				or is used for ultimate disposal of residues resulting from such treatment; and
				any plant, disposal field, lagoon, canal, incinerator or other facilities
				installed for the purpose of treating, neutralizing or stabilizing wastewater
				or nonpoint source pollution or facilities to provide for the collection,
				control and disposal of wastewater or nonpoint source pollution.
(49) Value Engineering - A specialized cost
				control technique which uses a systematic and creative approach to identify and
				focus on unnecessarily high cost in a project in order to arrive at a cost
				saving without sacrificing the purpose, reliability or efficiency of the
				project.
(50) Water Quality
				Management Plan - A plan prepared and updated annually by the State and
				approved by the Environmental Protection Agency which determines the nature,
				extent, and cause of water quality problems in various areas of the State and
				identifies cost-effective and locally acceptable facility and nonpoint measures
				to meet and maintain water quality standards.