Mississippi Administrative Code › Title 11 - Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality › Part 6 - Wastewater Pollution Control Regulations › Chapter 1 - Mississippi Commission on Environmental Quality National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) Permits, Underground Injection Control (UIC) Permits, State Permits, Water Quality Based Effluent Limitations and Water Quality Certification › Subchapter 1 - Wastewater Permit Regulations › Rule 11-6-1.1.1 - General Requirements

Current through June 25, 2024
A. Definitions of
				  Terms
The applicable definitions set forth in 40 CFR 122, 123,
					 124, 125, 144, 146, 403 and 503 and all amendments and additions thereto are
					 incorporated herein and adopted by reference and shall be considered valid in
					 this regulation, unless a term is otherwise defined herein. In addition, the
					 following definitions are applicable.
(1) "Affected Discharger" is an existing
				  permitted wastewater discharger, or a proposed wastewater discharger, which has
				  either a pending permit application or a permit or is included in a State
				  Revolving Fund ("SRF") Facilities Plan.
(2) "Allowable Loading" or "available
				  assimilative capacity" is that portion of the loading capacity of a water body
				  that is available for allocating to a point source discharger(s) through
				  regulation by the Department. It is the difference between the loading capacity
				  and the total loading of pollutants from other sources, such as background,
				  nonpoint sources, and exempt sources.
(3) "Ambient water quality" means the
				  physical, chemical and biological characteristics of waters of the
				  State.
(4) "Applicant" means a
				  person applying to the Permit Board for an individual State permit, coverage
				  under a State general permit, UIC permit, individual NPDES permit or coverage
				  under an NPDES general permit to discharge wastes or other fluids into the
				  waters of the State, or to operate a treatment works.
(5) "Application" means either:
(a) The uniform NPDES or UIC application
				  form, current at the time application is made,
(b) A Notice of Intent form for coverage
				  under an NPDES general permit, or a State general permit, or
(c) A State permit application
				  form.
(6) "Approved
				  methods" means sampling and laboratory testing methods approved by the
				  Department, as specified in Rule 1.1.2 of these regulations.
(7) "Assimilative capacity" means the
				  capacity of a body of water or soil-plant system to receive wastewater effluent
				  or sludge without violating the provisions of the State of Mississippi Water
				  Quality Criteria for Intrastate, Interstate, and Coastal Waters and these
				  regulations.
(8) "Background" shall
				  mean the condition of waters in the absence of the activity or discharge under
				  consideration based on the best scientific information available to the
				  Department.
(9) "Bypass" is defined
				  in
				  40
				  CFR 122.41(m), as
				  amended.
(10) "Bulk storage" means
				  storage of petroleum products, materials and/or liquids with chronic or acute
				  potential for pollution impact on waters of the State at a facility with an
				  above ground storage capacity of more than 1320 gallons or any single container
				  with a capacity greater than 660 gallons.
(11) "Calibrated and/or verified models" are
				  models whose reaction rates and inputs are significantly based on actual
				  measurements using data from surveys on the receiving water body. Verified
				  models are calibrated to one set of field data and confirmed by comparison to
				  at least one additional set of field data taken under different physical
				  circumstances.
(12) "Certificate of
				  Coverage" A document issued by the Permit Board or its designee granting
				  coverage under an existing general permit.
(13) "Code" or "Miss. Code Ann." means the
				  Mississippi Code of 1972.
(14)
				  "Commission" means the Mississippi Commission on Environmental
				  Quality.
(15) "Daily discharge"
				  means the "discharge of a pollutant" measured during a calendar day or any
				  24-hour period that reasonably represents the calendar day for purposes of
				  sampling. For pollutants with limitations expressed in units of mass, the
				  "daily discharge" is calculated as the total mass of the pollutant discharged
				  over the day. For pollutants with limitations expressed in other units of
				  measurement, the "daily average" is calculated as the average measurement of
				  the discharge of the pollutant over the day.
(16) "Daily maximum" means the highest "daily
				  discharge" over a calendar month.
(17) "Department" means the Mississippi
				  Department of Environmental Quality.
(18) "Dystrophic waters" means receiving
				  water bodies whose natural background conditions do not meet one or more of the
				  State's water quality criteria.
(19) "Effluent standards and limitations"
				  means all State or Federal effluent standards and limitations on quantities,
				  rates, and concentrations of chemical, physical, biological and other
				  constituents to which a waste or wastewater discharge may be subject under the
				  Federal Act or the State law, including but not limited to, effluent
				  limitations, standards of performance, toxic effluent standards and
				  prohibitions, pretreatment standards and schedules of compliance.
(20) "Effluent channel" means a man-made
				  discernible confined and discrete conveyance which is used for transporting
				  treated wastewater to a receiving stream or other body of water; provided that
				  such channel has characteristics as follows:
(a) is contained entirely on property owned
				  (or controlled by easement) by the discharger (to be demonstrated by the
				  discharger),
(b) does not contain
				  natural waters except when such waters occur in direct response to rainfall
				  events by overland runoff, and
(c)
				  is so constructed or modified to minimize the migration of fish into said
				  channel.
Effluent channels shall be identified by the Commission and
					 designated on a case-by-case basis prior to permit issuance.
(21) "Effluent" unless otherwise
				  provided, means treated wastewater flowing out of the treatment
				  facilities.
(22) "Empirical model"
				  means a mathematical formulation whose various reaction rates and input
				  parameters are determined through empirical formulations based on literature
				  reviews. The simplest empirical model is a dilution model.
(23) "Ephemeral streams" normally are natural
				  watercourses, including natural watercourses that have been modified by
				  channelization or man-made drainage ditches, that, without the influence of
				  point source discharges, flow only in direct response to precipitation or
				  irrigation return water discharge in the immediate vicinity and whose channels
				  are normally above the groundwater table. These streams may contain a transient
				  population of aquatic life during the portion of the year when there is a
				  suitable habitat for fish survival. Normally, aquatic habitat in these streams
				  is not adequate to support a reproductive cycle for fish and other aquatic
				  life. Wetlands are excluded from this classification.
(24) "Estuary" means a semi-enclosed
				  naturally existing coastal body of water which has a free connection with the
				  open sea and within which the chloride concentration at the surface is equal to
				  or greater than 1,500 milligrams per liter.
(25) "Executive Director" means the Executive
				  Director of the Department of Environmental Quality.
(26) "Fact sheet" means a description of a
				  facility or activity, available to the public, prepared by the Commission staff
				  pursuant to the guidelines, which includes, but is not limited to, information
				  on the location of the discharge, rate or frequency of the discharge,
				  components of the discharge, proposed requirements of the Permit Board
				  regarding the discharge, the location and identification of uses of the
				  receiving waters, water quality standards and procedures for formulation of
				  final requirements on the discharge by the Permit Board.
(27) "Feasible alternatives" are those
				  alternatives that are available and capable of being carried out after taking
				  into consideration cost, existing technology, and logistics in light of overall
				  project purposes.
(28) "Federal
				  Act" means the Federal Clean Water Act, or the Safe Drinking Water Act,
				  whichever is applicable; and the applicable regulations promulgated under those
				  statutes.
(29) "Hazardous
				  Substances" are defined in
				  40 CFR
				  116.4, as amended.
(30) "Instream" means the resulting condition
				  in the water body after mixing with the wastewater(s) at the appropriate
				  critical flow/mixing condition.
(31) "Interference" The definition of
				  "interference" set forth in
				  40
				  CFR 403.3(i) is incorporated
				  herein and adopted by reference.
(32) "Load Allocation (LA)" means the portion
				  of a receiving water's loading capacity attributed to or assigned to nonpoint
				  sources (NPS) or background sources of a pollutant.
(33) "Loading capacity" Loading capacity and
				  Total Maximum Daily Load are equivalent terms.
(34) "Losing flow stream" is a stream which
				  is recharging groundwater.
(35)
				  "Mailing list" means a list of persons requesting notification and information
				  on public hearings, permits, and other matters and forms.
(36) "Major facility" means any NPDES
				  "facility or activity" classified as such by the Regional Administrator (or
				  his/her designee) in conjunction with the Executive Director.
(37) "Man-induced conditions which cannot be
				  controlled or abated" are conditions that have been influenced by human
				  activities, and have the characteristics as follows:
(a) would remain after removal of all point
				  sources,
(b) would remain after
				  imposition of best management practices for non-point sources, and
(c) cannot be restored or abated by physical
				  alteration of the water body; or there is no reasonable relationship between
				  the economic, social and environmental costs and the benefits of restoration or
				  physical alteration.
(38) "Management agency" means an area-wide
				  waste treatment management agency designated by the governor pursuant to
				  Section 208(a) of the Federal Clean Water Act.
(39) "Maximum Monthly Average" means the
				  highest "monthly average" over a monitoring period.
(40) "Maximum Weekly Average" means the
				  highest "weekly average" over a monitoring period.
(41) The "Method Detection Limit (MDL)" is
				  defined as the minimum concentration of a substance that can be measured and
				  reported with 99[CENT] confidence that the analyte concentration is greater
				  than zero and is determined from analysis of a sample in a given matrix
				  containing the analyte.
(42)
				  "Minimum Quantitation Level (MQL)" is the concentration in a sample that is
				  equivalent to the concentration of the lowest calibration standard analyzed by
				  a specific analytical procedure, assuming that all of the method-specified
				  calculations, sample weights, volumes, and processing steps have been followed,
				  and also allowing for matrix interference.
(43) "Mitigation" means the following (in
				  order of preference):
(a) avoiding the impact
				  altogether by not taking a certain action or part of an action;
(b) minimizing impacts by limiting the degree
				  of magnitude of the action and its implementation, by using appropriate
				  technology, or by taking affirmative steps to avoid or reduce
				  impacts;
(c) rectifying the impacts
				  by repairing, rehabilitating, or restoring the affected environment;
(d) reducing or eliminating the impact over
				  time by preservation and maintenance operations during the life of the action;
				  or
(e) compensating for the impact
				  by replacing, enhancing, or providing substitute resources or environments.
Mitigation for individual actions may include a combination
					 of the above measures.
(44) "Monthly average" means the average of
				  "daily discharges" over a calendar month, calculated as the sum of all "daily
				  discharges" measured during a calendar month divided by the number of "daily
				  discharges" measured during the month . The monthly average for fecal coliform
				  bacteria is the geometric mean of "daily discharges" measured during the
				  calendar month. In computing the geometric mean for fecal coliform bacteria,
				  the value one (1) shall be substituted for sample results of zero.
(45) "NPDES form" means any issued permit or
				  any uniform national form prescribed for use by the Commission in the NPDES
				  Program and prescribed in regulations promulgated by the Administrator of EPA,
				  including an NPDES application and a reporting form.
(46) "NPDES permit" means an individual or
				  general permit issued by the Permit Board pursuant to regulations adopted by
				  the Commission and/or Permit Board under Miss. Code Ann. §§
											49-17-17 and
				  49-17-29
				  for discharges into State waters.
(47) "Natural background" means the condition
				  of waters in the absence of man-induced alterations based on the best
				  scientific information available to the Department. The establishment of
				  natural background for an altered water body may be based upon a similar
				  unaltered water body or on historical pre-alteration data.
(48) "Non-compliance list" means a list of
				  dischargers, prepared by the Executive Director pursuant to this regulation and
				  the guidelines for transmittal to the Regional Administrator (or his/her
				  designee), who fail or refuse to comply with a condition in an NPDES,
				  Pretreatment or UIC permit issued pursuant to State law.
(49) "Notice of Intent (NOI) form" means a
				  form used to request coverage under an issued NPDES general permit or an issued
				  State general permit.
(50) "NPDES
				  general permit" means an NPDES permit written to cover a specified category of
				  similar discharges within a specified geographical or political boundary as
				  described in
				  40
				  CFR 122.28(a).
(51) "Office Head" means the Head of the
				  Office of Pollution Control of the Department of Environmental
				  Quality.
(52) "Permit Board" means
				  the Permit Board of the Department of Environmental Quality established
				  pursuant to Miss. Code Ann. §
											49-17-28.
(53) "Pass Through" means a discharge which
				  exits a publicly owned treatment works ("POTW") into waters of the State in
				  quantities or concentrations which, alone or in conjunction with a discharge or
				  discharges from other sources, causes a violation of any requirement of the
				  POTW's NPDES permit (including an increase in the magnitude or duration of a
				  violation) and/or causes a violation of Water Quality Standards.
(54) "Person" means the State or other agency
				  or institution thereof, any municipality, county, political subdivision, public
				  or private corporation, individual, partnership, association, or other entity,
				  and includes any officer or governing or managing body of any municipality,
				  county, political subdivision, public or private corporation, or the United
				  States or any officer or employee thereof.
(55) "Pollution" means such contamination, or
				  other alteration of the physical, chemical, or biological properties, of any
				  waters of the State, including change in temperature, taste, color, turbidity,
				  or odor of the waters, or such discharge of any liquid, gaseous, solid,
				  radioactive, or other substance or leak into any waters of the State, unless in
				  compliance with a valid permit issued by the Permit Board.
(56) "POTW" means a publicly owned treatment
				  works.
(57) "Pretreatment New
				  Source" The definition of "new source" set forth in
				  40
				  CFR 403.3(k) is incorporated
				  herein and adopted by reference.
(58) "Primary industrial facility" means any
				  industry category listed in the NRDC settlement agreement (Natural Resources
				  Defense Council et. al. v. Train, 8 E.R.C. 2120 (D.D.C. 1976), modified 12
				  E.R.C. 1833 (D.D.C. 1979)); also listed in appendix A of 40 CFR 122, which is
				  incorporated herein and adopted by reference.
(59) "Pretreatment system" means any process
				  used to reduce the amount of pollutants in wastewater before discharging the
				  wastewater into a publicly owned treatment works or privately owned treatment
				  works treating non-domestic wastewater.
(60) "Publicly Owned Treatment Works" is a
				  waste treatment facility owned and/or operated by a public body or a privately
				  owned treatment works which accepts discharges which would otherwise be subject
				  to Federal Pretreatment Requirements.
(61) "Quarterly average" means the average of
				  "daily discharges" over a three-month period, calculated as the sum of all
				  "daily discharges" measured during the quarter divided by the number of "daily
				  discharges" measured during the quarter. The quarterly average for fecal
				  coliform bacteria is the geometric mean of "daily discharges" measured during
				  the quarter. In computing the geometric mean for fecal coliform bacteria, the
				  value one (1) shall be substituted for sample results of zero.
(62) "Quarterly maximum" means the highest
				  "daily discharge" measured over a three-month period.
(63) "Reporting form" means the uniform NPDES
				  or UIC reporting form, including subsequent additions, revisions or
				  modifications thereof, promulgated by the Administrator of EPA and prescribed
				  by the Commission for use in administering these regulations, or a State form
				  prescribed by the Commission for use in administering these regulations, for
				  reporting data and information to the Permit Board by a permittee on monitoring
				  and other conditions of permits.
(64) "Sewerage Works" means pipelines or
				  conduits, pumping stations, and force mains, and other structures, devices,
				  appurtenances and facilities used for collecting or conducting wastes to an
				  ultimate point for treatment or disposal.
(65) "State general permit" means a state
				  permit written to cover a specified category of similar facilities within a
				  specified geographical or political boundary.
(66) "State permit" means an individual or
				  general permit issued by the Permit Board pursuant to regulations adopted by
				  the Commission and/or Permit Board under Miss. Code Ann. §§
											49-17-17 and
				  49-17-29
				  for the operation of a treatment works from which no discharge occurs, for
				  discharges into State waters where an NPDES or UIC permit may not be
				  applicable, or for discharges to a publicly owned treatment works where a
				  pretreatment system is utilized.
(67) "Submitted" means the document is
				  postmarked on or before the applicable deadline, except as otherwise
				  specified.
(68) "Technology based
				  effluent limitation (TBEL)" means a minimum waste treatment requirement,
				  established by the Department, based on treatment technology. The minimum
				  treatment requirements may be set at levels more stringent than that which is
				  necessary to meet water quality standards of the receiving water body as set
				  out specifically in other sections of these regulations. TBELs shall be federal
				  effluent guidelines if promulgated, otherwise TBELs shall be established in
				  accordance with 40 CFR 125 subpart A, which is incorporated herein and adopted
				  by reference.
(69) "The State law"
				  means the Mississippi Air and Water Pollution Control Law, specifically Miss.
				  Code Ann. §§
											49-17-1
				  through
				  49-17-43,
				  and any subsequent amendments thereto.
(70) "Total Maximum Daily Load" or "TMDL"
				  means the calculated maximum permissible pollutant loading to a water body at
				  which water quality standards can be maintained. It is the sum of wasteload
				  allocations (WLAs) and load allocations (LAs) for any given pollutant plus a
				  margin of safety in a watershed.
(71) "Toxic Pollutants" means any pollutant
				  listed as toxic under Section 307(a)(1) or, in the case of "sludge use or
				  disposal practices," any pollutant identified in regulations implementing
				  Section 405(d) of the Clean Water Act.
(72) "Trade secret" means information
				  concerning the whole or any portion or phase of any manufacturing proprietary
				  process or method, not patented, which is secret, used or useful in compounding
				  goods having a commercial value, and the secrecy of which the owner has taken
				  reasonable measures to prevent from becoming available to persons other than
				  those selected by the owner to have access thereto for limited purposes. It
				  shall not be construed for purpose of this regulation to include any
				  information relative to the quantity and character of waste products or their
				  constituents discharged or sought to be discharged into waters of this State,
				  or into any publicly owned treatment works.
(73) "Treatment works" means any plant or
				  other works, used for the purpose of treating, stabilizing, or holding
				  wastes.
(74) "UIC form" means any
				  issued permit or any uniform national form used by the Permit Board developed
				  for use in the UIC Program and prescribed in regulations promulgated by the
				  Administrator of EPA including a UIC application and a reporting
				  form.
(75) "UIC permit" means a
				  permit issued by the Permit Board to a person pursuant to regulations adopted
				  by the Commission and/or Permit Board under Miss. Code Ann. §§
											49-17-17 and
				  49-17-29
				  for discharges into underground waters of the State.
(76) "UIC Program" means the Underground
				  Injection Control program established by the Fed eral Safe Drinking Water
				  Act.
(77) "Upset" means an
				  exceptional incident in which there is unintentional and temporary
				  noncompliance with technology based permit effluent limitations because of
				  factors beyond the reasonable control of the permittee. An upset does not
				  include noncompliance to the extent caused by operational error, improperly
				  designed treatment facilities, inadequate treatment facilities, lack of
				  preventive maintenance, or careless or improper operation.
(78) "Vessel" means any contrivance used or
				  capable of being used for navigation upon water, whether or not capable of self
				  propulsion, including foreign and domestic vessels engaged in commerce upon the
				  waters of this State, passenger or other cargo carrying vessels, privately
				  owned recreational watercraft or any other floating craft.
(79) "Waste" means sewage, industrial wastes,
				  oil field wastes, and all other liquid, gaseous, solid, radioactive, or other
				  substances which may pollute or tend to pollute any waters of the
				  State.
(80) "Wasteload allocation
				  (WLA)" means the portion of a receiving water's loading capacity attributed to
				  or assigned to point sources of a pollutant.
(81) "Water Quality Management Plans" for the
				  purpose of these regulations, Water Quality Management Plans are those plans
				  developed pursuant to Section 208 of the Federal Clean Water Act.
(82) "Water Quality Standards" the criteria
				  and requirements set forth in State of Mississippi Water Quality Criteria for
				  Intrastate, Interstate, and Coastal Waters. Water quality standards are
				  standards composed of designated present and future most beneficial uses
				  (classification of waters), the numerical and narrative criteria applied to the
				  specific water uses or classification, and the Mississippi antidegradation
				  policy.
(83) "Water quality based
				  effluent limitation (WQBEL)" means an effluent limitation, which may be more
				  stringent than a technology based effluent limitation, determined as necessary
				  by the Department to ensure that water quality standards in a receiving body of
				  water will not be violated.
(84)
				  "Water quality criteria" are elements of State water quality standards,
				  expressed as constituent concentrations, levels, or narrative statements,
				  representing a quality of water that supports the present and future most
				  beneficial uses.
(85) "Waters of
				  the State" means all waters within the jurisdiction of this State, including
				  all streams, lakes, ponds, wetlands, impounding reservoirs, marshes,
				  watercourses, waterways, wells, springs, irrigation systems, drainage systems,
				  and all other bodies or accumulations of water, surface and underground,
				  natural or artificial, situated wholly or partly within or bordering upon the
				  State, and such coastal waters as are within the jurisdiction of the State,
				  except lakes, ponds, or other surface waters which are wholly landlocked and
				  privately owned, and which are not regulated under the Federal Clean Water Act
				  (
				  33
				  U.S.C.1251, et seq..).
(86) "Weekly average" means the average of
				  "daily discharges" over a calendar week, calculated as the sum of all "daily
				  discharges" measured during a calendar week divided by the number of "daily
				  discharges" measured during that week. The weekly average for fecal coliform
				  bacteria is the geometric mean of all "daily discharges" measured in a calendar
				  week. In computing the geometric mean for fecal coliform bacteria, one (1)
				  shall be substituted for sample results of zero. For self-monitoring purposes,
				  the value to be reported is the single highest weekly average computed during a
				  calendar month.
(87) "Yearly
				  average" means the average of "daily discharges" over a calendar year,
				  calculated as the sum of all "daily discharges" measured during the calendar
				  year divided by the number of "daily discharges" measured during the calendar
				  year. The yearly average for fecal coliform bacteria is the geometric mean of
				  "daily discharges" during the calendar year. In computing the geometric mean
				  for fecal coliform bacteria, the value one (1) shall be substituted for sample
				  results of zero.
(88) "Yearly
				  maximum" means the highest "daily discharge" measured over a calendar
				  year.
(89) "Zone of mixing" or
				  "Mixing Zone" constitutes an area whereby physical mixing of a wastewater
				  effluent with a receiving water body occurs.