Code of Massachusetts Regulations › 310 CMR - DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION › Title 310 CMR 32.00 - Land Application of Sludge and Septage › Section 32.05 - Definitions

Current through Register 1525, July 5, 2024
As used throughout
				310 CMR 32.00, the following
				terms shall have the following meanings, unless the context clearly indicates
				otherwise.
Aquifer
means a geologic formation,
				group of formations, or part of a formation capable of yielding a significant
				amount of ground water from wells or springs.
Beneficial purpose
means to provide
				nutrients to growing vegetation or to improve the quality of soil for the
				purpose of growing vegetation.
Cation exchange capacity
means the sum
				of the exchangeable cations which a soil can adsorb, as determined by sampling
				the soil to the depth of cultivation or of sludge or septage land application,
				whichever depth is greater.
Chroma
means the relative purity or
				strength of the spectral color, which increases with decreasing
				grayness.
Class A Water
means inland surface
				water which is classified from time to time as Class A pursuant to
				314 CMR 4.00.
Coarse Sand
means sand of which less
				than 15% passes sieve no. 270 (0.05 mm) and more than 25% is retained on sieve
				no. 35 (0.5 mm), and which contains less than 50% of any other one grade of
				sand.
See Soil Survey Manual, U.S. Department of Agriculture Handbook
				No. 18
, dated 1951, written by the "Soil Survey Staff", published by
				the U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, D.C.
Department
means the Massachusetts
				Department of Environmental Protection.
Digestion
means the biological process
				by which microorganisms break down and use organic matter. There are three
				types of digestive organisms: aerobic microorganisms, which function only in
				the presence of free oxygen; anaerobic microorganisms, which function only in
				the absence of free oxygen; and facultative microorganisms, which can function
				with or without free oxygen.
Dry weight
means the weight of a
				substance not including its moisture content.
EPA
means the United States
				Environmental Protection Agency.
Facility
means a site or works for the
				treatment or storage of water, wastewater, septage or sludge.
Food-chain crop
means tobacco, any
				crop grown for human consumption, or any crop grown for consumption by animals
				which are to be consumed by humans.
Groundwater
means water below the land
				surface in a zone of saturation.
Groundwater table
means the top of the
				saturated zone in the soil, as indicated by the level at which water stands in
				an open borehole after adequate time is allowed for the establishment of a
				stable water level.
Industrial discharge
means discharge
				of wastewater consisting in whole or in part of industrial process
				waste.
Land application
means fertilizing or
				amending soil by:
(a) applying to the surface of soil by spreading, spraying, or
				other similar means, and/or
(b) mixing or working into the soil or beneath the surface of
				the soil within the root zone of the crop by harrowing, plowing, rototilling,
				injecting, or other similar means.
Land Apply
means to engage in land
				application.
Matrix
means the interior portion of
				soil aggregate.
Maximum high groundwater table
means
				the height of the ground water table when it is at its maximum annual level or
				elevation. This level is usually reached sometime during the months of December
				through April.
Mottle
means contrasting color patches
				that vary in number and size and are usually associated with excess moisture in
				soil during parts of the year.
Munsell color notation
means the
				standardized system of color charts produced by Munsell Color Co., Inc.,
				Baltimore, Maryland.
Operator
means the person responsible
				for the overall operation of:
(a) in the case of sludge, any drinking water treatment
				facility or any wastewater treatment facililty, including, without limitation,
				any sewage treatment plant or industrial pretreatment plant that generates
				sludge, and
(b) in the case of septage, any facility for the receipt,
				storage, or disposal of the contents of privies, cesspools, or septic tanks.
Owner
means any person who has
				effective control or legal ownership of:
(a) in the case of sludge, any drinking water treatment
				facility or any wastewater treatment facility, including, without limitation,
				any sewage treatment plant or industrial pretreatment plant that generates
				sludge, and
(b) in the case of septage, any facility for the receipt,
				storage, or disposal of the contents of privies, cesspools, or septic tanks.
The term
owner
does not include
				persons who hold bare legal title for the purpose of providing security for a
				financial agreement.
Pasture land
means land which is or is
				intended to be grazed by animals intended for human consumption, or whose milk
				is intended for human consumption, or land on which one or more forage crops
				are or are intended to be grown.
PCBs
means polychlorinated
				biphenyls.
Person
means any agency or political
				subdivision of the Commonwealth, public or private corporation or authority,
				individual, trust, firm, joint stock company, partnership, association, or
				other entity, and any officer, employee or agent of said person, and any group
				of said persons.
pH
means the measure of acidity or
				alkalinity as the logarithm of the reciprocal of the molar hydrogen ion
				concentration of a solution.
Potential groundwater public water
				supply
means:
(a) a groundwater source which has capability of sustaining a
				yield of 100 gallons or more per minute of drinking water, as designated by the
				United States Geological Survey Hydrological Atlas, and which has less than
				10,000 ppm total dissolved solids, or
(b) groundwater within land procured by a body politic for the
				purpose of supplying drinking water.
The term
potential groundwater public water
				supply
does not include an aquifer which is not an underground
				source of drinking water pursuant to
				310 CMR 27.00:
Underground Water Source Protection
.
Private drinking water supply well
means a well used as a source of drinking water, supplying a non-public water
				system with any volume of groundwater from any source.
Public water supply
means a source of
				drinking water supplying a public water system.
Public water system
means a public
				water system as defined in
				310 CMR 22.02, as may
				be amended from time to time.
Putrescible
means decaying and
				foul-smelling.
Septage
means the liquid, solid, and
				semi-solid contents of privies, chemical toilets, cesspools, holding tanks, or
				other sewage waste receptacles. For purposes of
				310 CMR 32.00, the term
septage
does not include any material which is
				hazardous waste pursuant to 310 CMR 30.000. (The land application of hazardous
				waste is not authorized by
				310 CMR 32.00 and is subject
				to 310 CMR 30.000.)
Sludge
means the solid, semi-solid,
				and liquid residue that results from a process of wastewater treatment or
				drinking water treatment. This residue does not include grit, screening, or
				grease and oil which are removed at the headworks of a facility. For the
				purpose of
				310 CMR 32.00, the term
				"sewage" as used in M.G.L. c. 111, § 150A and
				310 CMR
				19.00 includes wastewater treatment plant sludge which
				is not hazardous waste pursuant to 310 CMR 30.000.
Storage
means containment or
				stockpiling prior to or during selling or distributing or reuse, or offering
				for sale, distribution, or use.
Surface soil
means the soil ordinarily
				moved in tillage or its equivalent in uncultivated soil, ranging in depth from
				four to ten inches below the surface, and frequently designated as the "plow
				layer" or the "Ap horizon".
Surface water
means water that is
				visible on the ground surface, including, without limitation, streams, brooks,
				rivers, lakes, ponds, and wetlands.
USDA
means the United States
				Department of Agriculture.
Use
means land application or to land
				apply.