Code of Maryland Regulations › Title 26 - DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENT › Part 1 - SUBTITLES 01-07 › Subtitle 04 - REGULATION OF WATER SUPPLY, SEWAGE DISPOSAL, AND SOLID WASTE › Chapter 26.04.06 - Sewage Sludge Management › Section 26.04.06.03 - Definitions

Current through Register Vol. 51, No. 14, July 12, 2024
A. The following
				  terms have the meanings indicated.
B. Terms Defined.
(1) "Aerobic digestion" means the biochemical
				  decomposition of organic matter in sewage sludge by microorganisms in the
				  presence of air.
(2) "Agricultural
				  land" means as defined in COMAR 15.20.06.
(3) "Agronomic rate" means the sewage sludge
				  application rate, in dry weight basis, based on the nitrogen or phosphorus
				  requirement of the crop or vegetation to be grown, whichever is determined to
				  be the most limiting nutrient, that is designed to minimize the amount of the
				  limiting nutrient in the sewage sludge that passes below the root zone of the
				  crop or vegetation grown on the land to the groundwater.
(4) "Anaerobic digestion" means the
				  biochemical decomposition of organic matter in sewage sludge by microorganisms
				  in the absence of air.
(5)
				  "Aquifer" means a geologic formation, group of formations, or portion of a
				  formation capable of yielding significant quantities of groundwater to wells or
				  springs.
(6) "Base flood" means a
				  flood that has a 1 percent chance of occurring in any given year (for example,
				  a flood with a magnitude equaled once in 100 years).
(7) Biosolids.
(a) "Biosolids" means treated sewage sludge
				  that meets the standards for Class A or B sewage sludge.
(b) "Biosolids" does not mean grit and
				  screenings collected at a wastewater treatment plant or ash generated by the
				  incineration of sewage sludge.
(8) "Bulk sewage sludge" means sewage sludge
				  that is not sold or given away in a bag or other container for application to
				  the land.
(9) "Cesspool" means a
				  covered hole or pit to hold sewage.
(10) "Class A sewage sludge" means treated
				  sewage sludge that meets the standards defined in
				  40 CFR §
												503.32(a).
(11) "Class B sewage sludge" means treated
				  sewage sludge that meets the standards defined in
				  40 CFR §
												503.32(b).
(12) "Collection" means any action involved
				  in the gathering or subsequent placement of sewage sludge, or any other product
				  containing sewage sludge, into a vehicle, container, or any other vessel for
				  transportation.
(13) "Composting"
				  means the biological decomposition of organic matter under controlled
				  thermophilic aerobic conditions.
(14) "Constituent" means any component of
				  sewage sludge that is an organic, inorganic, or combination of organic and
				  inorganic substances, including pathogenic organisms.
(15) "Constituent limit" means a numerical
				  value that describes the:
(a) Amount of a
				  constituent allowed per unit amount of sewage sludge, such as milligrams per
				  kilogram of total solids;
(b)
				  Amount of a constituent that can be applied to a unit area of land, such as
				  kilograms per hectare; or
(c)
				  Volume of a material that can be applied to a unit area of land, such as
				  gallons per acre.
(16)
				  "Container" means either an open or closed receptacle with a load capacity of 1
				  metric ton or less that includes a bucket, box, carton, vehicle or
				  trailer.
(17) "Contaminate" means
				  to introduce a substance that causes the maximum contaminant level for
				  constituents as defined by the United States Environmental Protection Agency
				  (USEPA) in 40 CFR §
												141.62(b) to be exceeded in
				  surface or groundwater of the State or that causes the existing concentration
				  of constituents in surface or groundwater to increase when the existing
				  concentration of constituent in the surface or groundwater exceeds the maximum
				  contaminant level for nitrate or other constituents as defined by the USEPA in
				  40 CFR §
												141.62(b).
(18) "Contaminate an aquifer" means to
				  introduce a substance that causes the maximum contaminant level for nitrate or
				  other constituents as defined by the USEPA in
				  40 CFR §
												141.62(b) to be exceeded in
				  the groundwater of the State or that causes the existing concentration of
				  nitrate in the groundwater to increase when the existing concentration of
				  nitrate in the groundwater exceeds the maximum contaminant level for nitrate as
				  defined by the USEPA in 40
				  CFR §
												141.62(b).
(19) "County" means as defined in the
				  Environment Article, §
											1-101(c),
				  Annotated Code of Maryland.
(20)
				  "Cover" means soil or other material acceptable to the Department used to cover
				  sewage sludge placed on a sewage sludge site.
(21) "Cover crop" means a crop, such as
				  cereal grains, that is planted following the harvest of summer crops for the
				  purpose of the seasonal protection of soil, the assimilation of residual
				  nitrogen left from a previous crop, and the continued mineralization of
				  nitrogen.
(22) "Crop residue" means
				  vegetative matter remaining on the soil surface after harvest, which is capable
				  of minimizing rainfall impact energy to reduce soil erosion
				  potential.
(23) "Crops for direct
				  human consumption" means crops that are consumed by humans without processing
				  to minimize pathogens before marketing to the consumer.
(24) "Cumulative constituent loading rate"
				  means the maximum amount of an inorganic constituent that can be applied to an
				  area of land.
(25) "CWA" means the
				  Federal Clean Water Act (formerly referred to as either the Federal Water
				  Pollution Act or the Federal Water Pollution Control Act Amendments of 1972),
				  Public Law 92-500, as amended by Public Law 95-217, Public Law 95-576, Public
				  Law 96-483, Public Law 97-117, and Public Law 100-4.
(26) "Density of microorganisms" means the
				  number of microorganisms per unit mass of total solids in dry weight in the
				  sewage sludge.
(27) "Department"
				  means the Maryland Department of the Environment.
(28) Disposal.
(a) "Disposal" means the discharge, deposit,
				  injection, dumping, spilling, leaking, or placement of sewage sludge into or on
				  any land or water.
(b) "Disposal"
				  includes incineration or landfilling.
(29) "Dried sewage sludge" means sewage
				  sludge with total solids content greater than 35 percent.
(30) "Dry weight basis" means a weight
				  calculated on the basis of sewage sludge having been dried at 105°C until
				  reaching a constant mass, which is essentially 100 percent solids
				  content.
(31) "Established crop"
				  means a crop that has germinated and attained at least 70 percent surface
				  coverage on the field as measured by the standard line-transect
				  method.
(32) "Feed crops" means
				  crops produced primarily for consumption by animals.
(33) "Fiber crops" means crops that produce
				  fiber for processing into woven material, such as flax and cotton.
(34) "Field ditch" means a perennial or
				  intermittent man-made drainage ditch that:
(a)
				  Was never a natural stream;
(b) Is
				  distinguished from a natural stream by its landscape position and associated
				  soil mapping units, as found in the United States Department of Agriculture
				  (USDA) soil survey for the county; and
(c) Is not within a:
(i) Floodplain soil-mapping unit;
(ii) Hydric soil that is mapped as a narrow,
				  elongated feature in a fluvial or floodplain position; and
(iii) Soil-mapping unit that has a slope
				  class of "B" or steeper.
(35) "Final cover" means the last layer of
				  soil or other material placed on a sewage sludge site at closure.
(36) "Final utilization" means the complete
				  and ultimate utilization of sewage sludge after which the sewage sludge
				  receives no further treatment or processing.
(37) "Food chain crops" means crops grown for
				  human consumption, crops grown as feed for animals that will be consumed by
				  humans, and tobacco.
(38) "Food
				  crops" means same as food chain crops.
(39) "Forest" means a tract of land thick
				  with trees and underbrush.
(40)
				  "Grit" means sand, gravel, cinders, or other materials with a high specific
				  gravity removed during the treatment of wastewater in a wastewater treatment
				  plant.
(41) "Groundwater" means
				  water below the land surface in a saturated zone.
(42) "Handle" means same as market.
(43) "Holding tank" means a watertight
				  receptacle, which is used, or intended to be used, for the collection of
				  sewage.
(44) "Incineration" means
				  the controlled combustion of organic matter and inorganic matter in sewage
				  sludge by high temperatures in an enclosed device.
(45) "Incinerator" means a furnace or
				  combustion unit that uses controlled flame combustion for the thermal
				  destruction of sewage sludge with or without other wastes.
(46) "Incinerator ash" means the residual ash
				  generated during the firing of a waste to energy facility or an
				  incinerator.
(47) "Label" means the
				  display of all written, printed, or graphic material on the immediate
				  container, or information accompanying the material.
(48) "Land application" means the placement
				  of sewage sludge, or any other product containing sewage sludge on or mixed
				  with or injected into land used to support vegetative growth.
(49) Land with a High Potential for Public
				  Exposure.
(a) "Land with a high potential for
				  public exposure" means land that the public uses frequently.
(b) "Land with a high potential for public
				  exposure" includes a public contact site and a marginal land located in a
				  populated area, such as a construction site located in a city.
(50) Land with a Low Potential for
				  Public Exposure.
(a) "Land with a low
				  potential for public exposure" means land that the public uses
				  infrequently.
(b) "Land with a low
				  potential for public exposure" includes agricultural land, forest, and a
				  marginal land located in an unpopulated area, such as a strip mine located in a
				  rural area.
(51)
				  "Leachate" means any liquid that has percolated through solid waste including
				  sewage sludge and may contain dissolved, miscible, or suspended material from
				  the sewage sludge or solid waste pile.
(52) "Liquid byproducts" means liquid that:
(a) Is generated from the contact of
				  precipitation with sewage sludge in storage;
(b) Separates from sewage sludge during
				  storage; or
(c) Is generated from
				  cleaning a treatment, composting, storage, or distribution facility.
(53) "Liquid sewage sludge" means
				  sewage sludge with solids content less that 15 percent or sewage sludge that
				  fails the free liquids test described in Regulation .09C(4)(b) of this
				  chapter.
(54) "Local health
				  official" means the county health officer, the Baltimore City Commissioner of
				  Health, the Director of the Office of Environmental Protection at Montgomery
				  County, other local officials as identified by the Department, or their
				  designees.
(55) "Lower explosive
				  limits" means the lowest percent by volume of a mixture of explosive gases that
				  will propagate a flame in air at 25°C and atmospheric pressure.
(56) "Management unit" means an area sharing
				  common characteristics, including soil type, nutrient content, and plant type
				  or crop produced, so that nutrients can be recommended and managed in a uniform
				  and consistent manner.
(57)
				  Marginal Land.
(a) "Marginal land" means land
				  where the soil characteristics provide poor support for normal vegetative
				  growth over time, and are being, or are proposed to be, revegetated.
(b) "Marginal land" may include land regraded
				  after surface mining activities, abandoned strip mine areas, areas where
				  topsoil has been removed, filled areas, a landfill closure cap, and closed and
				  capped landfills.
(58)
				  Market.
(a) "Market" means to barter, sell,
				  offer for sale, consign, furnish, provide, or otherwise supply a material as
				  part of a commercial enterprise or a giveaway program.
(b) "Market" does not mean marketing to a
				  distribution facility regulated by the Department under Regulations .32-.36 of
				  this chapter.
(59)
				  "Mineralization" means the process that converts unavailable organic forms of
				  nutrient elements to an available inorganic state as a result of bacterial
				  decomposition.
(60) "Municipal
				  landfill" has the meaning stated in COMAR 26.04.07.
(61) "Nuisance" means unreasonable
				  interference with the quality of life of the public because of the
				  characteristics of noise, odor, solids, vapors, liquids, or gases, which causes
				  distress or potential health impacts to members of the public or residents or
				  users of properties adjacent to a site where sewage sludge is being utilized or
				  has been utilized, as determined by the Department.
(62) "Nutrient Management Plan" has the
				  meaning stated in COMAR 15.20.08.
(63) "Pasture land" means land on which
				  animals feed directly on feed crops, such as legumes, grasses, or grain
				  stubble.
(64) "Pathogenic
				  organisms" means organisms capable of causing disease in humans that include
				  certain bacteria, protozoa, viruses, and viable helminth ova.
(65) "Permanent facility" means a facility
				  that is designed primarily for sewage sludge treatment or sewage sludge
				  composting.
(66) "Permitting
				  Authority" means the Maryland Department of the Environment.
(67) "Permittee" means a person who holds a
				  Sewage Sludge Utilization Permit.
(68) "Person" means the federal government,
				  the State, any county, municipal corporation, or other political subdivision of
				  the State, or any of their units, or an individual, receiver, trustee,
				  guardian, executor, administrator, fiduciary, or representative of any kind, or
				  any partnership, firm, association, public or private corporation, or any other
				  entity.
(69) "PFRP" means a process
				  to further reduce pathogens.
(70)
				  "pH" means the logarithm of the reciprocal of the hydrogen ion concentration
				  measured at 25°C or measured at another temperature and then converted to an
				  equivalent value at 25°C.
(71)
				  "Privy" means an earth or watertight pit or receptacle for receiving
				  non-water-carried human wastes over which is placed a privy house containing a
				  toilet seat or seats.
(72) "PSRP"
				  means a process to significantly reduce pathogens.
(73) Public Contact Site.
(a) "Public contact site" means land with a
				  high potential for contact by the public.
(b) "Public contact site" includes public
				  parks, athletic fields, cemeteries, plant nurseries, turf farms, and golf
				  courses.
(74) "Qualified
				  groundwater scientist" means an individual with a baccalaureate or
				  post-graduate degree in the natural sciences or engineering who has sufficient
				  training and experience in groundwater hydrology and related fields, as may be
				  demonstrated by State registration, professional certification, or completion
				  of accredited university programs, to make sound professional judgments
				  regarding groundwater monitoring, constituent fate and transport, and
				  corrective action to the satisfaction of the Department.
(75) "Reclamation site" means same as a
				  "marginal land."
(76) "Runoff"
				  means any precipitation, leachate, or other liquid that drains over land from
				  any part of a site that is derived from precipitation.
(77) "Screenings" means materials such as
				  rags or debris collected during the primary treatment of wastewater in a
				  wastewater treatment plant.
(78)
				  "Sewage sludge" means any thickened liquid, suspension, settled solid, or dried
				  residue that a sewage treatment plant extracts from sewage.
(79) "Sewage sludge cake" means sewage sludge
				  with total solids content between 15 and 35 percent.
(80) "Sewage sludge compost" means a sewage
				  sludge produced by the decomposition of a mixture of sewage sludge and a
				  bulking agent, such as wood chips, that destroys primary pathogenic and
				  malodorous components.
(81) Sewage
				  Sludge Generator.
(a) "Sewage sludge
				  generator" means a person who owns or operates a facility that receives and
				  processes sewage in this State or produces sewage sludge to be utilized in this
				  State.
(b) "Sewage sludge
				  generator" includes:
(i) The Washington
				  Suburban Sanitary Commission; and
(ii) The Maryland Environmental
				  Service.
(c) "Sewage
				  sludge generator" does not include the owner or operator of a septic
				  system.
(82) "Sewage
				  Sludge Utilization Permit" means a permit, issued by the Department, to utilize
				  sewage sludge.
(83) "Sewage sludge
				  utilizer" means any person who utilizes sewage sludge in this State.
(84) "Sewage treatment plant" means a
				  wastewater treatment plant.
(85)
				  "SOUR" means the specific oxygen uptake rate that represents the mass of oxygen
				  consumed per unit time per unit mass of total solids, in dry weight basis, in
				  the sewage sludge.
(86) "State"
				  means the State of Maryland unless otherwise specified.
(87) "Storage" means the containment of
				  sewage sludge, or any other product containing sewage sludge after removal from
				  a wastewater treatment plant and before utilization.
(88) "Surface water" means all waters of the
				  State that are not groundwater.
(89) "Tidal wetland" has the meaning stated
				  in COMAR 26.04.02.02.
(90) "Total
				  solids" means the materials in sewage sludge that remain as residue when the
				  sewage sludge is dried at 103 to 105°C.
(91) "Transportation" means the movement or
				  conveyance of sewage sludge or any other product containing sewage sludge by
				  air, rail, road, pipeline, or water.
(92) "Treatment" means a process, which
				  alters, modifies, or changes the biological, physical, or chemical
				  characteristics of sewage or sewage sludge.
(93) "Unstable area" means land subject to
				  natural or human-induced forces including land on which soils are subject to
				  mass movement, areas underlain by limestone or marble, ("karst terrain"), and
				  areas subject to dissolution features, such as the formation of
				  sinkholes.
(94) "USDA-NRCS" means
				  the United States Department of Agriculture-Natural Resources Conservation
				  Service.
(95) "User" means a person
				  other than a sewage sludge utilizer whom does not require a Sewage Sludge
				  Utilization Permit to use a Class A sewage sludge as fertilize or soil
				  conditioner in residential or commercial property.
(96) Utilize Sewage Sludge.
(a) "Utilize sewage sludge" means to collect,
				  handle, burn, store, treat, or transport sewage sludge to or from a sewage
				  sludge generator or utilizer in this State, to apply sewage sludge to land, or
				  to dispose of sewage sludge.
(b)
				  "Utilize sewage sludge" includes composting, distribution, generating energy,
				  marketing, conducting innovative or research projects, disposing or
				  alternatively utilizing at a municipal landfill, or constructing and operating
				  a landfill for sewage sludge, or any product containing sewage sludge, which is
				  either generated or utilized in the State.
(97) "Vector attraction" means the
				  characteristic of sewage sludge that attracts rodents, flies, mosquitoes, or
				  other organisms capable of transporting infectious agents.
(98) "Volatile solids" means the amount of
				  the total solids in sewage sludge lost when the sewage sludge is combusted at
				  550°C in the presence of excess air.
(99) "Wastewater treatment plant" or "WWTP"
				  means a facility designed and constructed to receive, treat, or store sewage or
				  sewage combined with other waterborne waste.