New Jersey Administrative Code › Title 7 - ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION › Chapter 14 - WATER POLLUTION CONTROL ACT › Subchapter 8 - CIVIL ADMINISTRATIVE PENALTIES AND REQUESTS FOR ADJUDICATORY HEARINGS › Section 7:14-8.2 - Definitions

Current through Register Vol. 56, No. 14, July 15, 2024
As used in this subchapter, the following words and terms
				  shall, in addition to those provided in
				  7:14A-1.2, have the following
				  meanings unless the context clearly indicates otherwise.
"Any rules issued pursuant to the Water Pollution Control
				  Act" means, but is not limited to, the following rules:
Freshwater Wetlands Protection Act Rules, N.J.A.C.
				  7:7A;
Stormwater Management, N.J.A.C. 7:8;
Water Pollution Control, N.J.A.C. 7:9;
Standards for Individual Subsurface Sewage Disposal Systems,
				  N.J.A.C. 7:9A;
Safe Drinking Water Act, N.J.A.C. 7:10;
Flood Hazard Area Control, N.J.A.C. 7:13;
Water Pollution Control Act, N.J.A.C. 7:14;
Pollution Discharge Elimination System, N.J.A.C.
				  7:14A;
Statewide Water Quality Management Planning, N.J.A.C. 7:15;
				  and
Regulations Governing the Certification of Laboratories and
				  Environmental Measurements, N.J.A.C. 7:18; and
Sewage Infrastructure Improvement Act Grants, N.J.A.C.
				  7:22A.
"Bypass" means the anticipated or unanticipated intentional
				  diversion of waste streams from any portion of a treatment works.
"Delegated local agency" means a local agency with an
				  industrial pretreatment program approved by the Department.
"Discharge" means an intentional or unintentional action or
				  omission resulting in the releasing, spilling, leaking, pumping, pouring,
				  emitting, emptying, or dumping of a pollutant into the waters of this State,
				  onto land or into wells from which it might flow or drain into such waters, or
				  into waters or onto lands outside the jurisdiction of the State which pollutant
				  enters the waters of this State, and shall include the release of any pollutant
				  into a municipal treatment works. A leak into a secondary containment system
				  which does not involve a release into the waters or lands of this State is not
				  a "discharge" for purposes of applying the rules under this chapter to
				  violations of the Underground Storage of Hazardous Substances Act,
				  58:11-49 et seq., and the rules
				  promulgated pursuant thereto, N.J.A.C. 7:14B.
"Discharge Monitoring Report" or "DMR" means the EPA's
				  uniform national form, as amended, for the reporting of self-monitoring results
				  by permittees, and includes Baseline Reports.
"Effluent limitation" means any restriction on quantities,
				  quality, discharge rates and concentration of chemical, physical, thermal,
				  biological, radiological, and any other constituents of pollutants established
				  by permit, or impose as an interim enforcement limit pursuant to an
				  administrative order, including an administrative consent order.
"Federal Act" means the Clean Water Act or the Federal Water
				  Pollution Control Act (
				  33 U.S.C.
				  §§
										1251 et seq.) including all
				  subsequent supplements and amendments.
"Grace period" means the period of time afforded under
				  13:1D-125 et seq., commonly known
				  as the Grace Period Law, for a person to correct a minor violation in order to
				  avoid imposition of a penalty that would be otherwise applicable for such
				  violation.
"Groundwater remedial action" means the removal or abatement
				  of one or more pollutants in a groundwater source.
"Hazardous pollutant" means:
1. Any toxic pollutant;
2. Any hazardous substance as defined pursuant to section 3
				  of P.L. 1976, c.141 (N.J.S.A. 58:10-23.1 1b);
3. Any substance regulated as a pesticide under the Federal
				  Insecticide, Fungicide and Rodenticide Act, Pub.L. 92-516 (
				  7
				  U.S.C. §
										136 et seq.);
4. Any substance the use or manufacture of which is
				  prohibited under the Federal Toxic Substances Control Act, Pub.L. 94-469 (
				  15 U.S.C. §
										2601 et seq.);
5. Any substance identified as a known carcinogen by the
				  International Agency for Research on Cancer; or
6. Any hazardous waste as designated pursuant to section 3 of
				  P.L. 1981, c.279 (13:1E-51 ) or the "Resource
				  Conservation and Recovery Act," Pub. L. 94-580 (
				  42 U.S.C. §
										6901 et seq.).
"Indirect discharge" means any discharge, excluding any
				  discharges by municipal collection systems, into any domestic treatment
				  works.
"Indirect user" means an entity with an indirect
				  discharge.
"Industrial pretreatment program" or "IPP" means a program
				  designed to regulate the introduction of pollutants into a local agency's
				  treatment works from any nondomestic source.
"Inhibition concentration" means that concentration of
				  effluent which produces the specified inhibition effect in a chronic whole
				  effluent toxicity test. An IC25 is the concentration of effluent which produces
				  an inhibition of 25 percent for the monitored effect as compared to the
				  control.
"Lawful entry" means an entry by the Commissioner into any
				  building, place, or premise pursuant to N.J.S.A. 13:1D, 58:10A and as otherwise
				  provided by law, ordinance, regulation, order, permit or agreement.
"LC50" means the median lethal concentration of a toxic
				  substance, expressed as a statistical estimate of the concentration that kills
				  50 percent of the test organisms under specified test conditions, based on the
				  results of an acute bioassay.
"Local agency" means a political subdivision of the State, or
				  an agency or instrumentality thereof, that owns or operates a municipal
				  treatment works.
"Major facility" means:
1. For industrial facilities, any facility which scores 80 or
				  more points on the NJPDES permit rating work sheet using the USEPA rating
				  criteria. A facility with less than the required score of 80 may still be
				  classified as a Major facility by the Regional Administrator or the Department.
				  In those situations, the Department shall state the reasons for doing so;
				  and
2. For municipal facilities, any POTW with a design flow of
				  1.0 million gallons per day or greater.
"Monitoring report form" means the standard Department form,
				  including any subsequent additions, revisions or modifications, for the
				  reporting of data pursuant to certain DGW permits.
"Municipal treatment works" means the treatment works of any
				  municipality, county, or State agency or any agency or subdivision created by
				  one or more municipal, county, or State governments and the treatment works of
				  any public utility as defined in
				  48:2-13.
"No observed adverse effect concentration" or "NOAEC" means
				  the lowest concentration at which the organisms are adversely affected as
				  compared to the control determined using hypothesis testing technique.
"NOEC" or "no observable effect concentration" means the
				  maximum effluent concentration which results in no observable effect for the
				  evaluated end-point. The NOEC is usually determined as the next lower tested
				  concentration than the concentration which results in the lowest observable
				  effect as compared to the controls. For discharge permits where the limitation
				  is expressed as an NOEC, the results shall be reported as the calculated IC25
				  and shall be considered equivalent to the observed NOEC.
"No measurable acute toxicity" or "NMAT" means a type of
				  water quality based acute whole effluent toxicity limit imposed in accordance
				  with N.J.A.C. 7:9B-4.6(c)5 i(2), which requires that no mortality occurs in any
				  acute toxicity test concentration, including 100 percent effluent, above normal
				  background mortality levels for the test organism population. The normal
				  background mortality level is the acceptable level of control mortality for a
				  valid test specific in
				  7:18-6.6(v).
"Permit" means an authorization, license, or equivalent
				  control document issued by the Department or a delegated local agency to
				  implement the requirements of the State Act and the related statutes specified
				  in 7:14-8.1 even where any or all the
				  conditions of the permit have been stayed. Permit does not include any permit
				  which has not yet been the subject of final agency action, such as a "draft
				  permit." Permit includes a letter of agreement entered into between a delegated
				  local agency and a user of its municipal treatment works, setting effluent
				  limitations and other conditions on the user of the agency's municipal
				  treatment works. Permit also includes a general permit and a
				  permit-by-rule.
"Permitted groundwater remedial action" means the removal or
				  abatement of one or more pollutants in a groundwater source pursuant to a
				  permit.
"Person" means an individual, corporation, company,
				  partnership, firm, association, owner or operator of a treatment works,
				  political subdivision of this State and any state, Federal or interstate agency
				  or an agent or employee thereof. "Person" shall also include any responsible
				  corporate official for the purpose of enforcement action under Section 10 of
				  the State Act.
"Pollutant" means any dredged spoil, solid waste, incinerator
				  residue, filter backwash, sewage, garbage, refuse, oil, grease, sewage sludge,
				  munitions, chemical wastes, biological materials, medical wastes, radioactive
				  substance (except those regulated under the Atomic Energy Act of 1954, as
				  amended (
				  42 U.S.C. §§
										2011 et seq.)), thermal waste, wrecked or
				  discarded equipment, rock, sand, cellar dirt, and industrial, municipal,
				  agricultural, and construction waste or runoff, or other residue discharged
				  directly or indirectly to the land, ground waters or surface waters of the
				  State or to a DTW. "Pollutant" includes both hazardous and nonhazardous
				  pollutants.
"Schedule of compliance" or "compliance schedule" means a
				  schedule of remedial measures including an enforceable sequence of actions or
				  operations leading to compliance with water quality standards, an effluent
				  limitation or other limitation, prohibition or standard.
"Serious violation" means an exceedance, at a discharge point
				  source, of an effluent limitation, except color, set forth in a permit,
				  administrative order, or administrative consent agreement, including interim
				  enforcement limits, as follows:
1. For effluent limitations for pollutants that are measured
				  by concentration or mass, except for whole effluent toxicity;
i. Violations of an effluent limitation that is expressed as
				  a monthly average:
(1) By 20 percent or more for a hazardous pollutant;
				  and
(2) By 40 percent or more for a nonhazardous
				  pollutant;
ii. Violations of an effluent limitation that is expressed as
				  a daily maximum or daily minimum without a monthly average:
(1) By 20 percent or more of the average of all of the daily
				  maximum or minimum values for a hazardous pollutant; and
(2) By 40 percent or more of the average of all of the daily
				  maximum or minimum values for a nonhazardous pollutant; and
2. For effluent limitations for whole effluent toxicity as
				  follows:
i. For any violation of an LC50, NOAEC, IC[LESS
				  THAN]25[GREATER THAN] or a NOEC limit when, upon subtracting the toxicity test
				  result from the whole effluent toxicity limit, the difference is as follows:
Whole Effluent
						  Toxicity
Difference (% Effluent)
Limit (% Effluent)
greater than or equal to 80 and
greater than or
						  equal to 20
less than or equal to 100
greater than or equal to 50 and
greater than or
						  equal to 15
less than 80
greater than 10 and less than 50
greater than
						  or equal to 10
less than or equal to 10
greater than or equal
						  to 9
ii. Any violation of a No Measurable Acute Toxicity (NMAT)
				  limit with greater than or equal to 50 percent mortality in any test
				  concentration, including 100% effluent.
3. The greatest violation of a pH effluent range in any one
				  calendar day which violation deviates from the midpoint of the range by at
				  least 40 percent of the midpoint of the range excluding the excursions
				  specifically excepted by a NJPDES permit with continuous pH monitoring.
For example: Assuming that a permittee's effluent limitation
				  range for pH is 6.0 to 9.0, the midpoint would be 7.5.
If five separate readings of pH during a given day were 4.3,
				  5.8, 6.5, 6.0 and 6.5, the reading of 4.3 would be a serious violation as
				  follows:
For example: Using the same information as above.
Forty percent of 7.5 is 3; therefore, if the greatest
				  violation of a pH effluent range for any calendar day has a pH of 4.5 or less
				  or a pH of 10.5 or greater, the violation would be a "serious
				  violation."
4. Notwithstanding the above, the Department may utilize, on
				  a case-by-case basis, a more stringent factor of exceedance to determine a
				  serious violation if the Department states the specific reasons therefore,
				  which may include the potential for harm to human health or the environment.
"Significant noncomplier" or "SNC" means any person, except a
				  local agency for an exceedance of an effluent limitation for flow, who commits
				  any of the violations described below, unless the Department uses, on a
				  case-by-case basis, a more stringent frequency or factor of exceedance to
				  determine a significant noncomplier and the Department states the specific
				  reasons therefor, which may include the potential for harm to human health or
				  the environment. Violations which cause a person to become or remain an SNC
				  include:
1. A serious violation for the same pollutant, at the same
				  discharge point source, in any two months of any consecutive six month
				  period;
2. Exceedance of an effluent limitation expressed as a
				  monthly average, for the same pollutant, at the same discharge point source, by
				  any amount in any four months of any consecutive six month period;
3. If there is not an effluent limitation for a particular
				  pollutant expressed as a monthly average, exceedance of the monthly average of
				  the daily maximums for the effluent limitation, for the same pollutant, at the
				  same discharge point source, by any amount in any four months of any
				  consecutive six month period;
4. Any exceedance of an effluent limitation for pH by any
				  amount, excluding the excursions specifically excepted by a NJPDES permit with
				  continuous pH monitoring, at the same discharge point source in any four months
				  of any consecutive six month period; or
5. Failure to submit a completed discharge monitoring report
				  in any two months of any consecutive six month period.
"Sludge Quality Assurance Report" or "SQAR" means the
				  standard Department form, including any subsequent additions, revisions or
				  modifications, for the reporting of sludge quality and quantity.
"State Act" means the Water Pollution Control Act,
				  58:10A-1 et seq.
"Toxic pollutant" or "toxic substances" means any pollutant
				  identified pursuant to the Federal Act or any pollutant or combination of
				  pollutants, including disease causing agents, which after discharge and upon
				  exposure ingestion, inhalation, or assimilation into any organism, either
				  directly or indirectly by ingestion through food chains, may, on the basis of
				  information available to the Department, cause death, disease, behavioral
				  abnormalities, cancer, genetic mutations, physiological malfunctions, including
				  malfunctions in reproduction, or physical deformation, in such organisms or
				  their offspring. Toxic pollutants shall include but not be limited to, those
				  pollutants identified pursuant to Section 307 of the Federal Act or Section 4
				  of the State Act, or in the case of "sludge use or disposal practices," any
				  pollutant identified pursuant to Section 405(d) of the Federal Act.
"Upset" means an exceptional incident in which there is
				  unintentional and temporary noncompliance with an effluent limitation because
				  of an event beyond the reasonable control of the permittee, including fire,
				  riot, sabotage, or a flood, storm event, natural cause, or other act of God, or
				  other similar circumstance, which is the cause of the violation. "Upset" also
				  includes noncompliance consequent to the performance of maintenance operations
				  for which a prior exception has been granted by the Department or a delegated
				  local agency.
"Violator" means any person against whom the Department or
				  delegated local agency asserts a violation of the State Act or any rules issued
				  pursuant to the State Act.
"Whole effluent toxicity" or "WET" means the aggregate toxic
				  effect of an effluent measured by a toxicity test.