Nevada Administrative Code › Chapter 445A - Water Controls › WATER POLLUTION CONTROL › Standards for Water Quality › Section 445A.121 - Standards applicable to all surface waters

Current through June 11, 2024
The following standards are applicable to all surface waters
				  of the State:
1. Waters must be free
				from substances attributable to domestic or industrial waste or other
				controllable sources that will settle to form sludge or bottom deposits in
				amounts sufficient to be unsightly, putrescent or odorous or in amounts
				sufficient to interfere with any beneficial use of the water.
2. Waters must be free from floating debris,
				oil, grease, scum and other floating materials attributable to domestic or
				industrial waste or other controllable sources in amounts sufficient to be
				unsightly or in amounts sufficient to interfere with any beneficial use of the
				water.
3. Waters must be free from
				materials attributable to domestic or industrial waste or other controllable
				sources in amounts sufficient to produce taste or odor in the water or
				detectable off-flavor in the flesh of fish or in amounts sufficient to change
				the existing color, turbidity or other conditions in the receiving stream to
				such a degree as to create a public nuisance or in amounts sufficient to
				interfere with any beneficial use of the water.
4. Waters must be free from high temperature,
				biocides, organisms pathogenic to human beings, toxic, corrosive or other
				deleterious substances attributable to domestic or industrial waste or other
				controllable sources at levels or combinations sufficient to be toxic to human,
				animal, plant or aquatic life or in amounts sufficient to interfere with any
				beneficial use of the water. Compliance with the provisions of this subsection
				may be determined in accordance with methods of testing prescribed by the
				Department. If used as an indicator, survival of test organisms must not be
				significantly less in test water than in control water.
5. If toxic materials are known or suspected
				by the Department to be present in a water, testing for toxicity may be
				required to determine compliance with the provisions of this section and
				effluent limitations. The Department may specify the method of testing to be
				used. The failure to determine the presence of toxic materials by testing does
				not preclude a determination by the Department, on the basis of other criteria
				or methods, that excessive levels of toxic materials are present.
6. Radioactive materials attributable to
				municipal, industrial or other controllable sources must be the minimum
				concentrations that are physically and economically feasible to achieve. In no
				case must materials exceed the limits established in the 1962 Public Health
				Service Drinking Water Standards (or later amendments) or 1/30th of the MPC
				values given for continuous occupational exposure in the "National Bureau of
				Standards Handbook No. 69." The concentrations in water must not result in
				accumulation of radioactivity in plants or animals that result in a hazard to
				humans or harm to aquatic life.
7.
				Wastes from municipal, industrial or other controllable sources containing
				arsenic, barium, boron, cadmium, chromium, cyanide, fluoride, lead, selenium,
				silver, copper and zinc that are reasonably amenable to treatment or control
				must not be discharged untreated or uncontrolled into the waters of Nevada. In
				addition, the limits for concentrations of the chemical constituents must
				provide water quality consistent with the mandatory requirements of the 1962
				Public Health Service Drinking Water Standards.
8. The specified standards are not considered
				violated when the natural conditions of the receiving water are outside the
				established limits, including periods of extreme high or low flow. Where
				effluents are discharged to such waters, the discharges are not considered a
				contributor to substandard conditions provided maximum treatment in compliance
				with permit requirements is maintained.
Environmental Comm'n,
				  Water Pollution Control Reg. § 4.1.2 subsecs. a-g, eff. 5-2-78-NAC A
				  9-26-90; R017-99, 9-27-99
NRS
					 445A.425,
					 445A.520