North Carolina Administrative Code › Title 15A - Environmental Quality › Chapter 02 - Environmental Management › Subchapter H - PROCEDURES FOR PERMITS: APPROVALS › Section .0900 - LOCAL PRETREATMENT PROGRAMS › Section 02H .0903 - DEFINITION OF TERMS

Current through Register Vol. 39, No. 2, July 15, 2024
(a) Unless
				  otherwise stated in Paragraph (b) of this Rule, the definitions promulgated by
				  the Environmental Protection Agency and codified as
				  40 CFR
				  403.3 are hereby incorporated by reference,
				  including any subsequent amendments and editions. A copy of the reference
				  material can be found at
https://www.ecfr.gov/cgi-bin/text-idx?tpl=/ecfrbrowse/Title40/40cfr403_main_02.tpl
,
				  free of charge.
(b) For this
				  Section, the following additional definitions shall apply:
(1) "Approval Authority" means the Director
				  of the Division of Water Resources of the North Carolina Department of
				  Environmental Quality, or his or her designee;
(2) "Average" means the value calculated by
				  dividing the sum of the data values collected over a time period by the number
				  of data points that comprise the sum;
(3) "Bypass" is the intentional diversion of
				  waste streams from any portion of a pretreatment facility. Also see Rule .0919
				  of this Section and 40 CFR
				  403.17 for additional requirements;
(4) "Commission" means the Environmental
				  Management Commission of the North Carolina Department of Environmental
				  Quality;
(5) "Control Authority"
				  refers to the POTW if the POTW'S pretreatment program has been approved in
				  accordance with Rules .0905, .0906, and .0907 of this Section, and that
				  approval has not been subsequently withdrawn. Otherwise, the approval authority
				  is the control authority;
(6)
				  "Division" refers to the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality,
				  Division of Water Resources;
(7)
				  "Enforcement Response Plan" or "ERP" means the control authority pretreatment
				  program document describing the guidelines for identifying violations of and
				  enforcing specific local limits and other pretreatment standards and
				  requirements;
(8) "EPA" means the
				  United States Environmental Protection Agency;
(9) "Fundamentally Different Factors" are
				  factors upon which a variance from a categorical standard may be granted under
				  Rule .0912 of this Section and
				  40 CFR
				  403.13;
(10) "Headworks Analysis" or "HWA" is the
				  analysis used to calculate the maximum allowable POTW influent loadings for
				  flow and pollutants of concern based on design capacity, NPDES or non-discharge
				  permit limits, pass through, interference, sludge, or worker safety and health
				  considerations, as applicable. The headworks analysis is the technical basis
				  for deriving local limits applied to industrial users;
(11) "Indirect Discharge" or "Discharge"
				  refers to the introduction of pollutants into a POTW from any non-domestic
				  source regulated under Sections 307(b), (c), or (d) of the Clean Water
				  Act;
(12) "Industrial User" or
				  "User" means a source of indirect discharge;
(13) "Industrial Waste Survey" or "IWS"
				  refers to the survey of the users of the POTW collection system or treatment
				  plant performed by the control authority as required by
				  40 CFR
				  403.8(f)(2) (i-iii) and Rule
				  .0905 of this Section, including identification of all industrial users and the
				  character and amount of pollutants contributed to the POTW by these industrial
				  users and identification of those industrial users meeting the definition of
				  significant industrial user. Where the control authority accepts wastewater
				  from one or more satellite POTWs, the IWS for that control authority shall
				  address all satellite POTW services areas, unless the pretreatment program in
				  those satellite service areas is administered by a separate control
				  authority;
(14) "Interference"
				  refers to inhibition or disruption of the: POTW collection system; treatment
				  processes; operations; or its sludge process, use, or disposal that causes or
				  contributes to a violation of any requirement of the control authority's (or
				  the POTW's if different from the control authority) NPDES, collection system,
				  or non-discharge permit, including an increase in the magnitude or duration of
				  a violation, or prevents sewage sludge use or disposal in compliance with
				  specified applicable State and Federal statutes, regulations, or
				  permits;
(15) "Medical Waste"
				  refers to isolation wastes, infectious agents, human blood and blood products,
				  pathological wastes, sharps, body parts, contaminated bedding, surgical wastes,
				  potentially contaminated laboratory wastes, and dialysis wastes;
(16) "Monitoring Plan" refers to the
				  monitoring plan designed to collect POTW site-specific data for use in the
				  headworks analysis. Monitoring plans may be designated as Long Term (LTMP) or
				  Short Term (STMP) as the Division Director determines to be
				  necessary;
(17) "National
				  Pretreatment "Standard," "Pretreatment Standard," or "Standard" means any
				  regulation containing pollutant discharge limits promulgated by the EPA in
				  accordance with Sections 307(b) and (c) of the Clean Water Act that applies to
				  industrial users. This term also includes any prohibitive discharge limits
				  established pursuant to 40
				  CFR 403.5, categorical standards established
				  under the appropriate subpart of 40 CFR Chapter I, Subpart N or local limit
				  that applies to an industrial user.
				  40 CFR
				  403.5, Chapters I and N of Part 405 of Title
				  40 of the Code of Federal Regulations are hereby incorporated by reference,
				  including any subsequent amendments and editions available free of charge
				  (
https://www.ecfr.gov/cgi-bin/text-idx?tpl=/ecfrbrowse/Title40/40cfr403_main_02.tpl
);
(18) "Net/Gross Calculation" is an adjustment
				  of a categorical standard to reflect the presence of pollutants in the
				  industrial user's intake water that may be granted under Rule .0915 of this
				  Section and 40 CFR
				  403.15;
(19) "Noncontact Cooling Water" is water used
				  for cooling that does not come into direct contact with any raw material,
				  intermediate product, waste product, or finished product;
(20) "Non-discharge Permit" is a permit
				  issued by the State pursuant to
				  G.S.
				  143-215.1(d) for a waste
				  that is not discharged directly to surface waters of the State or for a
				  wastewater treatment works that does not discharge directly to surface waters
				  of the State;
(21) "Pass Through"
				  means a discharge that exits the POTW into waters of the State in quantities or
				  concentrations which, alone or with discharges from other sources, causes a
				  violation, including an increase in the magnitude or duration of a violation,
				  of the control authority's (or the POTW's, if different from the control
				  authority) NPDES, collection system, or non-discharge permit;
(22) "Pollutant" includes any waste defined
				  in G.S.
				  143-213(18); dredged spoil;
				  solid waste; incinerator residue; garbage; sewage sludge; munitions; medical
				  wastes; chemical waste; biological materials; radioactive materials; heat;
				  wrecked or discarded equipment; rock; sand; cellar dirt; municipal and
				  agricultural waste; and certain characteristics of wastewater, such as pH,
				  temperature, TSS, turbidity, color, metals, BOD, COD, toxicity, and
				  odor;
(23) "Pollutant of Concern"
				  or "POC" is a pollutant identified as being of concern to the control authority
				  for purposes of the pretreatment program. A pollutant of concern may include a
				  conventional wastewater pollutant, such as BOD, TSS, or ammonia; any of the
				  priority pollutants; pH; and any pollutant that may be identified as a source
				  of interference, pass through, whole effluent toxicity, or sludge
				  contamination;
(24) "POTW," or
				  "Publicly Owned Treatment Works," means a treatment works as defined by Section
				  212 of the Clean Water Act, which is owned by a state or municipality. This
				  definition includes any devices and systems used in the storage, treatment,
				  recycling, and reclamation of municipal sewage or industrial wastes of a liquid
				  nature. It also includes the collection system, as defined in
				  15A NCAC
				  02T .0402, only if it conveys wastewater to a
				  POTW treatment plant. The term also means the municipality, as defined in
				  Section 502(4) of the CWA, that has jurisdiction over indirect discharges to
				  and the discharges from such a treatment works. The municipality may be the
				  owner of the POTW treatment plant or the owner of the collection system into
				  which an indirect discharger discharges. This second type of municipality may
				  be referred to as a "satellite municipality," a "satellite POTW," or a
				  "satellite POTW organization";
(25)
				  "POTW Director" means the chief administrative officer of the control authority
				  or his or her delegate;
(26)
				  "Pretreatment" refers to the reduction of the amount of pollutants, the
				  elimination of pollutants, or the alteration of the nature of pollutant
				  properties in wastewater prior to or in lieu of discharging or otherwise
				  introducing such pollutants into a POTW collection system or treatment plant.
				  The reduction or alteration may be obtained by physical, chemical, or
				  biological processes, or process changes or other means, except as prohibited
				  by 40 CFR
				  403.6(d). Where wastewater
				  from a regulated process is mixed with unregulated wastewater or with
				  wastewater from another regulated process, the pretreatment limit must be
				  calculated in accordance with
				  40 CFR
				  403.6(e);
(27) "Process Wastewater" means any water
				  which, during manufacturing or processing, comes into direct contact with or
				  results from the production or use of any raw material, intermediate product,
				  finished product, by-product, or waste product;
(28) "Removal Credits" are credits that may
				  be granted under Rule .0921 of this Section and 40 CFR Parts 403.7 and 403.11
				  to adjust categorical standards in such a way as to reflect POTW consistent
				  removal of a particular pollutant;
(29) "Sewer Use Ordinance" or "SUO" means the
				  POTW or control authority organization ordinance providing the legal authority
				  for administering the pretreatment program;
(30) "Significant Industrial User" or "SIU"
				  means an industrial user that discharges wastewater into a POTW and that:
(A) Discharges an average of 25,000 gallons
				  per day or more of process wastewater to the POTW excluding sanitary,
				  noncontact cooling, and boiler blowdown wastewater;
(B) Contributes process wastewater that makes
				  up five percent or more of the NPDES or non-discharge permitted flow limit or
				  organic capacity of the POTW treatment plant. In this context, organic capacity
				  refers to BOD, TSS, and ammonia;
(C) Is subject to categorical standards under
				  40 CFR
				  403.6 and
				  40 CFR Chapter I, Subpart
				  N;
(D) is designated as such by the
				  control authority on the basis that the industrial user has a reasonable
				  potential for adversely affecting the POTW's operation (including contributing
				  to violations of the limitation and requirements of the NPDES or non-discharge
				  permit or limiting the POTW's sludge disposal options) or for violating any
				  pretreatment standard or requirement (in accordance with
				  40 CFR
				  403.3(l)and (t);
(E) Subject to approval under Rule .0907(b)
				  of this Section, the control authority may determine that an industrial user
				  meeting the criteria in Parts (A) or (B) of this Subparagraph has no reasonable
				  potential for adversely affecting the POTW's operation or for violating any
				  pretreatment standard or requirement, the POTW's effluent limitations and
				  conditions in its NPDES or non-discharge permit, or to limit the POTW's sludge
				  disposal options, and thus is not a significant industrial user; or
(F) Subject to approval under Rule .0907(b)
				  of this Section, the control authority may determine that an industrial user
				  meeting the criteria in Part (C) of this Subparagraph meets the requirements of
				  40 CFR
				  403.3(v)(2) and thus is a
				  non-significant categorical industrial user;
(31) "Significant Noncompliance" or "SNC" is
				  the status of noncompliance of a significant industrial user when one or more
				  of the following criteria are met, or any industrial user that meets the
				  criteria in Parts (C), (D), or (H) of this Subparagraph:
(A) "Chronic violations" of wastewater
				  discharge limits, defined here as those in which 66 percent or more of all the
				  measurements taken for the same pollutant parameter (not including flow) during
				  a six month period exceed (by any magnitude) a numeric pretreatment standard or
				  requirement including instantaneous limits, as defined by
				  40 CFR
				  403.3(l);
(B) "Technical Review Criteria" (TRC)
				  violations, defined here as those in which 33 percent or more of all the
				  measurements taken for the same pollutant parameter during a six-month period
				  equal or exceed the product of the numeric pretreatment standard or requirement
				  including instantaneous limits, as defined by
				  40 CFR
				  403.3(l) multiplied by the
				  applicable TRC; (TRC = 1.4 for BOD, TSS, fats, oil, and grease, 1.2 for all
				  other pollutants (except flow and pH));
(C) Any other violation of a pretreatment
				  standard or requirement as defined by
				  40 CFR
				  403.3(l) (daily maximum,
				  long-term average, instantaneous limit, or narrative standard) that the control
				  authority (or POTW, if different from the control authority), determines has
				  caused, alone or in combination with other discharges, interference or pass
				  through (including endangering the health of POTW personnel or the general
				  public);
(D) Any discharge of a
				  pollutant or wastewater that has caused imminent endangerment to human health
				  or welfare or to the environment or has resulted in either the control
				  authority's or the POTW's, if different from the control authority, exercise of
				  its emergency authority under
				  40 CFR
				  403.8(f)(1)(vi)(B) to halt
				  or prevent the discharge;
(E)
				  Failure to meet, within 90 days after the schedule date, a compliance schedule
				  milestone contained in a pretreatment permit or enforcement order for starting
				  construction, completing construction, or attaining final compliance;
(F) Failure to provide, within 45 days after
				  the due date, required reports such as baseline monitoring reports, 90-day
				  compliance reports, self-monitoring reports, and reports on compliance with
				  compliance schedules;
(G) Failure
				  to report noncompliance; or
(H) Any
				  other violation or group of violations that the control authority or POTW
				  determines will adversely affect the operation or implementation of the local
				  pretreatment program;
(32) "Staff" means the staff of the Division
				  of Water Resources, Department of Environmental Quality;
(33) "Upset" means the same as set out in
				  Rule .0914 of this Section and 40 Part 403.16;
(34) "Wastewater" means the liquid and
				  water-carried industrial or domestic wastes from dwellings, commercial
				  buildings, industrial facilities, mobile sources, treatment facilities, and
				  institutions, together with any groundwater, surface water, and storm water
				  that may be present, whether treated or untreated, which are contributed to or
				  permitted to enter the POTW; and
(35) "Waters of the State" shall have the
				  same meaning as the terms "waters" as defined in
				  G.S.
				  143-212.