North Carolina Administrative Code › Title 15A - Environmental Quality › Chapter 02 - Environmental Management › Subchapter L - GROUNDWATER CLASSIFICATION AND STANDARDS › Section .0100 - GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS › Section 02L .0102 - DEFINITIONS

Current through Register Vol. 39, No. 2, July 15, 2024
The definition of any word or phrase used in the Rules in
					 this Subchapter shall be the same as given in
					 G.S.
					 143-212 and
					 G.S.
					 143-213 except that the following words and
					 phrases shall have the following meanings:
(1) "Active remediation" means corrective
				  action that includes active physical, biological, or chemical manipulation of
				  groundwater or of the rock or soil media for the purpose of reducing the amount
				  of contamination or minimizing the spread of contamination.
(2) "Anthropogenic" means of, relating to, or
				  resulting from the influence of human beings on nature.
(3) "Background threshold values" mean
				  statistically derived values of the concentrations of substances in
				  environmental media not affected by site conditions, actions, or activities for
				  use as a basis for compliance with the rules in this Subchapter.
(4) "Bedrock" means any consolidated rock
				  encountered in the place in which it was formed or deposited and which cannot
				  be readily excavated without the use of explosives or power
				  equipment.
(5) "Chief
				  administrative officer" shall be, for the purposes of this Rule, the mayor,
				  chairman of the county commissioners, the county manager, or the city manager
				  who is responsible for environmental issues in their jurisdiction.
(6) "Compliance boundary" means a boundary
				  around the waste disposal area of a disposal system at and beyond which
				  standards may not be exceeded and applies to facilities which have received an
				  individual permit issued under the authority of
				  G.S.
				  143-215.1, Article 9 of G.S. 130A, or Article
				  11 of G.S. 130A.
(7) "Compliance
				  zone" means the area encompassed within the compliance boundary.
(8) "Constituent of interest" means any
				  substance that is manmade or naturally occurring that is associated with or
				  influenced by site activities or actions and that is of interest to the
				  protection of public health or the environment.
(9) "Contaminant" means any substance that
				  occurs in groundwater as a result of anthropogenic sources or activities in
				  concentrations which exceed the standards.
(10) "Control" means the ability to
				  physically, mechanically, or chemically influence sources of contamination and
				  contaminant distribution.
(11)
				  "Corrective action plan" means a plan for controlling or eliminating sources of
				  groundwater contamination or for restoring groundwater quality.
(12) "Director" means Director of the
				  Division of Water Resources or Waste Management or their delegate.
(13) "Division" means the Division of Water
				  Resources or Waste Management.
(14)
				  "Exposure pathway" means a course taken by a contaminant by way of a transport
				  medium after its release to the environment.
(15) "Free product" means a non-aqueous phase
				  liquid which may be present within the saturated zone or in surface
				  water.
(16) "Fresh waters" means
				  those groundwaters having a chloride concentration equal to or less than 250
				  milligrams per liter.
(17)
				  "Groundwaters" means waters occurring in the subsurface under saturated
				  conditions.
(18) "Hazardous
				  substance" means any substance as defined by
				  42 U.S.C.
				  9601(14).
(19) "Licensed geologist" means a person who
				  has been licensed as a geologist in accordance with the requirements of G.S.
				  89E.
(20) "Licensed soil scientist"
				  means a person who has been licensed as a soil scientist in accordance with the
				  requirements of G.S. 89F.
(21)
				  "Natural attenuation" means those natural processes acting to restore
				  groundwater quality, including dilution, filtration, sorption, ion-exchange,
				  chemical transformation, and biodegradation.
(22) "Natural conditions or naturally
				  occurring" means the physical, biological, chemical, and radiological
				  conditions which occur naturally and are not a result of anthropogenic sources
				  or activities.
(23) "Person" shall
				  be as defined in
				  G.S.
				  130A-290(22).
(24) "Potable waters" means those waters
				  suitable for drinking by humans.
(25) "Practical Quantitation Limit" means the
				  lowest concentration of a given material that can be reliably achieved by a
				  particular analytical technique operated within specified parameters of a given
				  analytical method during routine laboratory analysis while following all
				  applicable state or federal quality assurance and quality control
				  requirements.
(26) "Professional
				  Engineer" means a person who has been registered and licensed as a professional
				  engineer in accordance with the requirements of G.S. 89C.
(27) "Receptor" is as defined in
				  G.S.
				  130A-309.201 and, for the purposes of this
				  Rule, shall also include waters of the State as defined in
				  G.S.
				  143-212(6).
(28) "Review boundary" means a boundary
				  around a permitted waste disposal area midway between a waste boundary and a
				  compliance boundary at which groundwater monitoring may be required.
(29) "Saturated zone" means that part of the
				  subsurface below the water table in which all the interconnected voids are
				  filled with water under pressure at or greater than atmospheric. It does not
				  include the capillary fringe.
(30)
				  "Secretary" means the Secretary of the Department of Environmental Quality or
				  his or her delegate.
(31)
				  "Standard" or "standards" means groundwater quality standards as specified in
				  Rule .0202 of this Subchapter and any interim maximum allowable concentrations
				  established by the Director per Rule .0202(c) of this Subchapter.
(32) "Suitable for drinking" means a quality
				  of water that does not contain substances in concentrations which, either
				  singularly or in combination, if ingested into the human body, may cause death,
				  disease, behavioral abnormalities, congenital defects, genetic mutations, or
				  result in an incremental lifetime cancer risk in excess of 1x10-6, or result in
				  adverse effects to the consumer due to aesthetic qualities, including taste,
				  odor, or appearance.
(33) "Waste
				  boundary" means the perimeter of the permitted waste disposal area.
(34) "Waste disposal area" means that portion
				  of a disposal system permitted under authority of
				  G.S
				  143-215.1, Article 9 of G.S. 130A, or Article
				  11 of G.S. 130A whose purpose is the temporary or permanent disposal of
				  waste.
(35) "Water table" means the
				  surface of the saturated zone below which all interconnected voids are filled
				  with water and at which the pressure is atmospheric.
Authority
					 G.S.
					 143-214.1;
					 143-215;
					 143B-282;
Eff. June
					 10, 1979.
Amended Eff. October 1, 1993; August 1, 1989; July 1,
					 1988; March 1, 1985;
Readopted Eff. June 1,
					 2022.