North Dakota Administrative Code › Title 33.1 - Department of Environmental Quality › Article 33.1-16 - Control, Prevention, and Abatement of Pollution of Surface Water › Chapter 33.1-16-01 - North Dakota Pollutant Discharge Elimination System › Section 33.1-16-01-01 - General - Definitions - Permit effect - Incorporation by reference

Current through Supplement No. 393, July, 2024
1.
Authority.
The authority for this chapter relating to the control,
				prevention, and abatement of pollution of natural surface and underground
				waters is provided by North Dakota Century Code section 61-28-04.
2.
Scope and purpose.
This
				chapter establishes procedures governing the application for, and the issuance,
				denial, modification, and revocation of, permits for the discharge of
				pollutants into the waters of the state, as defined by subsection 6 of North
				Dakota Century Code section 61-28-02. The establishment of such procedures is
				required as a condition precedent to participation by North Dakota in the
				national pollutant discharge elimination system, pursuant to the provisions of
				section 402(b) of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act [
				33 U.S.C.
				1251 et seq.].
3.
Definitions.
As used in this
				chapter, unless the context otherwise indicates:
a. "Administrator" means the administrator of
				the United States environmental protection agency.
b. "Applicable water quality standards" means
				all water quality standards to which a discharge is subject under the Federal
				Water Pollution Control Act and which have been:
(1) Approved or permitted to remain in effect
				by the administrator following submission to the administrator pursuant to
				section 303(a) of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act; or
(2) Promulgated by the administrator pursuant
				to section 303(b) or (c) of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act.
c. "Biological monitoring" means
				the determination of the effects on aquatic life, including accumulation of
				pollutants in tissue, in receiving waters due to the discharge of pollutants:
(1) By techniques and procedures, including
				sampling of organisms representative of appropriate levels of the food chain
				appropriate to the volume and the physical, chemical, and biological
				characteristics of the effluent; and
(2) At appropriate frequencies and
				locations.
d.
				"Department" means the department of environmental quality.
e. "Discharge" when used without
				qualification includes a discharge of a pollutant, and a discharge of
				pollutants.
f. "Discharge of a
				pollutant" and "discharge of pollutants" each means any addition of any
				pollutant to the waters of the state from any source, including the disposal of
				pollutants into wells.
g. "Effluent
				standard" or "effluent limitation" means any restriction established by the
				department on quantities, rates, and concentrations of chemical, physical,
				biological, and other constituents which are discharged from point sources into
				the waters of the state. Such restrictions shall be at least as stringent as
				standards adopted by the administrator pursuant to the provisions of the
				Federal Water Pollution Control Act. Such restrictions shall include effluent
				limitations and applicable compliance schedules, standards of performance,
				toxic effluent standards and prohibitions, and pretreatment standards adopted
				by the administrator pursuant to the aforesaid Act.
h. "EPA" means the United States
				environmental protection agency.
i.
				"Industrial user" means a source of indirect discharge as defined in section
				33.1-16-01.1-01.
j. "Major facility" means any facility or
				activity subject to regulation under the national pollutant discharge
				elimination system which has been identified as a major facility by the
				regional administrator in conjunction with the department.
k. "Minor discharge" means any discharge from
				a facility or activity which has not been identified as a major
				facility.
I. "Municipality" means a
				city, county, district, association, or other public body created by or
				pursuant to state law and having jurisdiction over disposal of wastes, as the
				term is defined by subsection 2 of North Dakota Century Code section 61-28-02,
				or a designated and approved management agency under section 209 of the Federal
				Water Pollution Control Act.
m.
				"National data bank" means a facility or system established or to be
				established by the administrator for the purposes of assembling, organizing,
				and analyzing data pertaining to water quality and the discharge of
				pollutants.
n. "National pollutant
				discharge elimination system (NPDES)" means the national system for the
				issuance of permits under section 402 of the Federal Water Pollution Control
				Act of 1972 and includes any state or interstate program which has been
				approved by the administrator pursuant to section 402 of the Federal Water
				Pollution Control Act.
o. "National
				pollutant discharge elimination system application" or "application" means the
				uniform national forms, including subsequent additions, revisions, or
				modifications duly promulgated by the administrator pursuant to the Federal
				Water Pollution Control Act, for application for a national pollutant discharge
				elimination system permit and any state form that has been approved for use by
				the administrator.
p. "National
				pollutant discharge elimination system form" means any issued national
				pollutant discharge elimination system permit and any uniform national form
				developed for use in the national pollutant discharge elimination system and
				prescribed in regulations promulgated by the administrator and any state form
				that has been approved for use by the administrator.
q. "National pollutant discharge elimination
				system permit" means any permit issued by the department pursuant to its
				authority under North Dakota Century Code section 61-28-04, and subsequent to
				approval by the administrator as described in subsection 5 of section
				33.1-16-01-04.
r. "National pollutant discharge elimination
				system reporting form" means the uniform national forms, including subsequent
				additions, revisions, or modifications duly promulgated by the administrator
				pursuant to the Federal Water Pollution Control Act, for reporting data and
				information pursuant to monitoring and other conditions of national pollutant
				discharge elimination system permits and any state form that has been approved
				for use by the administrator.
s.
				"Person" means the state or any agency or institution thereof, any
				municipality, political subdivision, public or private corporation, individual,
				partnership, association, any agency or instrumentality of the United States
				government, or other entity, and includes any officer or governing or managing
				body of any municipality, political subdivision, or public or private
				corporation.
t. "Pollutant" means
				"wastes" as defined in subsection 2 of North Dakota Century Code section
				61-28-02, including dredged spoil, solid waste, incinerator residue, garbage,
				sewage, sludge, munitions, chemical wastes, biological materials, radioactive
				materials, heat, wrecked or discarded equipment, rock, sand, cellar dirt, and
				industrial, municipal, and agricultural waste discharged into water.
u. "Refuse Act application" means the
				application for a permit under section 13 of the River and Harbor Act of 1899 [
				33 U.S.C.
				407 ].
v. "Regional administrator" means the
				regional administrator of region VIII of the environmental protection agency,
				which includes within its jurisdiction North Dakota.
w. "Schedule of compliance" means a schedule
				of remedial measures, including an enforceable sequence of actions or
				operations leading to compliance with an effluent limitation, other limitation,
				prohibition, or standard.
x. "Toxic
				pollutant" means those pollutants, or combinations of pollutants, including
				disease-causing agents, which after discharge and upon exposure, ingestion,
				inhalation, or assimilation into any organism, either directly from the
				environment or indirectly by ingestion through food chains, will, on the basis
				of information available to the administrator, cause death, disease, behavioral
				abnormalities, cancer, genetic mutations, physiological malfunctions including
				malfunctions in reproduction, or physical deformations, in such organisms or
				their offspring.
y. "Waters of the
				state" means all water included within the definitions given in subsection 15
				of North Dakota Century Code section 61-28-02 or North Dakota Century Code
				section 61-01-01.