North Dakota Administrative Code › Title 33.1 - Department of Environmental Quality › Article 33.1-21 - Cesspools, Septic Tanks, Privies › Chapter 33.1-21-02 - Servicing of Septic or Holding Tanks, Privies, or Portable Restrooms › Section 33.1-21-02-08 - Septage disposal

Current through Supplement No. 393, July, 2024
1. Septage must be
				disposed of at a department-permitted wastewater treatment facility, or it may
				be land-applied. All septic system servicers shall submit disposal site
				information to the department with their permit applications under subsection 2
				of section
				33.1-21-02-05.
2. Class I septic system servicers shall
				obtain the department's written preapproval for land application sites.
				Approval requests may be submitted with a permit application or during the term
				of the permit. Approval requests not included in the permit application shall
				include the information on the proposed land application site listed in
				subsection 3 of section
				33.1-21-02-05. If the approval
				request contains all the required information, the land application sites may
				be given conditional approval within thirty days of submission. Full approval
				is contingent on a site assessment conducted by the department and will be
				granted automatically unless otherwise notified by the department. The
				department may not approve sites that may cause harm to the environment or
				threaten the public. Once given full approval by the department, land
				application sites shall retain approval for a period of not less than five
				years, unless additional future information indicates a change in the
				environmental status of the property. Examples for cause of termination of
				approval include excessive runoff, odor complaints, illegal disposal,
				etc.
Class II septic system servicers shall follow all general
				  land application requirements as outlined in subsections 4 through 8.
3. A septic system servicer land applying
				septage from a rural single-family residence on property owned or leased by the
				owner or lessee of the rural single-family residence is exempt from obtaining
				the department's written approval for the land application site. General land
				application site requirements still apply and must be followed.
4. General land application site requirements
				shall be followed by all septic pumper classifications, including rural
				single-family exemptions, and are as follows:
a. Application of septage is not allowed on a
				designated one hundred-year floodplain as defined by federal emergency
				management agency flood maps nor below the ordinary high water mark.
b. Application of septage is not allowed on
				areas of a site ponded with water or septage.
c. Septage cannot be applied when soils are
				saturated.
d. Septage cannot be
				applied by spraying from public roads or across road right of ways.
e. All septage that is land-applied must be
				uniformly distributed over the area by use of a distribution device, such as a
				splash plate or spreader.
f.
				Measures must be taken to ensure that the ponding or septage and runoff does
				not occur.
g. Slope restrictions
				are as follows:
(1) Surface application,
				injection, or immediate incorporation of septage is allowed on slopes six
				percent and less.
(2) Injection of
				septage is required on slopes greater than six percent up to twelve
				percent.
(3) Land application of
				septage is not allowed on slopes greater than twelve percent.
h. Separation distances are as
				follows:
(1) Private drinking water wells
				must have two hundred feet of separation from land application of
				septage.
(2) Public drinking water
				supply wells must have one thousand feet of separation from land application of
				septage.
(3) Irrigation wells must
				have fifty feet of separation from land application of septage.
(4) Residences must have one thousand feet of
				separation from land application of septage, unless permission is obtained by
				the owner and resident to reduce this distance.
(5) Surface water features must have two
				hundred feet of separation distance from land application of septage.
(6) Public contact sites, including roads,
				must have a separation distance of two hundred feet from surface-applied and
				incorporated septage. A separation distance of fifty feet is required for
				injection of septage.
i.
				Public contact sites shall be posted with no trespassing signs for thirty days
				after application.
j. Septage shall
				be applied at a rate of less than twenty thousand gallons per acre per day and
				less than one hundred pounds of nitrogen per acre per year. The department may
				waive these rates upon a site-by-site review basis.
k. Land application sites shall be maintained
				free of litter.
I. The discharge
				from the servicing units shall be controlled so that pooling or ponding of
				septage during land application does not occur.