North Carolina Administrative Code › Title 15A - Environmental Quality › Chapter 02 - Environmental Management › Subchapter B - SURFACE WATER AND WETLAND STANDARDS › Section .0400 - EFFLUENT LIMITATIONS › Section 02B .0404 - WATER QUALITY BASED EFFLUENT LIMITATIONS

Current through Register Vol. 39, No. 2, July 15, 2024
(a)
				  Effluent limitations shall be developed by the staff for all existing or
				  proposed discharges to the surface waters of the state. Water quality based
				  effluent limitations shall be established for discharges that are found,
				  through mathematical modeling of water quality impacts, statistical analysis of
				  stream characteristics and effluent data or other appropriate means, to have a
				  reasonable potential to cause or contribute to exceedance of applicable water
				  quality standards; except that, if the discharge is subject to both technology
				  based and water quality based effluent limitations for a parameter, the more
				  stringent limit shall apply.
(b)
				  The staff may on a case-by-case basis develop seasonal limitations on the
				  discharge of oxygen-consuming wastes when a treatment facility complies with
				  applicable limitations on these wastes in the summer season but does not
				  consistently comply in the winter season due to the effects of cooler
				  temperatures or other seasonal factors beyond its control. A discharger may
				  request seasonal effluent limitations by submitting a written request to the
				  Director with justification for such limitations. In no case shall seasonal
				  limitations cause or be expected to cause a receiving water body to violate
				  applicable water quality standards.
(c) For the purpose of determining seasonal
				  effluent limitations, the year shall consist of a summer and a winter discharge
				  period. The summer period shall begin April 1 and extend through October 31.
				  The winter period shall begin November 1 and extend through March 31. The
				  summer oxygen-consuming wasteload allocation shall be developed using the flow
				  criteria specified in
				  15A NCAC
				  02B .0206. The winter oxygen-consuming
				  wasteload allocation shall not exceed two times the summer oxygen-consuming
				  wasteload limitations nor shall it be less restrictive than minimum treatment
				  requirements.
(d) No domestic
				  sewage regardless of the treatment proposed and no other wastes that could
				  adversely affect the taking of shellfish for market purposes shall be
				  discharged into water classified "SA", into unnamed waters tributary to "SA"
				  waters classified "C" or "SC" in accordance with
				  15A NCAC
				  02B .0301(i)(1)(B) and (C),
				  or into other waters in such close proximity as to adversely affect such "SA"
				  waters. Wastes discharged into other waters tributary to waters classified "SA"
				  shall be treated in such manner as to assure that no impairment of water
				  quality in the "SA" segments shall occur. No permits shall be issued for
				  discharges into waters classified "SA" unless Shellfish Sanitation, Division of
				  Marine Fisheries, Department of Environmental Quality, provides written
				  concurrence that the discharge would not adversely affect shellfish water
				  quality or the propagation of shellfish.
(e) The discharge of wastewaters to the
				  Atlantic Ocean shall follow the guidelines and requirements set forth in 40 CFR
				  Part 125, Subpart M, Ocean Discharge Criteria.
Authority
					 G.S.
					 143-214.2(c);
					 143-215;
					 143-215.1;
					 143-215.3(a)(1);
Eff. February 1, 1976;
Amended Eff. August 12, 1979;
Readopted Eff. May 1, 2020.