Pennsylvania Code › Title 25 - ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION › Part I - Department of Environmental Protection › Subpart C - Protection of Natural Resources › Article II - Water Resources › Chapter 92a - NATIONAL POLLUTANT DISCHARGE ELIMINATION SYSTEM PERMITTING, MONITORING AND COMPLIANCE › Subchapter A - DEFINITIONS AND GENERAL PROGRAM REQUIREMENTS › Section 92a.2 - Definitions

Current through Register Vol. 54, No. 28, July 13, 2024
The following words and terms, when used in this
						  chapter, have the following meanings, unless the context clearly indicates
						  otherwise:
AEU-Animal Equivalent Unit
-One
						  thousand pounds live weight of livestock or poultry animals, regardless of the
						  actual number of individual animals comprising the unit, as defined in
						  3
						  Pa.C.S. §
													503 (relating to
						  definitions).
Administrator
-The Administrator of
						  the EPA or an authorized representative.
Agricultural operation
-The management
						  and use of farming resources for the production of crops, livestock or poultry
						  as defined in
						  3
						  Pa.C.S. §
													503.
Agricultural process wastewater
-Wastewater from agricultural operations, including from spillage or overflow
						  from livestock or poultry watering systems; washing, cleaning or flushing pens,
						  milkhouses, barns, manure pits; direct contact swimming, washing or spray
						  cooling of livestock or poultry; egg washing; or dust control.
Applicable effluent limitations or
						  standards
-State, interstate and Federal effluent limitations or
						  standards to which a discharge is subject under the State and Federal Acts,
						  including, but not limited to, water quality-based and technology-based
						  effluent limitations, standards of performance, toxic effluent standards and
						  prohibitions, BMPs and pretreatment standards.
Applicable water quality standards
-Water quality standards to which a discharge is subject under the State and
						  Federal Acts, and regulations promulgated thereunder.
Application
-The Department's form for
						  applying for approval to discharge pollutants to surface waters of this
						  Commonwealth under a new NPDES permit, or reissuance of an existing NPDES
						  permit, or the modification or transfer of an existing NPDES permit.
Aquaculture project
-A defined managed
						  water area which uses discharges of pollutants into that designated area for
						  the maintenance or production of harvestable freshwater, estuarine, or marine
						  plants and animals.
Authority
-A body politic and corporate
						  created under 53 Pa.C.S. Chapter 56 (relating to municipal authorities
						  act).
BAT-Best Available Technology Economically
						  Achievable
-
(i) The maximum
						degree of effluent reduction attainable through the application of the best
						treatment technology economically achievable within an industrial category or
						subcategory, or other category of discharger.
(ii) The term includes categorical ELGs
						promulgated by the EPA under section 304(b) of the Federal Act (33 U.S.C.A. §
													1314(b)).
BOD5-Biochemical oxygen
						  demand, 5-day
-The 5-day measure of the pollutant parameter biochemical
						  oxygen demand.
BMP-Best Management Practices-
(i) Schedules of activities, prohibitions of
						practices, maintenance procedures and other management practices to prevent or
						reduce pollutant loading to surface waters of this Commonwealth.
(ii) The term includes treatment
						requirements, operating procedures and practices to control plant site runoff,
						spillage or leaks, sludge or waste disposal, or drainage from raw material
						storage. The term includes activities, facilities, measures, planning or
						procedures used to minimize accelerated erosion and sedimentation and manage
						stormwater to protect, maintain, reclaim, and restore the quality of waters and
						the existing and designated uses of waters within this Commonwealth before,
						during and after earth disturbance activities.
BTA-Best Technology Available
-The
						  combination of technologies and operational practices that achieves the most
						  effective degree of impingement mortality and entrainment reduction applicable
						  to the facility.
CAAP-Concentrated Aquatic Animal Production
						  Facility
-A hatchery, fish farm or other facility which meets the
						  criteria in 40 CFR
						  122.24 (relating to concentrated aquatic
						  animal production facilities (applicable to State NPDES programs, see §
						  123.25)).
CAFO-Concentrated Animal Feeding
						  Operation
-A CAO with greater than 300 AEUs, any agricultural operation
						  with greater than 1,000 AEUs, or any agricultural operation defined as a large
						  CAFO under 40 CFR
						  122.23(b)(4) (relating to
						  concentrated animal feeding operations (applicable to State NPDES programs, see
						  § 123.25)).
CAO-Concentrated Animal Operation
-An
						  agricultural operation that meets the criteria established by the State
						  Conservation Commission under the authority of 3 Pa.C.S. Chapter 5 (relating to
						  nutrient management and odor management) in Chapter 83, Subchapter D (relating
						  to nutrient management).
CBOD5-Carbonaceous
						  biochemical oxygen demand, 5-day
-The 5 day measure of the pollutant
						  parameter carbonaceous biochemical oxygen demand.
CSO-Combined Sewer Overflow
-An
						  intermittent overflow or other untreated discharge from a municipal combined
						  sewer system (including domestic, industrial and commercial wastewater and
						  stormwater) prior to reaching the headworks of the sewage treatment facility
						  which results from a flow in excess of the dry weather carrying capacity of the
						  system.
Combined sewer system
-A sewer system
						  that has been designed to serve as both a sanitary sewer and a storm
						  sewer.
Conventional pollutant
-Biochemical
						  oxygen demand, carbonaceous biochemical oxygen demand, suspended solids, pH,
						  fecal coliform, oil or grease.
DMR-Discharge Monitoring Report
-The
						  Department or EPA supplied forms for reporting of self-monitoring results by
						  the permittee.
Daily discharge
-The discharge of a
						  pollutant measured during a calendar day or any 24-hour period that reasonably
						  and accurately represents the calendar day for purposes of sampling:
(i) For pollutants with limitations expressed
						in units of mass, the daily discharge is calculated as the total mass of the
						pollutant discharged over the day.
(ii) For pollutants with limitations
						expressed in other units of measurement, the daily discharge is calculated as
						the average measurement of the pollutant over the day.
Discharge
-An addition of any
						  pollutant to surface waters of this Commonwealth from a point source.
Disturbed area
-As defined in Chapter
						  102 (relating to erosion and sediment control).
Draft permit
-A document prepared by
						  the Department indicating the Department's tentative decision to issue or deny,
						  modify, revoke or reissue a permit.
ELG-Effluent Limitations Guideline
-A
						  regulation published by the Administrator under section 304(b) of the Federal
						  Act, or by the Department, to revise or adopt effluent limitations.
Earth disturbance activity
-As defined
						  in Chapter 102.
Effluent limitation or standard
-A
						  restriction established by the Department or the Administrator on quantities,
						  rates and concentrations of chemical, physical, biological and other
						  constituents which are discharged from point sources into surface waters,
						  including BMPs and schedules of compliance.
Entrainment
-The incorporation of all
						  life stages of fish and shellfish with intake flow entering and passing through
						  a cooling water intake structure and into a cooling water intake system.
Existing discharge
-A discharge that is
						  not a new discharge or a new source.
Facility
or
activity
-Any NPDES point source or any other facility or activity including land or
						  appurtenances thereto that is subject to regulation under the NPDES
						  Program.
Federal Act
-The Federal Water
						  Pollution Control Act (33
						  U.S.C.A. §§
													1251-1387)
						  also known as the Clean Water Act or CWA.
GPD
-Gallons per day.
Impingement
-The entrapment of all
						  life stages of fish and shellfish on the outer part of the intake structure or
						  against a screening device during periods of intake water withdrawal.
Indirect discharger
-A discharger of
						  nondomestic wastewater introducing pollutants into a POTW or other treatment
						  works.
Industrial waste-
(i) A liquid, gaseous, radioactive, solid or
						other substance, not sewage, resulting from manufacturing or industry, or from
						an establishment, and mine drainage, refuse, silt, coal mine solids, rock,
						debris, dirt and clay from coal mines, coal collieries, breakers or other coal
						processing operations.
(ii) The
						term includes all of these substances whether or not generally characterized as
						waste.
Instantaneous maximum effluent
						  limitation
-The highest allowable discharge of a concentration or mass
						  of a substance at any one time as measured by a grab sample.
Intermittent stream
-A body of water
						  flowing in a channel or bed composed primarily of substrates associated with
						  flowing water, which, during periods of the year, is below the local water
						  table and obtains its flow from both surface runoff and groundwater
						  discharges.
Interstate agency
-An agency of two or
						  more states established by or under an agreement or compact, or any other
						  agency of two or more states, having substantial powers or duties pertaining to
						  the control of pollution as determined and approved by the
						  Administrator.
Large municipal separate storm sewer
						  system
-A municipal separate storm sewer system as defined in
						  40 CFR
						  122.26(b)(4) (relating to
						  storm water discharges (applicable to State NPDES programs, see §
						  123.25)).
Livestock-
(i) Animals raised, stabled, fed or
						maintained on an agricultural operation with the purpose of generating income
						or providing work, recreation or transportation. Examples include: dairy cows,
						beef cattle, goats, sheep, swine and horses.
(ii) The term does not include aquatic
						species.
MGD
-Million gallons per day.
MS4-Municipal Separate Storm Sewer
						  System
-A separate storm sewer (including roads with drainage systems,
						  municipal streets, catch basins, curbs, gutters, ditches, manmade channels or
						  storm drains) which is all of the following:
(i) Owned or operated by a State, city, town,
						borough, county, district, association or other public body (created by or
						under State law) having jurisdiction over disposal of sewage, industrial
						wastes, stormwater or other wastes, including special districts under state law
						such as a sewer district, flood control district or drainage district, or
						similar entity, or a designated and approved management agency under section
						208 of the Federal Act (33
						U.S.C.A. §
													1288) that discharges to
						surface waters of this Commonwealth.
(ii) Designed or used for collecting or
						conveying stormwater.
(iii) Not a
						combined sewer.
(iv) Not part of a
						POTW.
Major amendment
-Any amendment to an
						  NPDES permit that is not a minor amendment.
Major facility
-A POTW with a design
						  flow of 1.0 MGD or more and any other facility classified as such by the
						  Department in conjunction with the Administrator.
Manure-
(i) Animal excrement, including poultry
						litter, which is produced at an agricultural operation.
(ii) The term includes materials such as
						bedding and raw materials which are commingled with that excrement.
Medium municipal separate storm sewer
						  system
-A municipal separate storm sewer system as defined in
						  40 CFR
						  122.26(b)(7).
Mining activity
-A surface or
						  underground mining activity as defined in Chapter 77 or Chapter 86 (relating to
						  noncoal mining; and surface and underground coal mining: general).
Minor amendment
-An amendment to an
						  NPDES permit to correct a typographical error, increase monitoring
						  requirements, change interim compliance dates by no more than 120 days, allow
						  for a change in ownership or operational control of a facility, delete an
						  outfall, change a construction schedule for a discharger that is a new source,
						  or to incorporate an approved pretreatment program into an existing
						  permit.
Minor facility
-A facility not
						  identified as a major facility.
Monthly average discharge limitation
-The highest allowable average of daily discharges over a calendar month,
						  calculated as the sum of all daily discharges measured during the calendar
						  month divided by the number of daily discharges measured during the
						  month.
Municipality
-A city, town, borough,
						  county, township, school district, institution, authority or other public body
						  created by or pursuant to State law and having jurisdiction over disposal of
						  sewage, industrial wastes or other wastes.
NOI-Notice of Intent
-A complete form
						  submitted for NPDES general permit coverage which contains information required
						  by the terms of the permit and by §
												92a.54 (relating to general
						  permits). An NOI is not an application.
NPDES
-National Pollutant Discharge
						  Elimination System.
NPDES form
-An issued NPDES permit,
						  the application, NOI or any DMR reporting form.
NPDES general permit or general permit
-An NPDES permit that is issued for a clearly described category of point
						  source discharges, when those discharges are substantially similar in nature
						  and do not have the potential to cause significant adverse environmental
						  impact.
NPDES permit
-An authorization, license
						  or equivalent control document issued by the Administrator or the Department to
						  implement the requirements of
						  40 CFR Parts
						  122-124 (relating to EPA administered
						  permit programs: the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System; state
						  program requirements; and procedures for decisionmaking) and the Federal
						  Act.
New discharger
-A building, structure,
						  facility, activity or installation from which there is or may be a discharge of
						  pollutants that did not commence the discharge at a particular site prior to
						  August 13, 1979, which is not a new source, and which has never received a
						  final effective NPDES permit for discharges at that site.
New source
-A building, structure,
						  facility, activity or installation from which there is or may be a discharge of
						  pollutants, the construction of which commenced after promulgation of standards
						  of performance under section 306 of the Federal Act (33 U.S.C.A. §
													1316) which are applicable to the
						  source.
No exposure
-Where industrial materials
						  and activities are protected by a storm-resistant shelter to prevent exposure
						  to stormwater. Industrial materials and activities include, but are not limited
						  to, material handling equipment or activities, industrial machinery, raw
						  materials, intermediate products, by-products, final products, or waste
						  products. Material handling activities include the storage, loading and
						  unloading, transportation, or conveyance of any raw material, intermediate
						  product, final product or waste product.
Nonconventional pollutant
-A pollutant
						  which is not a conventional or toxic pollutant.
Nonpoint source
-A pollutant source
						  that is not a point source.
POTWs-Publicly Owned Treatment
						  Works-
(i) A treatment works
						which is owned by a state or municipality.
(ii) The term includes any devices and
						systems used in the storage, treatment, recycling and reclamation of municipal
						sewage or industrial wastes of a liquid nature.
(iii) The term also includes sewers, pipes or
						other conveyances if they convey wastewater to a POTW treatment
						plant.
(iv) The term also means the
						municipality as defined in section 502(4) of the Federal Act (33 U.S.C.A. §
													1362(4)), which has
						jurisdiction over the indirect discharges to and the discharges from such a
						treatment works.
Perennial stream
-A body of water
						  flowing in a channel or bed composed primarily of substrates associated with
						  flowing waters and capable, in the absence of pollution or other manmade stream
						  disturbances, of supporting a benthic macroinvertebrate community which is
						  composed of two or more recognizable taxonomic groups of organisms which are
						  large enough to be seen by the unaided eye and can be retained by a United
						  States Standard No. 30 sieve (28 meshs per inch, 0.595 mm openings) and live at
						  least part of their life cycles within or upon available substrates in a body
						  of water or water transport system.
Person
-Any individual, public or
						  private corporation, partnership, association, municipality or political
						  subdivision of this Commonwealth, institution, authority, firm, trust, estate,
						  receiver, guardian, personal representative, successor, joint venture, joint
						  stock company, fiduciary; department, agency or instrumentality of State,
						  Federal or local government, or an agent or employee thereof; or any other
						  legal entity.
Point source
-A discernible, confined
						  and discrete conveyance, including, but not limited to, any pipe, ditch,
						  channel, tunnel, conduit, well, discrete fissure, container, rolling stock,
						  CAAP, CAFO, landfill leachate collection system, or vessel or other floating
						  craft, from which pollutants are or may be discharged.
Pollutant
-A contaminant or other
						  alteration of the physical, chemical, biological or radiological integrity of
						  surface water that causes or has the potential to cause pollution as defined in
						  section 1 of the State Act (35 P. S. §
													691.1).
Pollution prevention
-Source reduction
						  and other practices that reduce or eliminate the creation of pollutants through
						  increased efficiency in the use of raw materials, energy, water or other
						  resources, without having significant cross-media impacts.
Privately owned treatment works
-A
						  device or system used to treat wastewater that is not a POTW.
Process wastewater
-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, byproduct or waste product.
SRSTP-Single Residence Sewage Treatment
						  Plant
-A system of piping, tanks or other facilities serving a single
						  family residence located on a single family residential lot, that solely
						  collects, treats, and disposes of direct or indirect sewage discharges from the
						  residence into surface waters of this Commonwealth.
SSO-Sanitary Sewer Overflow
-An
						  overflow of wastewater, or other untreated discharge from a separate sanitary
						  sewer system (which is not a combined sewer system), which results from a flow
						  in excess of the carrying capacity of the system or from some other cause prior
						  to reaching the headworks of the sewage treatment facility.
Schedule of compliance
-A schedule of
						  remedial measures including an enforceable sequence of actions or operations
						  leading to compliance with effluent limitations, prohibitions, other
						  limitations or standards.
Separate storm sewer
-A conveyance or
						  system of conveyances (including pipes, conduits, ditches and channels)
						  primarily used for collecting and conveying stormwater runoff.
Setback
-A specified distance from the
						  top of the bank of surface waters, or potential conduits to surface waters,
						  where manure and agricultural process wastewater may not be land applied.
						  Examples of conduits to surface waters include, but are not limited to:
(i) Open tile line intake
						structures.
(ii)
						Sinkholes.
(iii) Agricultural
						wellheads.
Sewage
-A substance that contains any
						  of the waste products or excrementitious or other discharge from the bodies of
						  human beings or animals.
Significant biological treatment
-The
						  use of an aerobic or anaerobic biological treatment process in a treatment
						  works to consistently achieve a 30-day average of at least 65% removal of
						  BOD5.
Small flow treatment facility
-A
						  treatment works designed to adequately treat sewage flows of not greater than
						  2,000 gallons per day for final disposal using a stream discharge or other
						  methods approved by the Department.
Small municipal separate storm sewer
						  system
-A municipal separate storm sewer system as defined in
						  40 CFR
						  122.26(b)(16).
State Act
-The Clean Streams Law
						  (35
						  P. S. §§
													691.1-691.1001).
Stormwater
-Runoff from precipitation,
						  snow melt runoff and surface runoff and drainage.
Stormwater discharge associated with
						  construction activity
-The discharge or potential discharge of
						  stormwater from construction activities into waters of this Commonwealth,
						  including clearing and grubbing, grading and excavation activities involving 1
						  acre (0.4 hectares) or more of earth disturbance activity, or an earth
						  disturbance activity on any portion, part or during any stage of, a larger
						  common plan of development or sale that involves 1 acre (0.4 hectares) or more
						  of earth disturbance activity over the life of the project.
Stormwater discharge associated with industrial
						  activity
-The discharge from any conveyance that is used for collecting
						  and conveying stormwater and that is directly related to manufacturing,
						  processing or raw materials storage areas at an industrial plant, and as
						  defined in 40 CFR
						  122.26(b)(14) (i)-(ix) and
						  (xi).
Surface waters
-Perennial and
						  intermittent streams, rivers, lakes, reservoirs, ponds, wetlands, springs,
						  natural seeps and estuaries, excluding water at facilities approved for
						  wastewater treatment such as wastewater treatment impoundments, cooling water
						  ponds and constructed wetlands used as part of a wastewater treatment
						  process.
TMDL-Total Maximum Daily Load
-The term
						  as defined in Chapter 96 (relating to water quality standards
						  implementation).
TSS-Total Suspended Solids
-The
						  pollutant parameter total suspended solids.
Toxic pollutant
-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, may, on the basis of information available to the
						  Administrator or the Department, cause death, disease, behavioral
						  abnormalities, cancer, genetic mutations, physiological malfunctions, including
						  malfunctions in reproduction, or physical deformations in these organisms or
						  their offspring.
Treatment works
-Any devices and
						  systems used in the storage, treatment, recycling, and reclamation of municipal
						  sewage or industrial wastes of a liquid nature to implement the State and
						  Federal Acts, or necessary to recycle or reuse water at the most economical
						  cost over the estimated life of the works, including intercepting sewers,
						  outfall sewers, sewage collection systems, pumping, power, and other equipment,
						  and their appurtenances; extensions, improvements, remodeling, additions, and
						  alterations thereof; elements essential to provide a reliable recycled supply
						  such as standby treatment units and clear well facilities; and any works,
						  including site acquisition of the land that will be an integral part of the
						  treatment process (including land used for the storage of treated wastewater in
						  land treatment systems prior to land application) or is used for ultimate
						  disposal of residues resulting from the treatment.
Vegetated buffer
-A permanent strip of
						  dense perennial vegetation established parallel to the contours of and
						  perpendicular to the dominant slope of the field for purposes that include
						  slowing water runoff, enhancing water infiltration and minimizing the risk of
						  any potential pollutants from leaving the field and reaching surface
						  waters.
WETT-Whole Effluent Toxicity
						  Testing-
(i) A test, survey,
						study, protocol or assessment which includes the use of aquatic, bacterial,
						invertebrate or vertebrate species to measure acute or chronic toxicity, and
						any biological or chemical measure of bioaccumulation, bioconcentration or
						impact on established aquatic and biological communities.
(ii) The term includes any established,
						scientifically defensible method that is sufficiently sensitive to measure
						toxic effects.
WQBEL-Water Quality-based Effluent
						  Limitation
-An effluent limitation based on the need to attain or
						  maintain the water quality criteria and to assure protection of designated and
						  existing uses.
Water quality standards
-The
						  combination of water uses to be protected and the water quality criteria
						  necessary to protect those uses.
Weekly average discharge limitation
-The highest allowable average of daily discharges over a calendar week,
						  calculated as the sum of all daily discharges measured during the calendar week
						  divided by the number of daily discharges during that week.
Wetlands
-Areas that are inundated or
						  saturated by surface or groundwater at a frequency and duration sufficient to
						  support, and that under normal circumstances do support, a prevalence of
						  vegetation typically adapted for life in saturated soil conditions, including
						  swamps, marshes, bogs and similar areas.
Whole effluent toxicity
-The aggregate
						  toxic effect of an effluent measured directly with a WETT.
This section cited in 25 Pa. Code §
														91.1 (relating to definitions); 25
							 Pa. Code §
														92a.3 (relating to incorporation
							 of Federal regulations by reference); 25 Pa. Code §
														92a.29 (relating to CAFO); and 25
							 Pa. Code §
														93.1 (relating to
							 definitions).