Rhode Island Code of Regulations › Title 250 - Department of Environmental Management › Chapter 150 - Water Resources › Subchapter 10 - Wastewater And Storm Water › Part 6 - Rules Establishing Minimum Standards Relating to Location, Design, Construction and Maintenance of Onsite Wastewater Treatment Systems › Section 250-RICR-150-10-6.8 - Definitions

Current through June 14, 2024
A. As used in these Rules, the following
				  terms shall, where the context permits, be construed as follows:
1. "Advanced treatment unit" means an
				  alternative and experimental treatment system that has been approved to reduce
				  the BOD5 and TSS to 30/30 mg/L or less.
2. "Alternative OWTS component" means any
				  part of an OWTS that does not meet the design or construction requirements as
				  provided by these Rules, but has been demonstrated through field testing,
				  calculations and other engineering evaluations to be equal to, or provide the
				  equivalent performance of any part of an OWTS within these Rules or to enhance
				  or facilitate treatment, maintenance, longevity or efficiency of an OWTS, and
				  for which a certification from DEM has been issued.
3. "Alternative technology" means any OWTS
				  technology for which design parameters are not specified in these Rules, but
				  has been demonstrated through field testing, calculations and other engineering
				  evaluations to comply with performance standards consistent with these Rules,
				  and for which a certification from DEM has been issued.
4. "APD" means advanced pressure
				  drainfield.
5. "Applicant" means
				  the owner or owners of the property or easement that is the subject of the
				  application, or it must be the person who holds a valid purchase and sales
				  agreement for said property.
6.
				  "Area subject to storm flowage" means drainage swales and channels which lead
				  into, out of, pass through, or connect other watercourses, and which carry
				  flows resulting from storm events but may remain relatively dry at other
				  times.
7. "ASTM" means ASTM
				  International, formerly known as the American Society for Testing and
				  Materials.
8. "Basal area" means
				  the horizontal surface in an APD or LPP designed to receive effluent.
9. "Bedrock" means rock, commonly called
				  ledge, that forms the earth's crust. Bedrock includes rotten rock.
10. "Bedroom" means any room in a residential
				  structure which is greater than seventy (70) square feet in area, which is
				  susceptible to present or future use as a private sleeping area and which
				  satisfies all of the following requirements:
a. Has at least one (1) window that meets the
				  four point four (4.4) square foot minimum size and all other requirements of
				  510-RICR- 00-00-1 "RISBC-
				  1 R hode Island Building
				  Code" or 510-RICR-00- 00-2 "RISBC-
				  2 R hode Island State One
				  and Two Family Dwellings";
b. Has
				  at least one (1) interior method of entry and egress, excluding closets and
				  bathrooms, allowing the room to be closed off from the remainder of the
				  residence for privacy; and
c. Is a
				  heated living space that is unrestricted for year-round use. Rooms located
				  below grade that are not recognized as bedrooms by 510-RICR- 00-00-1, RISBC-
				  1 R hode Island Building
				  Code or 510-RICR- 00-00-2, RISBC-
				  2 R hode Island State One
				  and Two Family Dwellings.
11. "Blackwater" means liquid and solid human
				  body waste and the carriage waters generated through toilet usage.
12. "BOD5" means biochemical oxygen demand -
				  five (5) day. BOD5 is determined by a five (5) day laboratory test which
				  determines the amount of dissolved oxygen used by microorganisms in the
				  biochemical oxidation (breakdown) of organic matter. BOD5 concentrations are
				  used as a measure of the strength of a wastewater.
13. "BSF" means bottomless sand filter. A BSF
				  is a timed-dosed sand filter used specifically as a dispersal/drainfield option
				  for pretreated effluent which at least meets the BOD5 and TSS requirements of
				  thirty (30) mg/l, and FOG of five (5) mg/l. The filter is intermittently
				  pressure dosed with the effluent followed by periods of drying and oxygenation
				  of the filter bed. Wastewater applied to the surface of a bottomless sand
				  filter flows through that filter media once before infiltrating to the
				  underlying native soils.
14.
				  "Building sewer" means the pipe that begins outside the building foundation
				  wall and extends to the septic tank, the pipe that begins outside the building
				  foundation wall and extends to the grease tank, the pipe from a grease tank to
				  a septic tank, or the pipe carrying laundry wastes directly to a
				  leachfield.
15. "Cesspool" means
				  any buried chamber, including, but not limited to, any perforated metal tank,
				  perforated concrete vault or covered hollow or excavation, which receives
				  discharges of wastewater from a building sewer for the purpose of collecting
				  solids and discharging liquids to the surrounding soil.
16. "Change of use" means any change in use
				  or occupancy of any structure or part thereof which would violate any provision
				  of the Rhode Island State Building Code, R.I. Gen. Laws Chapter 23-27.3, or any
				  Regulation promulgated thereto without first obtaining a certificate of
				  occupancy indicating that the structure complies with the provisions of the
				  State Building Code for the proposed new use. Change of use shall also be held
				  to mean a conversion of a seasonally used structure to a structure for
				  year-round use.
17. "Coastal
				  shoreline feature" means a part of the shore as categorized by the State of
				  Rhode Island Coastal Resources Management Program using the following
				  categories: coastal beaches; barrier islands and spits; coastal wetlands;
				  coastal headlands, bluffs and cliffs; rocky shores; manmade shorelines; and
				  dunes.
18. "Compost toilet" means
				  any self-contained toilet from which no liquid or solid waste materials are
				  regularly discharged and from which a humuslike end product is
				  produced.
19. "Department" or "DEM"
				  means the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management.
20. "Director" means the Director of the
				  Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management or any subordinate(s) to
				  whom the Director has delegated the powers and duties vested in him/her
				  pursuant to R.I. Gen. Laws Chapters 46-12 and 42-17.1, or any other duly
				  authorized Agent.
21. "Dispersal
				  trench" means a shallow ditch with vertical sides, filled with stone, in which
				  a single perforated distribution line or other suitable distribution device is
				  laid and over which a cover of earth is placed.
22. "Distribution box" means a watertight
				  compartment that receives effluent and distributes it in approximately equal
				  portions to two (2) or more distribution lines leading to some type of
				  leachfield.
23. "Distribution
				  laterals" (pressure dosed) means usually small diameter PVC pipe with orifices
				  evenly spaced, used to uniformly distribute wastewater over a treatment zone in
				  an enclosed component or drainfield.
24. "Distribution line" means the
				  imperforated and perforated pipe or other suitable distribution device used to
				  disperse effluent that extends from the distribution box.
25. "Dosing" means the pumped or regulated
				  flow of wastewater.
26. "Dosing
				  tank" means a tank that collects wastewater and from which wastewater is
				  discharged it into another treatment or dispersal step; equivalent to a dosing
				  chamber.
27. "Drainfield" means a
				  soil treatment area.
28. "Effluent"
				  means liquid that is discharged from a septic tank, filter, or other onsite
				  wastewater system component.
29.
				  "Experimental technology" means any OWTS technology that does not meet the
				  location, design or construction requirements as provided by these Rules, but
				  has been demonstrated in theory to meet the requirements of these Rules and may
				  not be in use in Rhode Island or elsewhere as an approved technology for
				  wastewater treatment.
30. "Failed
				  OWTS" means any OWTS that does not adequately treat and disperse wastewater so
				  as to create a public or private nuisance or threat to public health or
				  environmental quality, as evidenced by, but not limited to, one (1) or more of
				  the following conditions:
a. Failure to accept
				  wastewater into the building sewer;
b. Discharge of wastewater to a basement;
				  subsurface drain; stormwater collection, conveyance, or treatment device; or
				  watercourse unless expressly permitted by the Department;
c. Wastewater rising to the surface of the
				  ground over or near any part of OWTS or seeping from the absorption area at any
				  change in grade, bank or road cut;
d. The top of the inlet or the top of the
				  outlet for a septic tank, distribution box, or pump tank is
				  submerged;
e. The liquid depth in a
				  cesspool is less than six inches (6") from the inlet pipe invert;
f. Pumping of the cesspool or septic tank is
				  required more than two (2) times per year;
g. OWTS is shown to have contaminated a
				  drinking water well or watercourse;
h. If a septic tank, pump tank, distribution
				  box, or cesspool is pumped and groundwater seeps into it;
i. Any deterioration, damage, or malfunction
				  relating to any OWTS that would preclude adequate treatment and dispersal of
				  wastewater; or
j. Excessive solids
				  are evident in the distribution box or distribution lines.
31. "Filter" means a device or structure for
				  removing suspended solid, colloidal material, or BOD5 from
				  wastewater.
32. "Filter fabric"
				  means any man-made permeable textile material used with foundations, soil,
				  rock, or earth.
33. "Filter media"
				  means the material through which wastewater is passed for the purpose of
				  treatment.
34. "Financial surety"
				  means a general obligation bond, revenue bond, performance bond, or any other
				  type of financial guaranty, in fully marketable form, as evidence to the
				  commitment of the construction of a public wastewater project.
35. "Floodplain" means that land area
				  adjacent to a river or stream or other body of flowing water which is, on the
				  average, likely to be covered with flood waters resulting from a one hundred
				  (100) year frequency storm. A one hundred (100) year frequency storm is one
				  that is to be expected to be equaled or exceeded once in one hundred (100)
				  years; or may be said to have a one percent (1%) probability of being equaled
				  or exceeded in any given year. Rainfall intensity data for a one hundred (100)
				  year frequency storm are those established for New England locations by the
				  National Weather Service.
36. "FOG"
				  means fats, oils, and grease contained in wastewater.
37. "Foundation drain" means any mechanical
				  or gravity drainage system, including all porous media installed to facilitate
				  drainage, that lowers the groundwater elevation beneath a building foundation
				  and which has an outlet for the collected groundwater.
38. "Freshwater wetland" means, consistent
				  with R.I. Gen. Laws §
											2-1-20(8), except
				  as specified in R.I. Gen. Laws §
											2-1-22(k), and
				  includes, but is not limited to:
a. Those
				  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, but is not limited to, marshes, swamps, bogs, emergent
				  and submergent plant communities, rivers, streams, ponds, and vernal pools or
				  any combination thereof; or
b. Any
				  or all freshwater wetlands created as part of, or the result of, any activity
				  permitted or directed by the Department after July 16, 1971 including, but not
				  limited to: restored freshwater wetlands; value replacement freshwater wetlands
				  created to compensate for wetland loss such as floodplain excavations; and any
				  freshwater wetlands created, altered or modified after July 16, 1971.
39. "Graywater" means wastewater
				  drained from sinks, tubs, showers, dishwashers, clothes washers, and other
				  non-toilet sources.
40.
				  "Groundwater table" means the upper surface of the zone of saturation in an
				  unconfined aquifer; includes a perched groundwater table.
41. "Holding tank" means a closed watertight
				  structure used to contain wastewater prior to being removed from the premises.
				  A holding tank does not discharge wastewater to the surface of the ground or to
				  the subsurface.
42. "Human
				  transported material" means any materials, other than those emplaced pursuant
				  to these Rules, including but not limited to artifacts, organic materials,
				  soil, rock, or sediment moved horizontally by directed human
				  activity.
43. "Influent" means
				  wastewater being applied to a treatment unit or to a drainfield.
44. "Invert" means the lowest portion of the
				  interior of a pipe or fitting.
45.
				  "Large onsite wastewater treatment system" means an OWTS that meets any of the
				  following:
a. Any single OWTS designed to
				  treat five thousand (5,000) gallons or more per day;
b. Multiple OWTSs for any project on one (1)
				  or more parcels of land, excluding residential subdivisions, where the total
				  design flow for the project is five thousand (5,000) gallons or more per
				  day;
c. All OWTSs serving more than
				  one (1) unit in a residential subdivision, provided that the total design flow
				  of these OWTSs, each serving more than one (1) unit, is five thousand (5,000)
				  gallons or more per day; or
d.
				  Proposed OWTSs and existing OWTSs on the parcel that will result in a total
				  design flow for the parcel exceeding five thousand (5,000) gallons per
				  day.
46. "Large capacity
				  cesspool" means a cesspool that serves any non-residential facility that has
				  the capacity to serve more than twenty (20) people per day or serves any
				  multi-family residence or apartment building.
47. "Leachfield" means a group of one (1) or
				  more dispersal chambers or trenches designed for the final treatment and
				  dispersal of wastewater into the underlying soil. The leachfield shall be held
				  to mean the horizontal and vertical lines circumscribing the outermost edges
				  including the area between the chambers or trenches and the depth to the bottom
				  of stone.
48. "Linear loading rate"
				  means the loading rate per linear foot of leachfield (gallons per day per
				  linear foot) along the land's contour.
49. "LPP" means low pressure pipe:
a. Application of effluent over an
				  infiltrative surface via pressurized orifices and associated devices and parts
				  (including pump, filters, controls, and piping).
b. Distribution via a network of small
				  diameter laterals with small orifices installed in a soil treatment area; also
				  called low-pressure pipe (LPP) distribution.
50. "Maintenance" means the regular cleaning
				  of any concrete chamber, cesspool, septic tank, building sewer, distribution
				  lines or any other component of an OWTS for the purpose of removing accumulated
				  liquid, scum or sludge. The term, "maintenance," shall also be held to include
				  regularly required servicing or replacement of any related mechanical,
				  electrical, or other component equipment.
51. "Nitrogen reducing technology" means a
				  wastewater treatment technology that is accepted by the Department as capable
				  of reducing the total nitrogen concentrations by at least fifty percent (50%)
				  and meeting an effluent concentration of less than or equal to nineteen (19)
				  mg/l.
52. "O&M service
				  provider" means a professional who performs operation and maintenance on a
				  wastewater treatment system.
53.
				  "Onsite wastewater treatment system" or "OWTS" means any system of piping,
				  tanks, dispersal areas, alternative toilets or other facilities designed to
				  function as a unit to convey, store, treat or disperse wastewater by means
				  other than discharge into a public wastewater system.
54. "Original ground" means those soils that
				  have been deposited or developed by natural processes, excluding storm
				  deposited sand in the backdune environment.
55. "Owner" means any person who holds legal
				  title to any real property; or has possession or control of any real property
				  through any agent, executor, executrix, administrator, administratrix, trustee
				  or guardian of the estate of a holder of a legal title. Each such person is
				  bound to comply with the provisions of these Rules.
56. "Particle size" means the diameter (in
				  millimeters) of a soil or sand particle, usually measured by sedimentation or
				  sieving methods.
57. "Person" means
				  any individual, group of individuals, firm, corporation, association,
				  partnership or any Federal, State or municipal governmental entity.
58. "Private drinking water well" means any
				  manmade opening into the ground developed for the purpose of meeting a person's
				  current potable drinking water needs provided said well does not supply a
				  public water system. This definition shall include proposed private drinking
				  water wells on an applicant's property and on other properties with an approved
				  OWTS permit. Wells serving non-potable or non-drinking water needs are not
				  considered private drinking water wells under these Rules. A well on a property
				  that is connected to a public water system is not considered a private drinking
				  water well under these Rules.
59.
				  "Probe" means any exploratory test employing a driving rod, tool or other
				  device to establish the depth of bedrock.
60. "Professional engineer" means a person
				  who has been registered and licensed by the Rhode Island Board of Registration
				  for Professional Engineers as defined in R.I. Gen. Laws §
											5-8-2.
61. "PSND" means pressurized shallow narrow
				  drainfield.
62. "Public drinking
				  water supply well" or "public well" means any manmade opening into the ground
				  developed for the purpose of meeting all or part of a public water system
				  needs.
63. "Public water system"
				  means any water system that provides piped water to the public for human
				  consumption, provided that such system has at least fifteen (15) service
				  connections or serves an average of twenty-five (25) individuals daily at least
				  sixty (60) days out of the year. A public water system shall include all
				  sources and facilities involved in collecting, treating, storing and
				  distributing the water.
64. "Pump
				  tank" means a watertight structure equipped with one (1) or more pumps designed
				  to discharge wastewater intermittently into a leachfield.
65. "Residence" means any structure used for
				  housing purposes, including, but not limited to, single or multiple family
				  dwellings, duplexes, tenements, apartment buildings, residential condominiums,
				  mobile homes, recreational vehicles or trailers.
66. "Restrictive layer" means a soil horizon
				  that is assigned to a soil category 10 as defined in §
											6.16(L) of
				  this Part.
67. "Rotten rock" means
				  any decomposed but still coherent rock. Rotten rock is greater than fifty
				  percent (50%) coherent rock and lies above equal or more coherent
				  rock.
68. "Seasonal high
				  groundwater table" means the elevation of the groundwater table during that
				  time of the year at which it is highest as determined in accordance with §
											6.16(M) of
				  this Part.
69. "Septage" means any
				  solid, liquid or semi-solid removed from septic tanks, cesspools, privies,
				  wastewater holding tanks or other similar onsite wastewater treatment
				  systems.
70. "Septic tank" means a
				  watertight receptacle which receives the discharge of wastewater from a
				  building sewer, and is designed and constructed to permit the deposition of
				  settled solids, the digestion of the matter deposited, and the discharge of the
				  liquid portion into the next treatment component or distribution box.
71. "Septic tank effluent pipe" means the
				  pipe that begins at the outlet of the septic tank or other treatment tank and
				  extends to the next treatment component or distribution box.
72. "Single-service articles" means
				  tableware, carry-out utensils, and other items such as bags, containers,
				  placemats, stirrers, straws, toothpicks, and wrappers that are designed and
				  constructed for use one (1) time by one (1) individual.
73. "Soil texture" means the relative
				  proportions of soil separates (sand, silt, and clay particles) in a particular
				  soil. (USDA soil texture abbreviations illustrated in §
											6.37(B)(4)
				  of this Part are defined as: cos= coarse sand; fs = fine sand; lfs = loamy fine
				  sand; ls = loamy sand; fsl = fine sandy loam; sl = sandy loam; l= loam; vfs =
				  very fine sand; lvfs = loamy very fine sand; vfsl = very fine sandy loam; sil =
				  silt loam; vfsl = very fine sandy loam; si = silt; sicl = silty clay loam.)
74. "Storm drain" means any pipe
				  or structure designed to collect, carry and divert surface water
				  runoff.
75. "Structure" means any
				  residence (as defined herein), building, garage, shack, trailer or other
				  permanent or semi-permanent facility, whether commercial or non-commercial in
				  use, which is proposed to be placed or has been built or otherwise placed on a
				  parcel of real property.
76.
				  "Subdivision" means the division or re-division of a lot, tract, or parcel of
				  land into two (2) or more lots, tracts, or parcels. For the purpose of these
				  Rules, subdivisions will also include two (2) or more contiguous lots of record
				  under common ownership when located on a public right of way or roadway,
				  including paper streets, or where property line changes are proposed.
77. "Subdivision layout" means any proposed
				  design or arrangement of lots, roads, structures, easements, utilities or other
				  features to be incorporated into a subdivision.
78. "Substantial improvement" means any
				  construction, renovation, or improvements made within any twelve (12) month
				  period and costing in excess of fifty percent (50%) of the physical value of
				  the building prior to the start of construction.
79. "Subsurface drains" means any system of
				  below surface piping or highly permeable material intended to lower the
				  groundwater table of an area, and which has an outlet to the surface for the
				  collected groundwater.
80. "System
				  inspector" means a person on a DEM-approved list (can be found at the following
				  address:
http://www.dem.ri.gov/programs/benviron/water/licenses/isds/pdfs/deslist.pdf
with the minimum qualifications of holding a Class I, II, or III Designers
				  License or being a Registered System Inspector with the New England Onsite
				  Wastewater Training Center.
81.
				  "Test hole" means any excavation in the area of the proposed leachfield to
				  collect information on the soil profile, depth to a restrictive layer or
				  bedrock, depth to seasonal high groundwater table or any other applicable field
				  information.
82. "Transfer" means a
				  transfer of real property except between the following relationships:
a. Between current spouses;
b. Between parents and their
				  children;
c. Between full siblings;
				  or
d. Where the grantor transfers
				  the real property to be held in a revocable or irrevocable trust, where at
				  least one (1) of the designated beneficiaries is of the first
				  (1st) degree of relationship to the
				  grantor.
83. "Tributary"
				  means any flowing body of water or watercourse that provides intermittent or
				  perennial flow to down-gradient watercourses that eventually discharge to the
				  waters of concern (e.g., reservoir impoundment or salt pond).
84. "Tributary freshwater wetland" means
				  freshwater wetlands within a watershed that are connected via a watercourse to
				  the waters of concern (e.g., drinking water supply impoundment or coastal
				  wetland or tidal waters).
85. "TSS"
				  means total suspended solids. The measure of solids that either float on the
				  surface of, or are in suspension in, water or wastewater. A measure of
				  wastewater strength, often used in conjunction with BOD5.
86. "U.C." means uniformity coefficient, a
				  numeric quantity which is calculated by dividing the size of a sieve opening
				  which will pass sixty percent (60%) by weight of a sand media sample by the
				  size of the sieve opening which will pass ten percent (10%) by weight of the
				  same sand media sample. Note that fifty percent (50%) of the sample is retained
				  between the two (2). The uniformity coefficient is a measure of the degree of
				  size uniformity of the sand particles in a sand media sample. As the U.C. value
				  approaches one (1), the more uniform in particle size the sand media is. The
				  larger the U.C., the less uniform the particle size.
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87.
				  "Vendor" means the person seeking an alternative or experimental technology
				  approval.
88. "Wastewater" means
				  human or animal excremental liquid or substance, putrescible animal or
				  vegetable matter or garbage and filth, including, but not limited to, water
				  discharged from toilets, bathtubs, showers, laundry tubs, washing machines,
				  sinks, and dishwashers. Both blackwater and graywater are considered wastewater
				  under these Rules.
89.
				  "Watercourse" means any freshwater wetlands, coastal wetlands as defined in
				  R.I. Gen. Laws §
											46-23-6(2)(iii)(E),
				  area subject to storm flowage, or any other standing or flowing body of water,
				  including such watercourses that may be affected by the tides.
90. "Wellhead protection area" means the area
				  as designated by the Director in Subchapter 05 Part 3 of this Chapter,
				  Groundwater Quality Rules, surrounding a public well or wellfield through which
				  water will move toward and reach such well or wellfield.