South Carolina Code of Regulations › Chapter 61 - DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND ENVIRONMENTAL CONTROL › Subchapter 61-87 - UNDERGROUND INJECTION CONTROL REGULATIONS › Subchapter 61-87.2 - Definitions

Current through Register Vol. 48, No. 6, June 28, 2024
The definition of any word or phrase used in these regulations
				shall be the same as defined in Section
				48-1-10
				of the 1976 Code, except that the following words and phrases shall have the
				following meaning and shall apply to the underground injection control
				program.
A. "Abandoned well" means a
			 well the use of which has been permanently discontinued or which is in a state
			 of disrepair such that it cannot be used for its intended purpose or for
			 monitoring purposes.
B. "Aquifer"
			 means a geologic formation, group of formations, or part of a formation that
			 contains sufficient saturated permeable material to yield significant
			 quantities of ground water to wells or springs.
C. "Casing" means a pipe or tubing of
			 appropriate material, of varying diameter and weight, lowered into a borehole
			 during or after drilling in order to support the sides of the hole and thus
			 prevent the walls from caving, to prevent loss of drilling mud into permeable
			 strata, or to prevent fluids from entering or leaving the hole.
D. "Cesspool" means a drywell that receives
			 untreated sanitary waste containing human excreta, and which sometimes has an
			 open bottom and/or perforated sides.
E. "Confining zone" means a geological
			 formation, group of formations, or part of a formation that is capable of
			 significantly limiting fluid movement above or below an injection
			 zone.
F. "Contaminant" means any
			 substance or matter which degrades the quality of naturally occurring water
			 either directly or indirectly as a result of man's activity.
G. "Drywell" means a well, other than an
			 improved sinkhole or subsurface fluid distribution system, completed above the
			 water table so that its bottom and sides are typically dry except when
			 receiving fluids.
H. "Facility,
			 operation or activity" means any injection well or system including land and
			 appurtenances thereto.
I. "Flow
			 rate" means the volume per unit of time of a fluid which emerges from an
			 orifice, pump, turbine, or passes along a conduit or channel.
J. "Fluid" means material or substance which
			 flows or moves whether in a semisolid, liquid, sludge, gas, or any other form
			 or state.
K. "Formation" means a
			 body of rock characterized by a degree of lithologic homogeneity which is
			 prevailingly, but not necessarily, tabular and is mappable on the earth's
			 surface or traceable in the subsurface.
L. "Formation fluid" means fluid present in a
			 formation under natural conditions as opposed to introduced fluids.
M. "Ground water" means water below the land
			 surface in a zone of saturation.
N.
			 "Improved sinkhole" means a naturally occurring karst depression or other
			 natural crevice found in volcanic terrain and other geological settings which
			 have been modified by man for the purpose of directing and emplacing fluids
			 into the subsurface.
O. "Injection"
			 means the emplacement of fluid into the subsurface or ground waters by an
			 injection well except fluids used in association with well construction,
			 development, or abandonment.
P.
			 "Injection well" means any well which is used or intended to be used for
			 injection.
Q. "Injection zone"
			 means a geological formation, group of formations, or part of a formation which
			 is receiving injection, has received injection, or is intended to receive
			 injection.
R. "Lithology" means the
			 description of rocks on the basis of their physical and chemical
			 characteristics.
S. "Non-contact
			 system" means a closed system which conveys water pumped from the aquifer
			 through a process on a once-through basis without significantly altering the
			 chemical quality of the water to be returned to the aquifer.
T. "Owner/operator" means the person who owns
			 the land on which a facility is located and/or the person who is responsible
			 for the overall operation of the facility.
U. "Person" means any individual, federal
			 agency, public or private corporation, political sub-division, government
			 agency, municipality, industry, copartnership, association, firm, trust,
			 estate, or any legal entity whatsoever.
V. "Point of injection for Class V wells"
			 means the last accessible point prior to waste fluids being released into the
			 subsurface environment through a Class V well.
W. "Pressure" means the total load or force
			 per unit area acting on a surface.
X. "Septic system" means a well that is used
			 to emplace sanitary wastes below the surface and is typically comprised of a
			 septic tank and subsurface fluid distribution system. The UIC requirements do
			 not apply to single family residential septic systems nor to non residential
			 septic systems which are used solely for disposal of sanitary waste and have
			 the capacity to serve fewer than 20 persons a day.
Y. "Stratum (plural strata)" means a single
			 sedimentary bed or layer, regardless of thickness, that consists of generally
			 the same kind of rock material.
Z.
			 "Subsurface fluid distribution system" means an assemblage of perforated pipes,
			 drain tiles, or other similar mechanisms intended to distribute fluids below
			 the surface of the ground.
AA.
			 "Subsidence" means the lowering of the natural land surface in response to:
			 Earth movements; lowering of fluid pressure; removal of underlying supporting
			 material by mining or solution of solids, either artificially or from natural
			 causes; compaction due to wetting (Hydro-compaction); oxidation of organic
			 matter in soils; or added load on the land surface.
BB. "Total dissolved solids (TDS)" means the
			 amount of material in solution gravimetrically determined after filtering the
			 sample through a 0.45-um membrane filter and drying at 180°C.
CC. "Underground source of drinking water
			 (USDW)" means an aquifer or its portion:
(1)
			 Which supplies any public water system; or,
(2) Which contains a sufficient quantity of
			 ground water to supply a public water system; and,
(a) Currently supplies drinking water for
			 human consumption; or,
(b) Contains
			 water with fewer than ten thousand milligrams per liter total dissolved
			 solids.