Pennsylvania Code › Title 25 - ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION › Part I - Department of Environmental Protection › Subpart C - Protection of Natural Resources › Article I - Land Resources › Chapter 72 - ADMINISTRATION OF SEWAGE FACILITIES PERMITTING PROGRAM › Subchapter A - GENERAL › Section 72.1 - 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:
Act
-The Pennsylvania Sewage Facilities
						  Act (35 P. S. §§
													750.1-750.20).
Alternate sewage system
-A method of
						  demonstrated onlot sewage treatment and disposal not described in this
						  part.
Certification Board
-The
						  administrative board within the Department created by section 11 of the act
						  (35
						  P. S. §
													750.11).
Clean Streams Law
-The Clean Streams
						  Law (35 P. S. §§
													691.1-691.1001).
Conventional sewage system
-A system
						  employing the use of demonstrated onlot sewage treatment and disposal
						  technology in a manner specifically recognized by this part. The term does not
						  include alternate sewage systems or experimental sewage systems.
Days
-Calendar days as specified in
						  1
						  Pa.C.S. §
													1908 (relating to computation
						  of time). If a period time is referred to in this chapter, the period shall be
						  computed to exclude the first and include the last day of the period. If the
						  last day of the period falls on a Saturday or Sunday, or a day made a legal
						  holiday by the statutes of the Commonwealth or of the United States, the day
						  shall be omitted from the computation.
Delegated agency
-A municipality,
						  local agency, multimunicipal local agency or county or joint county department
						  of health to which the Department has delegated the authority to review and
						  approve subdivisions for new land developments as supplements to the official
						  plan of a municipality in which the subdivision is located.
Experimental sewage system
-A method of
						  onlot sewage treatment and disposal not described in this title which is
						  proposed for the purpose of testing and observation.
Individual residential spray irrigation
						  system
-An individual sewage system which serves a single dwelling and
						  which treats and disposes of sewage using a system of piping, treatment tanks
						  and soil renovation through spray irrigation.
Large volume on lot sewage system
-An
						  individual or community onlot sewage system with a design capacity to discharge
						  subsurface sewage flows which are in excess of 10,000 gpd.
Local agency
-A municipality, or a
						  combination of municipalities acting cooperatively or jointly under the
						  statutes of the Commonwealth, county, county department of health or joint
						  county department of health.
Lot
-A part of a subdivision or a
						  parcel of land used as a building site or intended to be used for building
						  purposes, whether immediate or future, which would not be further subdivided.
						  Whenever a lot is used for a multiple family dwelling or for commercial or
						  industrial purposes, the lot shall be deemed to have been subdivided into an
						  equivalent number of single family residential lots as determined by estimated
						  sewage flows.
Municipality
-A city, town, township,
						  borough or home rule municipality other than a county.
Official plan
-A comprehensive plan
						  for the provision of adequate sewage systems adopted by a municipality
						  possessing authority or jurisdiction over the provision of the systems and
						  submitted to and approved by the Department as provided by the act and Chapter
						  71 (relating to the administration of the sewage facilities program).
Official plan revision
-A change in the
						  municipality's official plan to provide for additional, newly identified future
						  or existing sewage facilities needs, which may include one or more of the
						  following:
(i)
Update
						revision
-A comprehensive revision to an existing official plan
						required when the Department or municipality determines an official plan or one
						or more of its parts is inadequate for the existing or future sewage facilities
						needs of a municipality or its residents or landowners.
(ii)
Revision for new land
						development
-A revision to a municipality's official plan resulting
						from a proposed subdivision as defined in the act.
(iii)
Special study
-A study,
						survey, investigation, inquiry, research report or analysis which is directly
						related to an update revision. The studies provide documentation or other
						support necessary to solve specific problems identified in the update
						revision.
(iv)
Supplement
-A sewage facilities planning module for a
						subdivision for new land development which will not be served by sewage
						facilities requiring a new or modified permit from the Department under the
						Clean Streams Law, and which is reviewed and approved by a delegated
						agency.
(v)
Exception to
						the requirement to revise
-A process established in §
												71.55 (relating to exceptions to
						the requirement to revise the official plan for new land development) which
						describes the criteria under which a revision for new land development is not
						required.
Person
-An individual, association,
						  public or private corporation for-profit or not-for-profit, partnership, firm,
						  trust, estate, department, board, bureau or agency of the United States or the
						  Commonwealth, political subdivision, municipality, district, authority or other
						  legal entity which is recognized by law as the subject of rights and duties.
						  The term includes the members of an association, partnership or firm and the
						  officers of a local agency or municipal, public or private corporation for
						  profit or not-for-profit.
Qualified registered professional
						  engineer
-A person registered to practice engineering in this
						  Commonwealth who has experience in the characterization, classification,
						  mapping and interpretation of soils as they relate to the function of onlot
						  sewage disposal systems.
Qualified registered professional
						  geologist
-A person registered to practice geology in this Commonwealth
						  who has experience in the characterization, classification, mapping and
						  interpretation of soils as they relate to the function of onlot sewage disposal
						  systems.
Qualified soil scientist
-A person
						  certified as a sewage enforcement officer and who has documented 2-years'
						  experience in the characterization, classification, mapping and interpretation
						  of soils as they relate to the function of onlot sewage disposal systems (as
						  defined in the Soil Science Society of America "Glossry of Soil Science") and
						  either a bachelor of science degree in soils science from an accredited college
						  or university or certification (certified professional soil scientist,
						  certified professional soil classifier or certified professional soil
						  specialist) by the American Registry of Certified Professionals in Agronomy,
						  Crops and Soils (now known as ARCPACS: A Federation of Certifying Boards in
						  Agriculture, Biology, Earth and Environmental Sciences).
Reimburse
-To pay back money actually
						  spent.
Relative
-Spouses, children, parents,
						  brothers, sisters, nieces, nephews, grandparents, uncles, aunts and first
						  cousins whether related by blood or statute.
Retaining tank
-A watertight receptacle
						  which receives and retains sewage and is designed and constructed to facilitate
						  ultimate disposal of the sewage at another site. The term includes, the
						  following:
(i)
Chemical
						toilet
-A permanent or portable nonflushing toilet using chemical
						treatment in the retaining tank for odor control.
(ii)
Holding tank
-A tank,
						whether permanent or temporary, to which sewage is conveyed by a water carrying
						system.
(iii)
Privy
-A tank designed to receive sewage where water under
						pressure is not available.
(iv)
Incinerating toilet
-A device capable of reducing waste
						materials to ashes.
(v)
Composting toilet
-A device for holding and processing human
						and organic kitchen waste employing the process of biological degradation
						through the action of microorganisms to produce a stable, humus-like
						material.
(vi)
Recycling
						toilet
-A device in which the flushing medium is restored to a
						condition suitable for reuse in flushing.
Sewage
-A substance that contains waste
						  products or excrement or other discharge from the bodies of human beings or
						  animals and noxious or deleterious substances harmful or inimical to the public
						  health, or to animal or aquatic life, or to the use of water for domestic water
						  supply or for recreation. The term includes any substance which constitutes
						  pollution under the Clean Streams Law.
Sewage enforcement officer
-An official
						  of the local agency who reviews permit applications and sewage facilities
						  planning modules, issues permits as authorized by the act and conducts
						  investigations and inspections that are necessary to implement the act and the
						  regulations thereunder.
Sewage facilities
-A system of sewage
						  collection, conveyance, treatment and disposal which will prevent the discharge
						  of untreated or inadequately treated sewage or other waste into waters of this
						  Commonwealth or otherwise provide for the safe and sanitary treatment and
						  disposal of sewage or other waste. The term includes:
(i)
Individual sewage
						system
-A system of piping, tanks or other facilities serving a single
						lot and collecting and disposing of sewage in whole or in part into the soil or
						into waters of this Commonwealth or by means of conveyance to another site for
						final disposal. The term includes:
(A)
Individual onlot sewage system
-An individual sewage system
						which uses a system of piping, tanks or other facilities for collecting,
						treating and disposing of sewage into a soil absorption area or spray field or
						by retention in a retaining tank.
(B)
Individual sewerage
						system
-A system which uses a method of sewage collection, conveyance,
						treatment and disposal other than renovation in a soil absorption area, or
						retention in a retaining tank.