Virginia Administrative Code › Title 9 - ENVIRONMENT › Agency 20 - VIRGINIA WASTE MANAGEMENT BOARD › Chapter 50 - HAZARDOUS WASTE FACILITY SITING CRITERIA › Part I - In General › Article 2 - Definitions › Section 9VAC20-50-40 - Words and terms

Current through Register Vol. 40, No. 24, July 15, 2024
Section 10.1-1433 of the Code of Virginia defines several
						words and terms also used in this chapter. Unless the context clearly indicates
						otherwise, these words and terms will have the same meaning when used in this
						chapter. In addition, the following words and terms, when used in this chapter
						shall have the following meaning, unless the context clearly indicates
						otherwise.
"Act" means §§ 10.1-1433 through 10.1-1449 of
						the Code of Virginia.
"Active fault" means a fault which has had displacement
						in Holocene time.
"Active portion" means that portion of a facility where
						treatment, storage or disposal operations are being conducted. It includes the
						treated area of a land farm and the active face of a landfill, but does not
						include those portions of a facility which have been closed in accordance with
						all applicable closure requirements of the Virginia Department of Environmental
						Quality.
"Anion exchange capacity" means the exchange capacity for
						negatively charged ions. (See Cation exchange capacity.)
"Anti-degradation goal for groundwater" means if the
						concentration of any constituent in groundwater is less than the limit set
						forth by groundwater standards, the natural quality for the constituent shall
						be maintained; natural quality shall also be maintained for all constituents,
						including temperature, not set forth in groundwater standards. If the
						concentration of any constituent in groundwater exceeds the standards for that
						constituent, no addition of that constituent to the naturally occurring
						concentration shall be made.
"Applicant" means the person applying for certification
						of site suitability or submitting a notice of intent to apply for that.
"Aquifer" means water-bearing geologic formation, group
						of formations, or part of a formation that is capable of yielding a significant
						amount of groundwater to wells or springs. An aquifer is unconfined (water
						table) or confined (artesian) according to whether the upper surface of the
						water is at atmospheric pressure or at greater than atmospheric
						pressure.
"Attenuation" means any decrease in the maximum
						concentration or total quantity of a chemical or biological constituent during
						a fixed time or distance traveled.
"Board" means the Virginia Waste Management Board.
"Buffering capacity" means the capacity of a soil to take
						up contaminants through a variety of attenuation processes such as biological
						activity, dilution, volatilization, mechanical filtration, precipitation,
						buffering, neutralization and ion exchange. Some attenuation processes result
						in permanent removal and degradation of pollutants, which others act to store
						pollutants and by that delay pollution problems but do not eliminate
						them.
"Cation exchange capacity" means the excess of counter
						ions in the zone adjacent to the charged surface or layer which can be
						exchanged for other cations. The cation exchange capacity of geological
						materials is normally expressed as the number of milliequivalents of cations
						that can be exchanged in a sample with a dry mass of 100 grams.
"Closure" means the act of securing a hazardous waste
						management facility pursuant to the requirements of Virginia Hazardous Waste
						Management Regulations (9VAC20-60) promulgated by the board.
"Community water system" means a waterworks which serves
						at least 15 service connections used by year-round residents or regularly
						serves at least 25 year-round residents.
"Construction" means (i) with respect to new facilities,
						the significant alteration of a site to install permanent equipment or
						structures or the installation of permanent equipment and structures; (ii) with
						respect to existing facilities, the alteration or expansion of existing
						structures or facilities to initially accommodate hazardous waste, any
						expansion of more than 50% of the area or capacity of an existing hazardous
						waste facility, or any change in design or process of a hazardous waste
						facility that will, in the opinion of the board, result in a substantially
						different type of facility. It does not include preliminary engineering or site
						surveys, environmental studies, site acquisition, acquisition of an option to
						purchase or activities normally incident hereto.
"Container" means any portable enclosure in which a
						material is stored, transported, treated, disposed of, or otherwise
						handled.
"Dam-related flood hazard areas" means areas identified
						as being dam-related flood hazard areas which fall into one of two categories:
						areas of dynamic flooding below the dam, or the inundation zone, and areas of
						static flooding above the dam, or the flood pool. The inundation zone is the
						area that would be inundated by the water released by the impoundment in the
						event of a dam flood. The flood pool is defined as the land area above the dam
						which is prone to flooding during abnormally high runoff or
						precipitation.
"Disposal" means the discharge, deposit, injection,
						dumping, spilling, leaking, or placing of any solid waste or hazardous waste
						into or on any land or water so that such solid waste or hazardous waste or any
						constituent thereof may enter the environment or be emitted into the air or
						discharged into any waters, including groundwaters.
"Disposal facility" means a facility or part of a
						facility at which hazardous waste is intentionally placed into or on any land
						or water, and at which the waste will remain after closure.
"Endangered or threatened species habitat" means areas
						known to be inhabited on a seasonal or permanent basis by or to be critical at
						any stage in the life cycle of any wildlife (fauna) or vegetation (flora)
						identified as "endangered" or "threatened" species on official federal or state
						lists of endangered or threatened species, including the Endangered Species
						Act, 16 USC § 1531 et seq., the Virginia Endangered Species Act, §
						29.1-563 et seq. of the Code of Virginia, and the Virginia Endangered Plant and
						Insect Species Act, § 3.2-1000 et seq. of the Code of Virginia, or under
						active consideration for state or federal listing. The definition also includes
						a sufficient buffer area to ensure continued survival of the species.
"Floodplain" means an area adjoining a river, stream or
						water course which has been or hereafter is likely to be covered by
						floodwaters.
Included in this category are coastal flood hazards which
						are defined as land areas adjacent to open coast, coastal sounds and their
						upstream estuaries which are prone to flooding from hurricanes and storm surges
						with an annual probability of 1.0%.
Also included in this definition are riverine flood
						hazard areas defined as the valley areas adjacent to any size waterway which
						can be covered by flood waters resulting from excessive rainfall or other
						factors. The riverine flood hazard areas also fall under the Federal Emergency
						Management Administration definition of a "Regulatory Floodway" under the
						National Flood Program. A regulatory floodway includes the channel of the river
						and the adjacent floodplain that must be reserved in order to discharge the
						base flood (the flood level anticipated in the 100-year flood plain). The
						regulatory floodway cannot cause a cumulative increase in the water surge
						elevation of the base flood of greater than one foot at any point.
"Groundwater" means any water, except capillary moisture
						beneath the land surface in the zone of saturation or beneath the bed of any
						stream, lake, reservoir or other body of surface water within the boundaries of
						this state, whatever may be the subsurface geologic structure in which such
						water stands, flows, percolates or otherwise occurs.
"Groundwater quality" means the quality of groundwater as
						measured against drinking water criteria and standards established by the U.S.
						EPA and the State Department of Health and adopted by the Virginia State Water
						Control Board.
"Hazardous waste" means a solid waste classified as a
						hazardous waste by the Virginia Hazardous Waste Management Regulations,
						9VAC20-60.
"Hazardous waste facility" means any facility, including
						land and structures, appurtenances, improvements and equipment for treatment,
						storage, or disposal of hazardous wastes, which accepts hazardous waste for
						storage, treatment or disposal. This definition does not include:
(i) facilities which are owned and operated
					 by and exclusively for the on-site treatment, storage or disposal of wastes
					 generated by the owner or operator;
(ii) facilities for the treatment, storage or disposal
					 of hazardous wastes used principally as fuels in an on-site production process;
					 and
(iii) facilities used
					 exclusively for the pretreatment of wastes discharged directly to a publicly
					 owned sewage treatment works.
"Hundred-year flood" means a flood of that level which on
						the average will have a 1.0% chance of being equaled or exceeded in any given
						year at designated locations.
"Hydraulic conductivity" means the rate of flow of water
						in gallons per day through a cross section of one square foot under a unit
						hydraulic gradient, at the prevailing temperature (Permeability
						coefficient).
"Hydraulic gradient" means the change in hydraulic
						pressure per unit of distance in a given direction.
"Incinerator" means an enclosed device using controlled
						flame combustion, the primary purpose of which is to thermally break down
						hazardous waste.
"Injection well" means a well or bore hole into which
						fluids are injected into selected geologic horizons. (See also underground
						injection.)
"Inundation zone (below a dam)" means the area that would
						be inundated in the event of a dam failure.
"Karst topography" means a type of topography that may
						form over limestone, dolomite, or gypsum formations by dissolving or solution,
						and that is characterized by closed depressions or sinkholes, caves, and
						underground drainage.
"Land treatment facility" means a facility or part of a
						facility at which hazardous waste is applied onto or incorporated into the soil
						surface; such facilities are disposal facilities if the waste will remain after
						closure.
"Landfill" means a disposal facility or part of a
						facility where waste is placed in or on land and which is not a treatment
						facility, a surface impoundment or an injection well.
"Leachate" means a liquid, including any suspended
						components in the liquid, that has percolated through or drained from hazardous
						waste.
"Monitoring" means all procedures used to systematically
						inspect and collect data on operational parameters of the facility or on the
						quality of the air, groundwater, surface water or soils.
"Monitoring well" means a well used to obtain water
						samples for water quality analysis or to measure depth to groundwater
						table.
"Noncommunity water system" means a waterworks that is
						not a community waterworks, but operates at least 60 days of the year and is
						for transient use such as restaurants, campgrounds, or rest areas.
"Pile" means any noncontainerized accumulation of solid,
						nonflowing hazardous waste that is used for treatment or storage.
"Point source" means any discernible, confined and
						discrete conveyance, including, but not limited to any pipe, ditch, channel,
						tunnel, conduit, well, discrete fissure, container, rolling stock, concentrated
						animal feeding operation, or vessel or other floating craft, from which
						pollutants are or may be discharged. This term does not include return flows
						from irrigated agriculture.
"Private water system" means all systems not defined
						under community/noncommunity water systems.
"Proximity to an active fault" means located such that
						potential vibration of a known active fault as defined under "seismic risk
						zones" or "seismogenic volume" in this chapter may adversely affect the
						physical integrity of the facility, or such that ground and surface waters
						associated with such fault may be degraded.
"Proximity to a community/noncommunity water system and
						supply of groundwater" means a site which is located such that the geologic
						features or characteristics of the site may lead to degradation of the aquifer
						as a result of operations or in the event of an accident or spill.
"Proximity to a community/noncommunity water system and
						supply of surface water" means within 1/2 mile of either side of a stream or
						impoundment for a distance of five stream miles upstream including tributaries,
						and 1/10 of a mile downstream of any nontidal surface water intake for a public
						water supply. On tidal affected streams, the site shall be such greater
						distance than 1/10 of a mile downstream that the tidal action would not cause
						intake of waters that may be affected by run-off, etc., from the site location.
						More restrictive requirements of other state regulatory agencies shall
						apply.
"Proximity to a private water system and supply of
						surface or groundwater" means a site which is located such that the geologic
						features or characteristics of the site may lead to degradation of the aquifer
						as a result of operations or in the event of an accident or spill.
"Proximity to publicly designated areas" means a site
						which is located such that the construction and operation of the proposed
						facility may impair the environmental and aesthetic qualities of the
						area.
"Publicly designated areas" means publicly owned lands
						designated as seashore areas, wilderness or scenic areas, scenic rivers,
						wildlife or bird sanctuaries, game lands, state parks and recreation areas and
						other natural areas. Also included are lands on or proposed for inclusion on
						the National Register of Historic Places, National Natural Landmarks, Virginia
						Landmarks Register and scenic easements held by the Virginia Outdoors
						Foundation. These lands must have been designated or be pursuant to an ongoing
						program as of the date of the notice of intent.
"Recharge" means natural or artificial replenishment or
						storage of nondegrading (quality) water in an aquifer.
"Run-off" means any rainwater, leachate, or other liquid
						that drains over land from any part of a facility.
"Run-on" means any rainwater, leachate, or other liquid
						that drains over land onto any part of a facility.
"Saprolite" means a soft, earthy, clay-rich, thoroughly
						decomposed rock formed in place by chemical weathering of igneous and
						metamorphic rocks.
"Saturated zone (zone of saturation)" means that part of
						the earth's crust in which all voids are filled with water under pressure
						greater than that of the atmosphere.
"Scenic rivers" means rivers designated by the Virginia
						General Assembly under the Scenic Rivers Act (§ 10.1-400 et seq. of the
						Code of Virginia) as worthy of preservation based on their unique environmental
						and aesthetic characteristics.
"Seismic risk zones" means an area where an active fault
						which has had displacement in Holocene time is present or which has had
						historical earthquake activity in Modified Mercalli VII or Richter Scale 4, or
						greater.
"Seismogenic volume" means a seismic risk zone of upper
						crustal rocks where earthquakes are occurring now or in the historic past, or
						both and that extends from the surface of the earth down to depths of 15-20
						kilometers. Such volumes are susceptible to strong seismic shaking (Modified
						Mercalli Intensity VII or Richter Magnitude 5 or greater) as well as faulting
						and movement of subsurface rock layers.
"Site" means the land or water area upon which a facility
						or activity is physically located or conducted including but not limited to
						adjacent land used for utility systems such as repair, storage, whipping or
						processing areas, or other areas incident to the hazardous waste facility or
						activity.
"Soil pH" means the negative log of the hydrogen ion
						concentration, which commonly ranges from a high (acid) of 0 to a low
						(alkaline) of 14, neutral being seven.
"Soil/saprolite layer" means the unconsolidated materials
						derived primarily from the in-place weathering of underlying geologic deposits.
						Saprolite is specifically the unconsolidated weathering product of crystalline
						bedrock which retains relic bedrock structure. Thickness of the soil/saprolite
						layer is the depth from the surface to bedrock.
"State waters" means all water, on the surface and under
						the ground, wholly or partially within or bordering the state or within its
						jurisdiction. For the purpose of this chapter, adjacent wetlands are included
						in this definition.
"Static water level" means the level at which water
						stands in a well when no water is being taken from the aquifer either by
						pumping or by free flow.
"Storage" means the containment or holding of hazardous
						waste pending treatment, recycling, reuse, recovery or disposal.
"Storage facility" means any hazardous waste facility
						which stores hazardous waste.
"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 material causes; compaction due to wetting
						(hydrocompaction) or from material causes; oxidation of organic matter in
						soils; or added load on the land surface.
"Subsurface mining areas" means areas where deep mining
						or removal by drilling of minerals or mineral fuels or pumping of groundwater
						has resulted in a potential for land subsidence.
"Surface impoundment" means a facility or part of a
						facility which is a natural topographic depression, manmade excavation, or
						diked area formed primarily of earthen materials (although it may be lined with
						manmade materials), which is designed to hold an accumulation of liquid wastes
						or wastes containing free liquids, and which is not an interjection well or a
						seepage facility.
"Thermal treatment" means treatment of hazardous waste in
						a device which uses elevated temperatures as the primary means to change the
						chemical, physical or biological character or composition of the hazardous
						waste.
"Transfer facility" means any transportation related to
						facility including loading docks, parking areas, storage areas and other
						similar areas where shipments of hazardous waste are held during the normal
						course of transportation.
"Treatment" means any method, technique, or process,
						including incineration or neutralization, designed to change the physical,
						chemical, or biological character or composition of any hazardous waste to
						neutralize it or to render it less hazardous or nonhazardous, safer for
						transport , amenable for recovery or storage, or reduced in volume.
"Underground injection" means the subsurface emplacement
						of fluids through a bored, drilled, jetted, driven, or dug well, where the
						depth of the well is greater than the largest surface dimension (See also
						injection well).
"Unsaturated zone (zone of aeration)" means the zone
						between the topographic surface and water table.
"Uppermost aquifer" means the geologic formation nearest
						the natural ground surface that is an aquifer, as well as lower aquifers that
						are hydraulically interconnected with this aquifer.
"Water table" means the upper surface of the zone of
						saturation in groundwaters in which the hydrostatic pressure is equal to
						atmospheric pressure. (See uppermost aquifer.)
"Water well" means an excavation with associated casing,
						which is drilled, cored, bored, washed, driven, dug, jetted, or otherwise
						constructed when the intended use of such excavation is for the location,
						testing, acquisition, artificial recharge, or storage of groundwater, the depth
						of which is greater than the diameter or width.
"Waterworks" means a system that serves piped water for
						drinking or domestic use of (i) the public, (ii) at least 15 connections, or
						(iii) an average of 25 individuals for at least 60 days of the year. The term
						waterworks shall include all structures, equipment, and appurtenances used in
						the storage, collection, purification, treatment, and distribution of pure
						water except the piping and fixtures inside the building where such water is
						delivered.
"Well" means any shaft or pit dug, drilled, jetted,
						driven, or bored into the earth, generally of a cylindrical form, and often
						cased with bricks or tubing to prevent the earth from caving in, whose depth is
						greater than the largest surface dimension.
"Well yield" means average water yield in gallons per
						minute obtained from wells trapping the uppermost aquifer below a specific site
						or site vicinity.
"Wetlands" means areas inundated by surface or
						groundwater with a frequency sufficient to support, under normal circumstances,
						a prevalence of vegetated or aquatic life requiring saturated or seasonally
						saturated soil conditions for growth or reproduction.
Statutory Authority: §§ 10.1-1434 and
						  10.1-1436 of the Code of Virginia.