Washington Administrative Code › Title 173 - Ecology, Department of (See also Titles 197, 317, 372, and 508) › Chapter 173-219 - RECLAIMED WATER › Section 173-219-010 - Definitions, abbreviations, and acronyms

Current through Register Vol. 24-14, July 15, 2024
Unless the context clearly requires otherwise, the definitions
				in this section apply throughout this chapter.
"Agricultural water use"
means the use of water
				for irrigation and other uses related to the production of agricultural
				products. These uses include, but are not limited to, construction, operation,
				and maintenance of agricultural facilities and livestock operations at farms,
				ranches, dairies, and nurseries. Examples of these uses include, but are not
				limited to, dust control, temperature control, and fire control.
"Alarm"
means an integrated system of sensor
				instruments or devices that continuously monitor a specific function or process
				and automatically alert operators to abnormal conditions by means of visual or
				audible signals, or both.
"Approved air gap"
means the physical separation
				between the free-flowing end of a water supply pipeline and the overflow rim of
				an open or nonpressurized receiving vessel that has the following minimum
				separations:
* Twice the diameter of the supply piping measured vertically
				from the overflow rim of the receiving vessel, and in no case be less than one
				inch, when unaffected by vertical surfaces (vertical sidewalls); and
* Three times the diameter of the supply piping, if the
				horizontal distance between the supply pipe and the vertical surface (sidewall)
				is less than or equal to three times the diameter of the supply pipe, or if the
				horizontal distance between the supply pipe and the intersecting vertical
				surfaces (sidewalls) is less than or equal to four times the diameter of the
				supply pipe and in no case less than one and one-half inches.
"Approved backflow prevention assembly"
means an
				RPBA, RPDA, DCVA, DCDA, PVBA, or SVBA used for protecting a potable or
				reclaimed water supply.
"Aquifer"
means a geologic formation, group of
				formations, or part of a formation capable of yielding a significant amount of
				groundwater to wells or springs.
"Augmentation"
means the intentional addition of
				water to rivers and streams of the state or other surface water bodies through
				the zone of saturation or to the surface water.
"Backflow assembly tester"
or
"BAT"
means a person meeting the requirements of chapter 246-292 WAC and certified
				under chapter 70.119 RCW to inspect, field test, maintain, and repair backflow
				prevention assemblies, devices, and air gaps that protect public water
				systems.
"Beneficial purpose"
or
"beneficial
				use"
means the uses of reclaimed water for domestic, stock watering,
				industrial, commercial, agricultural, irrigation, hydroelectric power
				production, mining, fish and wildlife maintenance and enhancement,
				recreational, and thermal power production purposes, and for preservation of
				environmental and aesthetic values, and for all other uses compatible with the
				enjoyment of the waters of the state. Beneficial purpose or beneficial use of
				reclaimed water includes all uses authorized under chapter 90.46 RCW, and
				contained within WAC 173-219-390.
"BOD5"
means five-day
				biochemical oxygen demand.
"CBOD5"
means five-day
				carbonaceous biochemical oxygen demand.
"Certified operator"
means a person who meets the
				requirements of WAC 173-219-250.
"Class A reclaimed water"
means a water resource
				that meets the treatment requirements of this chapter, including, at a minimum,
				oxidation, coagulation, filtration, and disinfection.
"Class A+ reclaimed water"
means a water resource
				that meets the treatment requirements of this chapter for Class A reclaimed
				water and any additional criteria determined necessary on a case-by-case basis
				by health for direct potable reuse.
"Class B reclaimed water"
means a water resource
				that meets the treatment requirements of this chapter, including, at a minimum,
				oxidation, and disinfection.
"Commercial, industrial, and institutional
				use"
means nonpotable uses of water to produce products, provide
				goods and services, or for associated sanitary uses such as toilet flushing.
				The term does not include land application or irrigation uses.
"Constructed beneficial wetlands"
means those
				wetlands intentionally constructed on nonwetland sites to produce or create
				natural wetland functions and values.
"Constructed treatment wetlands"
means wetlandlike
				impoundments intentionally constructed on nonwetland sites and managed for the
				primary purpose of further treatment or retention of reclaimed water as
				distinct from creating natural wetland functions and values.
"Cross-connection control specialist"
or
"CCS"
means an individual meeting the requirements of chapter
				246-292 WAC and certified under chapter 70.119 RCW to develop and implement a
				cross-connection control program.
"DCDA"
means double check detector
				assembly.
"DCVA"
means double check valve assembly.
"Depressional wetland"
means a wetland that occurs
				in topographic depressions where the elevation of the surface within the
				wetland is lower than in the surrounding landscape, and the lowest point of
				elevation is within the boundary of the wetland.
"Direct potable reuse"
means the process in which
				Class A+ reclaimed water is introduced into an existing water distribution,
				storage, or treatment system without an environmental buffer.
"Distributor"
means the person authorized through
				a use agreement with a reclaimed water generator to distribute or supply
				reclaimed water to users. A distributor may also be a generator or a user.
				Users that distribute reclaimed water to use areas through a gravity conveyance
				system for agricultural water uses are not distributors.
"DO"
means dissolved oxygen.
"Domestic wastewater"
means wastewater from
				grey-water, toilet, or urinal sources.
"Ecology"
means the Washington state department of
				ecology.
"Engineering report"
means a document that
				examines the engineering and administrative aspects of a reclaimed water
				facility, as required under this chapter.
"Food crops"
means any crops intended for human
				consumption.
"Generator"
means any person that generates any
				type of reclaimed water for a use regulated under this chapter. A generator may
				also be a distributor or a user.
"Groundwater"
means water in a saturated zone or
				stratum beneath the surface of land or below a surface water body.
"Groundwater recharge"
means introduction of
				reclaimed water to groundwater aquifers and includes the following:
"
Indirect recharge:
Where reclaimed water is
				introduced to groundwater through surface or subsurface infiltration or
				percolation, where the introduced water travels through an unsaturated vadose
				zone and the commingling with groundwater of the state is not immediate.
"
Direct recharge:
Where reclaimed water is
				released directly and immediately into groundwater of the state through direct
				injection or other means.
"Health"
means the Washington state department of
				health.
"Inadequately treated water"
means water treated
				by a reclaimed water treatment process that does not meet reclaimed water
				permit limits and standards.
"Land application"
means use of reclaimed water as
				permitted under this chapter for the purpose of irrigation or watering of
				landscape vegetation. Land application in this chapter is
not
synonymous with land treatment or reference to a biosolids land
				application.
"Lead agency"
means either the department of
				health or the department of ecology that has been designated by this chapter as
				the agency that will coordinate, review, issue, and enforce a reclaimed water
				permit issued under this chapter.
"Most recent edition"
means that version of a
				specific guidance or reference document in effect at the time lead agency
				begins the feasibility and design review process.
"Net environmental benefit
" means that the
				environmental benefits of the reclaimed water generation project are greater
				than the environmental impacts associated with the project.
"Nonlead agency"
means health or ecology when they
				are not the lead agency as defined in this chapter.
"Nonpotable"
means water that is not approved by
				health or a local health jurisdiction as being safe for human
				consumption.
"Nonpotable reuse systems"
means systems that
				collect and treat nonpotable water, including greywater, from a single building
				or property for nonpotable reuse at the single building or property, with no
				discharge to waters of the state, as regulated under WAC
				51-56-1500 and by the appropriate
				authority having jurisdiction, or a rule adopted by health. When reuse occurs
				on nearby properties, these may be called on-site nonpotable water systems or
				decentralized nonpotable water systems.
"NPDES"
means the National Pollutant Discharge
				Elimination System.
"Operator"
means a person who operates a reclaimed
				water facility and/or distribution system, and if applicable, who meets the
				operator certification requirements in the permit.
"Owner"
means a person with a security interest in
				a reclaimed water facility regulated under this chapter.
"
Permittee"
means any entity issued a reclaimed
				water permit under this chapter.
"Person"
means any state, individual, public or
				private corporation, political subdivision, governmental subdivision,
				governmental agency, municipality, copartnership, association, firm, trust
				estate, or any other legal entity whatever.
"pH"
means the negative logarithm of the hydrogen
				ion concentration, measured in standard units or s.u.
"Plans and specifications"
means the detailed
				engineering drawings and specifications prepared by a licensed professional
				engineer, used in the construction or modification of reclaimed water
				facilities, and other related facilities.
"Potable water"
or
"drinking water"
means water safe for human consumption and approved under chapter 246-290 or
				246-291 WAC.
"Potable water supply intake"
means the works or
				structures at the head of a conduit through which water is diverted from a
				source (e.g., river or lake) into a treatment plant producing potable water.
				With or without treatment, it may also include a groundwater well and
				appurtenances, and any physical structures used for collecting spring and
				ground-water that is under the influence of surface water sources for potable
				supply.
"Private utility"
means all utilities, both public
				and private, which provide sewerage and/or water service and that are not
				municipal corporations as defined by RCW 36.94.-010. The ownership of a private
				utility may be in a corporation, nonprofit or for profit, in a cooperative
				association, in a mutual organization, or in individuals.
"PVBA"
means pressure vacuum breaker
				assembly.
"Reclaimed water"
means water derived in any part
				from a wastewater with a domestic wastewater component that has been adequately
				and reliably treated to meet the requirements of this chapter, so that it can
				be used for beneficial purposes. Reclaimed water is not considered a
				wastewater.
"Reclaimed water facility"
or
"facility"
means the treatment plant, equipment, storage,
				conveyance devices, and dedicated sites for reclaimed water generation.
"Reclaimed water permit"
or
"permit"
means an operating permit identifying the terms and conditions, the required
				level of treatment, operating conditions, and use-based standards, issued to a
				generator of reclaimed water by the lead agency.
"Recovery of reclaimed water stored in an
				aquifer"
means the recovery of reclaimed water artificially stored in an
				underground geological formation for beneficial use.
"Recovery period"
means a period of time defined
				by the duration, rate, and schedule of withdrawal of reclaimed water for a
				beneficial use from an underground geological formation.
"Reliability"
means the ability of a system or
				component(s) thereof to perform a required function under permit stated
				conditions for a permit stated period.
"Reliability assessment"
means both an evaluation
				performed and a report by a professional engineer on the reliability of
				facility components, equipment, and certified operators that are used or
				proposed to be used to generate and manage reclaimed water.
"RPBA"
means reduced pressure backflow
				assembly.
"RPDA"
means reduced pressure detector
				assembly.
"Source water"
means raw or treated wastewater
				with a domestic component that supplies a reclaimed water facility.
"Streamflow"
or
"surface water
				augmentation"
means the intentional use of reclaimed water for rivers
				and streams of the state or other surface water bodies, for the purpose of
				increasing volumes.
"Surface percolation"
means the controlled
				application of water to the ground surface or to unsaturated soil for
				replenishing groundwater.
"SVBA"
means spill resistant vacuum breaker
				assembly.
"T10"
means the effective
				contact time, the time it takes ten percent of a slug tracer volume to pass
				through the reactor, or the time where ninety percent of reclaimed water is
				kept in contact with a disinfection residual within the contact reactor.
"Third-party guarantor"
means an entity approved
				by the lead agency to provide standby management services if a generator fails
				to operate a reclaimed water facility in compliance with this chapter.
"TSS"
means total suspended solids.
"Unit process"
means one or more defined grouped
				processes that perform an identified step in a process.
"Use"
means an application of reclaimed water in a
				manner and for a purpose, as designated in a permit or use agreement, and in
				compliance with all applicable lead agency and permit requirements.
"Use agreement"
means an agreement or contract
				between the generator and the distributor or user, or between the distributor
				and user, that identifies terms and conditions for reclaimed water distribution
				and use to ensure compliance with the reclaimed water permit conditions.
"Use area"
means any facility, building, or land
				area, surface water, or groundwater identified in the use agreement.
"USEPA"
means the United States Environmental
				Protection Agency.
"User"
means any person who uses reclaimed
				water.
"Waters of the state"
means lakes, rivers, ponds,
				streams, inland waters, underground waters, salt waters and all other surface
				waters and watercourses within the jurisdiction of the state of Washington, as
				defined in RCW 90.48.-020.
"Water table"
means the upper surface of
				groundwater saturation.
"Wetland"
or
"wetlands"
means areas
				that are inundated or saturated by surface water or groundwater at a frequency
				and duration sufficient to support, and that under normal circumstances do
				support, a prevalence of vegetation typically adapted to life in saturated soil
				conditions. Wetlands generally include swamps, marshes, bogs, and similar
				areas. Wetlands regulated under chapter 90.46 RCW shall be delineated in
				accordance with the manual adopted by the department of ecology pursuant to
				RCW
				   90.58.380.
"Wetland enhancement"
means intentional actions
				taken to improve the functions, processes, and values of existing
				wetlands.
"Wetland mitigation"
means a sequence of
				intentional steps or actions taken to reduce impacts to wetlands. Unless the
				context refers to the entire mitigation sequence, or clearly indicates other
				steps, the term "wetland mitigation" means compensatory mitigation or the
				compensation stage of the wetland mitigation sequence, where impacts to wetland
				functions are offset through the creation, restoration, enhancement, or
				preservation of other wetlands.
"Wetland restoration"
means intentional actions
				taken to return historic functions and processes to a former or degraded
				wetland site.