Wisconsin Administrative Code › Department of Natural Resources › NR 100-199 - Environmental Protection - General › Chapter NR 111 - Cooling Water Intake Structures › Subchapter I - General › Section NR 111.03 - Definitions

Current through June 24, 2024
In this chapter:
(1) "Actual intake flow," or "AIF," means the
				  average volume of water withdrawn on an annual basis by the cooling water
				  intake structures over the past 3 years. After October 14, 2019, "actual intake
				  flow" means the average volume of water withdrawn on an annual basis by the
				  cooling water intake structures over the previous 5 years. AIF is measured at a
				  location within the cooling water intake structure that the department deems
				  appropriate. The calculation of AIF includes days of zero flow. AIF does not
				  include flows associated with emergency and fire suppression
				  capacity.
(2) "All life stages of
				  fish and shellfish" means eggs, larvae, juveniles, and adults. "All life stages
				  of fish and shellfish" does not include nuisance species.
(3) "Annual mean flow" means the average of
				  daily flows over a calendar year, calculated using historical data up to 10
				  years when available.
(4) "BTA"
				  means best technology available for minimizing adverse environmental impact
				  associated with a cooling water intake structure.
(5)
(a) At
				  existing facilities, "closed-cycle recirculating system" means a system
				  designed and properly operated, using minimized make-up and blowdown flows
				  withdrawn from a surface water of the state to support contact or non-contact
				  cooling uses within a facility, or a system designed to include certain
				  impoundments, that operates by passing cooling water through a condenser and
				  other components of the cooling system and reuses the water for cooling
				  multiple times. "Closed-cycle recirculating system" includes all of the
				  following:
1. A facility with wet, dry, or
				  hybrid cooling towers, a system of impoundments that are not waters of the
				  state, or any combination thereof. A properly operated and maintained
				  closed-cycle recirculating system withdraws new source water, or make-up water,
				  only to replenish losses that have occurred due to blowdown, drift, and
				  evaporation. If surface waters of the state are withdrawn for the purposes of
				  replenishing losses to a closed-cycle recirculating system other than those due
				  to blowdown, drift, and evaporation from the cooling system, the department may
				  determine that a cooling system is a closed-cycle recirculating system if the
				  facility demonstrates to the satisfaction of the department that make-up water
				  withdrawal attributed specifically to the cooling portion of the cooling system
				  has been minimized.
2. A system
				  with impoundments of waters of the state where the impoundment was constructed
				  prior to October 14, 2014 and created for the purpose of serving as part of the
				  cooling water system as documented in the project purpose statement for any
				  required federal clean water act section 404 permit obtained to construct the
				  impoundment. In the case of an impoundment whose construction pre-dated the
				  clean water act requirement to obtain a section 404 permit, documentation of
				  the project's purpose shall be demonstrated to the satisfaction of the
				  department. This documentation may be some other license or permit obtained to
				  lawfully construct the impoundment for the purposes of a cooling water system
				  or other such evidence as the department finds necessary. For impoundments
				  constructed in uplands or not in waters of the state, no documentation of a
				  section 404 or other permit is required.