Washington Administrative Code › Title 173 - Ecology, Department of (See also Titles 197, 317, 372, and 508) › Chapter 173-226 - Waste discharge general permit program › Section 173-226-030 - Definitions

Current through Register Vol. 24-14, July 15, 2024
For purposes of this chapter, the following definitions shall
				be applicable:
(1) "Administrator"
			 means the administrator of the United States Environmental Protection
			 Agency.
(2) "Application for
			 coverage" means a form developed by, or approved by the department, which is
			 used by a discharger to apply for coverage under a general permit.
(3) "Best management practices" (BMPs) means
			 schedules of activities, prohibitions of practices, maintenance procedures, and
			 other management practices to prevent or reduce the pollution of the waters of
			 the state. BMPs also include treatment requirements, operating procedures, and
			 practices to control plant site runoff, spillage or leaks, sludge or waste
			 disposal, or drainage from raw material storage.
(4) "Department" means the Washington state
			 department of ecology.
(5)
			 "Director" means the director of the department of ecology or the director's
			 authorized representative.
(6)
			 "Discharge of pollutant" and "discharge of pollutants" mean the addition of any
			 pollutant or combination of pollutants to waters of the state,
			 respectively.
(7) "Discharger"
			 means the owner or operator of any operation, facility, or activity subject to
			 regulation under
			 chapter
			 90.48 RCW.
(8) "Domestic wastewater" means water
			 carrying human wastes, including kitchen, bath, and laundry wastes from
			 residences, buildings, industrial establishments, or other places, together
			 with such groundwater infiltration or surface waters as may be
			 present.
(9) "Domestic wastewater
			 facility" means all structures, equipment, or processes required to collect,
			 carry away, treat, reclaim, or dispose of domestic wastewater, together with
			 such industrial waste as may be present.
(10) "Effluent limitation" means any
			 restriction established by the department or the administrator on quantities,
			 rates, and concentrations of chemical, physical, biological, and other
			 constituents discharged from point sources into waters of the state.
(11) "FWPCA" means the federal Water
			 Pollution Control Act, as amended,  33 U.S.C. §
									1251  et seq.
(12) "Existing operation" means an operation
			 that is not a new operation.
(13)
			 "General permit" means a permit that covers multiple dischargers of a point
			 source category within a designated geographical area, in lieu of individual
			 permits being issued to each discharger.
(14) "Individual permit" means a permit for a
			 single point source or a single facility.
(15) "Municipal sewerage system" means a
			 publicly owned domestic wastewater facility or privately owned domestic
			 wastewater facility that is under contract to a municipality.
(16) "New operation" means an operation that
			 begins activities that result in a discharge, or a potential discharge to
			 waters of the state on or after the effective date of the general
			 permit.
(17) "Notice of intent"
			 means an application for a general permit, a request for coverage under a
			 general permit, or a registration form for a general permit.
(18) "NPDES" means the National Pollutant
			 Discharge Elimination System.
(19)
			 "Permit" means an authorization, license, or equivalent control document issued
			 by the director to implement this chapter.
(20) "Person" includes any political
			 subdivision, local, state, or federal government agency, municipality,
			 industry, public or private corporation, partnership, association, firm,
			 individual, or any other entity whatsoever.
(21) "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.
(22) "Pollutant" means dredged spoil, solid
			 waste, incinerator residue, sewage, garbage, sewage sludge, munitions, chemical
			 wastes, biological materials, radioactive materials, heat, wrecked or discarded
			 equipment, rock, sand, cellar dirt, and industrial, municipal, and agricultural
			 waste discharged into water. This term does not include sewage from vessels
			 within the meaning of section 312 of the FWPCA nor does it include dredged or
			 fill material discharged in accordance with a permit issued under section 404
			 of the FWPCA.
(23) "Regional
			 administrator" means the regional administrator of Region X of the
			 Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) or his/her authorized
			 representative.
(24) "Sediment
			 standards" means the state of Washington's Sediment management standards
			 (chapter 173-204 WAC).
(25) "Small
			 business" has the meaning given in RCW 43.31.025(4).
(26) "Surface waters of the state" means all
			 waters defined as "waters of the United States" in
			 40 C.F.R.
			 122.2 that are within the boundaries of the
			 state of Washington. This includes lakes, rivers, ponds, streams, inland
			 waters, wetlands, ocean, bays, estuaries, sounds, and inlets.
(27) "Waters of the state" means all waters
			 defined as "surface waters of the state" and all waters defined as "waters of
			 the state" in
			 RCW
			    90.48.020.
(28) "Water quality standards" means the
			 state of Washington's water quality standards for groundwaters of the state
			 (chapter 173-200 WAC) and the state of Washington's water quality standards for
			 surface waters of the state (chapter 173-201A WAC).
Statutory Authority:
				  Chapter
				  90.48 RCW. 93-10-099
				  (Order 92-55), § 173-226-030, filed 5/5/93, effective
				  5/19/93.