18 AAC 83.990 - Definitions
Unless the context indicates otherwise, in this chapter
(1) "administrator" means the
administrator of the United States Environmental Protection Agency, or an
authorized representative;
(2)
"Alaska Pollutant Discharge Elimination System" or "APDES" means the state's
program, approved by EPA under
33 U.S.C.
1342(b), for issuing,
modifying, revoking and reissuing, terminating, monitoring and enforcing
permits, and imposing and enforcing pretreatment requirements under
33 U.S.C.
1317,
1328,
1342, and
1345;
(3) "animal feeding operation" has the
meaning given in 40 C.F.R.
122.23, adopted by reference in
18 AAC 83.010;
(4) "applicable standards and limitations"
means all state, interstate, and federal standards and limitations to which a
discharge or a related activity is subject under
33 U.S.C.
1251 -
1387 (Clean Water Act), including
effluent limitations, water quality standards, standards of performance, toxic
effluent standards or prohibitions, best management practices and pretreatment
standards under 33 U.S.C.
1311 -
1314,
1316 -
1318, and
1343;
(5) "application" means a submission of
required information on
(A) the EPA standard
national forms for applying for a National Pollutant Discharge Elimination
System (NPDES) permit, adopted by reference in
18 AAC 83.305; or
(B) the department equivalent forms adopted
by the state for use in the APDES program and approved by EPA for use by the
state, including any approved modifications or revisions;
(6) "aquaculture project" has the meaning
given in 40 C.F.R.
122.25, adopted by reference in
18 AAC 83.010;
(7) "average monthly discharge limitation"
means the highest allowable average of daily discharges over a calendar month,
calculated as the sum of all daily discharges measured during a calendar month
divided by the number of daily discharges measured during that month;
(8) "average weekly discharge limitation"
means the highest allowable average of daily discharges over a calendar week,
calculated as the sum of all daily discharges measured during a calendar week
divided by the number of daily discharges measured during that week;
(9) "best management practices" means
(A) schedules of activities, prohibitions of
practices, maintenance procedures, and other management practices to prevent or
reduce the pollution of waters of the United States; and
(B) treatment requirements, operating
procedures, and practices to control plant site runoff, spillage or leaks,
sludge or waste disposal, or drainage from raw material storage;
(10) "bypass" means the
intentional diversion of waste streams from any portion of a treatment
facility;
(11) "commissioner" means
the commissioner of the Department of Environmental Conservation;
(12) "concentrated animal feeding operation"
has the meaning given in 40
C.F.R. 122.23, adopted by reference in
18 AAC 83.010;
(13) "concentrated aquatic animal production
facility" means a hatchery, fish farm, or other facility that meets the
criteria in Appendix C to 40 C.F.R. Part 122, adopted by reference in
18 AAC 83.010, or that the
department designates under
18 AAC 83.620(b);
(14) "contiguous zone" means the entire zone
established by the United States under Article 24 of the Convention on the
Territorial Sea and the Contiguous Zone;
(15) "continuous discharge" means a discharge
that occurs without interruption throughout the operating hours of the
facility, except for infrequent shutdowns for maintenance, process changes, or
other similar activities;
(16)
"Clean Water Act" means the federal law codified at
33 U.S.C.
1251 -
1387, also known or referred to as
the Federal Water Pollution Control Act or Federal Water Pollution Control Act
Amendments of 1972);
(17) "Clean
Water Act and regulations" means
33 U.S.C.
1251 -
1387 and applicable regulations
promulgated under 33 U.S.C.
1251 -
1387, including the APDES
requirements;
(18) "daily
discharge" means the discharge of a pollutant measured during a calendar day or
any 24-hour period that reasonably represents the calendar day for purposes of
sampling; the daily discharge is calculated for a pollutant with limitations
expressed in
(A) units of mass, as the total
mass of the pollutant discharged over the day, and
(B) other units of measurement, as the
average measurement of the pollutant over the day;
(19) "department" means the Department of
Environmental Conservation;
(20)
"direct discharge" means the discharge of a pollutant;
(21) "director" means the commissioner or the
commissioner's designee assigned to administer the APDES program or a portion
of it, unless the context identifies an EPA director;
(22) "discharge" when used without
qualification means the discharge of a pollutant;
(23) "discharge of a pollutant"
(A) means any addition of any pollutant or
combination of pollutants
(i) to waters of the
United States from any point source; or
(ii) to waters of the contiguous zone or the
ocean from any point source other than a vessel or other floating craft that is
being used as a means of transportation;
(B) includes any addition of pollutants into
waters of the United States from
(i) surface
runoff that is collected or channeled by humans;
(ii) discharges through pipes, sewers, or
other conveyances owned by a state, municipality, or other person that do not
lead to a treatment works; and
(iii) discharges through pipes, sewers, or
other conveyances leading into privately owned treatment works;
(C) does not include an addition
of pollutants by any indirect discharger;
(24) "discharge monitoring report" means the
EPA uniform national form, adopted by reference in
18 AAC 83.410(d),
for the reporting of self-monitoring results by permittees, including any
department equivalent modified to substitute the department's name, address,
logo, and other similar information, as appropriate, in place of information
pertaining to EPA;
(25) "draft
permit" means a document prepared under
18 AAC 83.115, indicating the
department's tentative decision to issue or deny, modify, revoke and reissue,
terminate, or reissue a permit;
(26) "effluent limitation" or "effluent
limit" means any restriction imposed by the department on quantities, discharge
rates, and concentrations of pollutants that are discharged from point sources
into waters of the United States, the waters of the contiguous zone, or the
ocean;
(27) "effluent limitations
guidelines" means a regulation published by the administrator under
33 U.S.C.
1314(b) to adopt or revise
effluent limitations, and adopted by reference in
18 AAC 83.010;
(28) "Environmental Protection Agency" or
"EPA" means the United States Environmental Protection Agency;
(29) "facility or activity" means any point
source or any other facility or activity, including land or appurtenances, that
is subject to regulation under the APDES program;
(30) "federal Indian reservation" means all
land within the limits of any Indian reservation under the jurisdiction of the
United States government, notwithstanding the issuance of any patent, and
including rights-of-way running through the reservation;
(31) "general permit" means an APDES permit
issued under
18 AAC 83.205, or an NPDES permit
issued by EPA under 40
C.F.R. 122.28 before the state's acceptance
of delegation of the NPDES program, authorizing a category of discharges under
33 U.S.C.
1251 -
1387 within a geographical
area;
(32) "hazardous substance"
means any substance designated under 40 C.F.R. Part 116 in accordance with
33 U.S.C.
1321;
(33) "Indian tribe" means any Indian tribe,
band, group, or community recognized by the United States Secretary of the
Interior and exercising governmental authority over a federal Indian
reservation;
(34) "indirect
discharger" means a nondomestic discharger introducing pollutants to a
POTW;
(35) "individual control
strategy" has the meaning given in
40 C.F.R.
123.46(c), revised as of
July 1, 2005, adopted by reference;
(36) "interstate agency" means an agency of
two or more states established by or under an agreement or compact approved by
the United States Congress, or any other agency of two or more states having
substantial powers or duties pertaining to the control of pollution as
determined and approved by the administrator under
33 U.S.C.
1251 -
1387 and regulations adopted under
those provisions;
(37) "major
facility" means any NPDES facility or activity classified as a major facility
by the regional administrator, or any APDES facility or activity classified as
a major facility by the regional administrator in conjunction with the
department;
(38) "maximum daily
discharge limitation" means the highest allowable daily discharge;
(39) "minor facility" means any facility that
is not a major facility;
(40)
"municipality" means a city, town, borough, village, district, association, or
other public body created by or under state law and having jurisdiction over
disposal of sewage, industrial wastes, or other wastes, or an Indian tribe or
an authorized Indian tribal organization, or a designated and approved
management agency under 33
U.S.C. 1288;
(41) "municipal separate storm sewer system"
or "MS4" has the meaning given in
40 C.F.R.
122.26(b)(4) and (b)(7),
adopted by reference in
18 AAC 83.010;
(42) "National Pollutant Discharge
Elimination System" or "NPDES"
(A) means the
national program for issuing, modifying, revoking and reissuing, terminating,
monitoring and enforcing permits, and imposing and enforcing pretreatment
requirements under 33 U.S.C.
1317,
1328,
1342, and
1345;
(B) includes the APDES program as approved by
EPA;
(43) "new
discharger"
(A) means any building,
structure, facility, or installation
(i) from
which there is or may be a discharge of pollutants;
(ii) that did not commence the discharge of
pollutants at a particular site before August 13, 1979;
(iii) that is not a new source; and
(iv) that has never received a finally
effective NDPES permit for discharges at that site;
(B) includes
(i) an indirect discharger that commenced or
commences discharging into waters of the United States after August 13,
1979;
(ii) any existing mobile
point source other than an offshore or coastal oil and gas exploratory drilling
rig or a coastal oil and gas developmental drilling rig such as a seafood
processing rig, seafood processing vessel, or aggregate plant, that begins
discharging at a site for which it does not have a permit; and
(iii) any offshore or coastal mobile oil and
gas exploratory drilling rig or coastal mobile oil and gas developmental
drilling rig that commenced or commences the discharge of pollutants after
August 13, 1979, at a site under EPA's permitting jurisdiction for which it is
not covered by an individual or general permit and which is located in an area
determined by the regional administrator in the issuance of a final permit to
be an area of biological concern considering the factors specific in
40 C.F.R.
125.122(a)(1) - (10),
adopted by reference in
18 AAC 83.010; an offshore or
coastal mobile exploratory drilling rig or coastal mobile developmental
drilling rig will be considered a new discharger only for the duration of its
discharge in an area of biological concern;
(44) "new source"
(A) means any building, structure, facility,
or installation from which there is or may be a discharge of pollutants, the
construction of which commenced
(i) after
promulgation of standards of performance under
33 U.S.C.
1316 that are applicable to a new source;
or
(B) except as
otherwise provided in an applicable new source performance standard, is a
source that
(i) is constructed at a site at
which no other source is located;
(ii) totally replaces the process or
production equipment that causes the discharge of pollutants at an existing
source; or
(iii) has processes
which are substantially independent of an existing source at the same site,
considering such factors as the extent to which the new facility is integrated
with the existing plant, and the extent to which the new facility is engaged in
the same general type of activity as the existing source;
(C) for purposes of (A) and (B) of this
paragraph, is a new source only if a new source performance standard is
independently applicable to it; if there is no independently applicable
standard, the source is a new discharger;
(D) for purposes of this paragraph, is
construction of a new source that has commenced if the owner or operator has
(i) begun, or caused to begin as part of a
continuous on-site construction program, any placement, assembly, or
installation of facilities or equipment, or significant site preparation work
including clearing, excavation or removal of existing buildings, structures, or
facilities that is necessary for the placement, assembly, or installation of
new source facilities or equipment; or
(ii) entered into a binding contractual
obligation for the purchase of facilities or equipment intended to be used in
its operation within a reasonable time; options to purchase or contracts that
can be terminated or modified without substantial loss, contracts for
feasibility engineering and design studies do not constitute a contractual
obligation under this sub-subparagraph;
(E) does not include construction on a site
that results in a modification to an existing source subject to
18 AAC 83.130, if the construction
does not create a new building, structure, facility, or installation meeting
the criteria in (A) - (D) of this paragraph, but otherwise alters, replaces, or
adds to existing process or production equipment; and
(F) in (A) - (E) of this paragraph,
(i) "existing source" means any source that
is not a new source or a new discharger;
(ii) "facility or equipment" means any
building, structure, process or production equipment or machinery which form a
permanent part of the new source and which will be used in its operation, if
the facility or equipment is of such value as to represent a substantial
commitment to construct, but does not include any facility or equipment used in
connection with feasibility, engineering, and design studies regarding the
source or water pollution treatment for the source;
(iii) "source" means any building, structure,
facility, or installation from which there is or may be a discharge of
pollutants;
(45) "owner or operator" means the owner or
operator of any facility or activity subject to regulation under the APDES
program;
(46) "permit"
(A) means an authorization, license, or
equivalent control document issued by the department to implement the
requirements of the APDES program and this chapter;
(B) includes an APDES general permit and an
EPA-issued NPDES general permit;
(47) "person" means an individual,
association, partnership, corporation, municipality, state or federal agency,
or an agent or employee thereof;
(48) "point source"
(A) means any discernible, confined, and
discrete conveyance, including any pipe, ditch, channel, tunnel, conduit, well,
discrete fissure, container, rolling stock, concentrated animal feeding
operation, landfill leachate collection system, vessel, or other floating craft
from which pollutants are or may be discharged;
(B) does not include return flows from
irrigated agriculture or agricultural storm water runoff;
(49) "pollutant"
(A) means dredged spoil, solid waste,
incinerator residue, filter backwash, sewage, garbage, sewage sludge,
munitions, chemical wastes, biological materials, radioactive materials except
those regulated under 42
U.S.C. 2011, heat, wrecked or discarded
equipment, rock, sand, cellar dirt, and industrial, municipal, or agricultural
waste discharged into water;
(B)
does not include sewage from vessels or water, gas, or other material that is
injected into a well to facilitate production of oil or gas, or water derived
in association with oil and gas production and disposed of in a well, if the
well
(i) is used either to facilitate
production or for disposal purposes;
(ii) is approved by authority of the
department; and
(iii) if the
department determines that the injection or disposal will not result in the
degradation of ground or surface water resources;
(50) "preliminary draft permit"
means a draft permit that the department intends to provide notice of under
18 AAC 83.120 and that is provided
in advance to the applicant under
18 AAC 83.115(e);
(51) "pretreatment" has the meaning given in
40 C.F.R.
403.3(s), adopted by
reference in
18 AAC 83.010;
(52) "primary industry category" means any
industry category listed in Appendix A to 40 C.F.R. Part 122, adopted by
reference in
18 AAC 83.010;
(53) "privately owned treatment works" means
any device or system that is used to treat wastes from any facility whose
operator is not the operator of the treatment works and is not a
POTW;
(54) "process wastewater"
means any water which, during manufacturing or processing, comes into direct
contact with or results from the production or use of any raw material,
intermediate product, finished product, byproduct, or waste product;
(55) "proposed final permit" means a permit,
prepared after the public comment period and any public hearing and
administrative appeal, that may be sent to EPA for review before final issuance
by the department;
(56) "publicly
owned treatment works" or "POTW"
(A) means a
treatment works as defined by
33 U.S.C.
1292 that is owned by a municipality or
state; in this subparagraph "municipality" includes a municipality that has
jurisdiction over the indirect discharges to and the discharges from such a
treatment works;
(B) includes
(i) any device and system used in the
storage, treatment, recycling, and reclamation of municipal sewage or
industrial wastes of a liquid nature; and
(ii) any sewer, pipe, and other conveyance
that conveys wastewater to a POTW treatment plant;
(57) "recommencing discharger"
means a source that recommences discharge after terminating
operations;
(58) "regional
administrator" means the regional administrator of EPA Region 10 or the
authorized representative of the regional administrator;
(59) "schedule of compliance" means a
schedule of remedial measures in a permit, including an enforceable sequence of
interim requirements such as actions, operations, or milestone events, leading
to compliance with 33 U.S.C.
1251 -
1387 and this chapter;
(60) "second industry category" means any
industry category that is not a primary industry category;
(61) "secretary" means the Secretary of the
United States Army, acting through the chief of engineers;
(62) "septage" means the liquid and solid
material pumped from a septic tank, cesspool, or similar domestic sewage
treatment system, or a holding tank when the system is cleaned or
maintained;
(63) "sewage from
vessels" means human body wastes and the wastes from toilets and other
receptacles intended to receive or retain body wastes that are discharged from
vessels and regulated under 33 U.S.C. 1322;
(64) "sewage sludge"
(A) means any solid, semi-solid, or liquid
residue removed during the treatment of municipal waste water or domestic
sewage;
(B) includes solids removed
during primary, secondary, or advanced waste water treatment, scum, septage,
portable toilet pumpings, type III marine sanitation device pumpings under 33
C.F.R. Part 159, and sewage sludge products;
(C) does not include grit, screenings, or ash
generated during the incineration of sewage sludge;
(65) "sewage sludge use or disposal practice"
means the collection, storage, treatment, transportation, processing,
monitoring, use, or disposal of sewage sludge;
(66) "significant industrial user" has the
meaning given in 40 C.F.R.
403.3(v), adopted by
reference in
18 AAC 83.010;
(67) "silvicultural point source"
(A) means any discernible, confined, and
discrete conveyance related to rock crushing and gravel washing, log sorting,
or log storage facilities that are operated in connection with silvicultural
activities and from which pollutants are discharged into waters of the United
States; in this paragraph,
(i) "log sorting
and log storage facilities" means facilities where discharges result from the
holding of unprocessed wood, such as logs or roundwood with bark or after
removal of bark held in self-contained bodies of water such as mill ponds or
log ponds, or stored on land for wet decking, where water is applied
intentionally on the logs; and
(ii)
"rock crushing and gravel washing facilities" means facilities that process
crushed and broken stone, gravel, and riprap;
(B) does not include non-point source
silvicultural activities such as nursery operations, site preparation,
reforestation and subsequent cultural treatment, thinning, prescribed burning,
pest and fire control, harvesting operations, surface drainage, or road
construction and maintenance from which there is natural runoff;
(68) "site" means the land or
water area where any facility or activity is physically located or conducted,
including adjacent land used in connection with the facility or
activity;
(69) "state" means the
State of Alaska;
(70) "state and
EPA Agreement" means an agreement between the regional administrator and the
state that coordinates EPA and state activities, responsibilities, and
programs, including those under
33 U.S.C.
1251 -
1387;
(71) "storm water" has the meaning given in
40 C.F.R.
122.26(b)(13), adopted by
reference in
18 AAC 83.010;
(72) "storm water discharge associated with
industrial activity" has the meaning given in
40 C.F.R.
122.26(b)(14), adopted by
reference in
18 AAC 83.010;
(73) "total dissolved solids" means the total
dissolved solids as determined by use of the method specified in 40 C.F.R. Part
136, adopted by reference in
18 AAC 83.010;
(74) "toxic pollutant" means any pollutant
listed as toxic under 33
U.S.C. 1317(a)(1);
(75) "upset" means an exceptional incident in
which there is unintentional and temporary noncompliance with technology-based
permit effluent limitations because of factors beyond the reasonable control of
the permittee; "upset" does not include the following:
(A) noncompliance to the extent caused by
operational error;
(B) improperly
designed or installed treatment facilities;
(C) inadequate treatment
facilities;
(D) lack of preventive
maintenance;
(E) careless or
improper operation;
(76)
"variance"
(A) means any mechanism or
provision under 33 U.S.C.
1311 or
1326 or under
18 AAC 83.160, or in the
applicable effluent limitations guidelines, that allows a modification or
waiver of the generally applicable effluent limitation requirements or time
deadlines of 33 U.S.C.
1251 -
1387;
(B) includes provisions at allow the
establishment of alternative limitations based on fundamentally different
factors or based upon 33
U.S.C. 1311(c), (g) - (i),
or 1326(a);
(77) "waters of the United States"
or "waters of the U.S."
(A) means
(i) all waters that are currently used, were
used in the past, or may be susceptible to use in interstate or foreign
commerce, including all waters that are subject to the ebb and flow of the
tide;
(ii) all interstate waters,
including interstate wetlands;
(iii) all other waters such as intrastate
lakes, rivers, streams, including intermittent streams, mudflats, sandflats,
wetlands, sloughs, prairie potholes, wet meadows, playa lakes, or natural ponds
the use, degradation, or destruction of which would affect or could affect
interstate or foreign commerce, including any such waters that are or could be
used by interstate or foreign travelers for recreational or other purposes;
from which fish or shellfish are or could be taken and sold in interstate or
foreign commerce; or that are used or could be used for industrial purposes by
industries in interstate commerce;
(iv) all impoundments of waters otherwise
defined as waters of the United States under this paragraph;
(v) tributaries of waters identified in (i)
through (iv) of this subparagraph;
(vi) the territorial sea;
(vii) wetlands adjacent to waters, other than
waters that are themselves wetlands, identified in (i) through (vi) of this
subparagraph;
(B) does
not include
(i) waste treatment systems
including treatment ponds or lagoons designed to meet the requirements of
33 U.S.C.
1251 -
1387 (Clean Water Act), other than
cooling ponds as defined in 40 C.F.R.
423.11(m), adopted by
reference in
18 AAC 83.010 that also meet the
criteria of this paragraph;
(ii)
prior converted cropland; however, notwithstanding the determination of an
area's status as prior converted cropland by any federal agency other than EPA,
the final authority regarding Clean Water Act jurisdiction remains with
EPA;
(78)
"wetlands" means those areas that are inundated or saturated by surface or
groundwater at a frequency and duration sufficient to support, and that under
normal circumstances do support, a prevalence of vegetation typically adapted
for life in saturated soil conditions, and generally include swamps, marshes,
bogs, and similar areas;
(79)
"whole effluent toxicity" means the aggregate toxic effect of an effluent
measured directly by a toxicity test;
(80) "severe property damage" means
substantial physical damage to property, damage to the treatment facilities
that causes them to become inoperable, or substantial and permanent loss of
natural resources that can reasonably be expected to occur in the absence of a
bypass; in this paragraph, "severe property damage" does not include economic
loss caused by delays in production.
Notes
As of Register 187 (October 2008), the regulations attorney made a technical revision under AS 44.62.125(b)(6), to 18 AAC 83.990(51) and 18 AAC 83.990(66).
Authority:AS 44.46.020
AS 46.03.010
AS 46.03.020
AS 46.03.050
AS 46.03.100
AS 46.03.110
State regulations are updated quarterly; we currently have two versions available. Below is a comparison between our most recent version and the prior quarterly release. More comparison features will be added as we have more versions to compare.
No prior version found.