3.1
Compliance With Water Quality Standards.
All persons discharging wastes into any of the waters of the
State shall provide the degree of wastewater treatment determined necessary to
insure compliance with the requirements of Rule R317-2 Water Quality Standards,
except that the Director may waive compliance with these requirements for
specific criteria listed in Rule R317-2 where it is determined that the
designated use is not being impaired or significant use improvement would not
occur or where there is a reasonable question as to the validity of a specific
criterion or for other valid reasons as determined by the
Director.
3.2 Compliance
With Secondary Treatment Requirements. Publicly owned treatment works
discharging wastes from point sources into any of the waters of the State shall
provide treatment processes which will produce secondary effluent meeting or
exceeding the following effluent quality standards.
A. The arithmetic mean of BOD values
determined on effluent samples collected during any 30-day period shall not
exceed 25 mg/L, nor shall the arithmetic mean exceed 35 mg/L during any 7-day
period. In addition, if the treatment plant influent is of domestic or
municipal sewage origin, the BOD values of effluent samples shall not be
greater than 15% of the BOD values of influent samples collected in the same
time period. As an alternative, if agreed to by the person discharging wastes,
the following effluent quality standard may be established as a requirement of
the discharge permit and must be met: The arithmetic mean of CBOD values
determined on effluent samples collected during any 30-day period shall not
exceed 20 mg/L nor shall the arithmetic mean exceed 30 mg/L during any 7-day
period. In addition, if the treatment plant influent is of domestic or
municipal sewage origin, the CBOD values of effluent samples shall not be
greater than 15% of the CBOD values of influent samples collected in the same
time period.
B. The arithmetic mean
of SS values determined on effluent samples collected during any 30-day period
shall not exceed 25 mg/L, nor shall the arithmetic mean exceed 35 mg/L during
any 7-day period. In addition, if the treatment plant influent is of domestic
or municipal sewage origin, the SS values of effluent samples shall not be
greater than 15% of the SS values of influent samples collected in the same
time period.
C. The geometric mean
of total coliform and fecal coliform bacteria in effluent samples collected
during any 30-day period shall not exceed either 2000 per 100 mL or 200 per 100
mL respectively, nor shall the geometric mean exceed 2500 per 100 mL or 250 per
100 mL respectively, during any 7-day period; or, the geometric mean of E. coli
bacteria in effluent samples collected during any 30-day period shall not
exceed 126 per 100 mL nor shall the geometric mean exceed 158 per 100 mL
respectively during any 7-day period. Exceptions to this requirement may be
allowed by the Director where domestic wastewater is not a part of the effluent
and where water quality standards are not violated.
D. The effluent values for pH shall be
maintained within the limits of 6.5 and 9.0.
E. Exceptions to the 85% removal requirements
may be allowed where infiltration makes such removal requirements infeasible
and where water quality standards are not violated.
F. The Director may allow exceptions to the
requirements of Subsections R317-1-3.2.A, R317-1-3.2.B, and R317-1-3.2.D where
the discharge will be of short duration and where there will be no significant
detrimental effect on receiving water quality or downstream beneficial
uses.
G. The Director may allow
that the BOD5 and TSS effluent concentrations for discharging domestic
wastewater lagoons shall not exceed 45 mg/L for a monthly average nor 65 mg/L
for a weekly average provided the following criteria are met:
1. the lagoon system is operating within the
organic and hydraulic design capacity established by Rule R317-3;
2. the lagoon system is being properly
operated and maintained;
3. the
treatment system is meeting all other permit limits;
4. there are no significant or categorical
industrial users (IU) defined by 40 CFR Part
403, unless it is demonstrated to
the satisfaction of the Director that the IU is not contributing constituents
in concentrations or quantities likely to significantly affect the treatment
works; and
5. a Waste Load
Allocation (WLA) indicates that the increased permit limits would not impair
beneficial uses of the receiving stream.
3.3 Technology-based Limits for Controlling
Phosphorus Pollution.
A. Technology-based
Phosphorus Effluent Limits (TBPEL)
1. All
non-lagoon treatment works discharging wastewater to surface waters of the
state shall provide treatment processes which will produce effluent less than
or equal to an annual mean of 1.0 mg/L for total phosphorus.
2. The TBPEL shall be achieved by January 1,
2020, or no later than January 1, 2025, after a variance has been granted under
Subsection R317-1-3.3.C.1.e.
B. Discharging Lagoons -Phosphorus Loading
Cap
1. No TBPEL will be instituted for
discharging treatment lagoons. Instead, each discharging lagoon will be
evaluated to determine the current annual average total phosphorus load
measured in pounds per year based on monthly average flow rates and
concentrations. Absent field data to determine these loads, and in case of
intermittent discharging lagoons, the phosphorus load cap will be estimated by
the Director.
2. A cap of 125% of
the current annual total phosphorus load will be established and referred to as
phosphorus loading cap. Once the lagoon's phosphorus loading cap has been
reached, the owner of the facility will have five years to construct treatment
processes or implement treatment alternatives to prevent the total phosphorus
loading cap from being exceeded.
3. The load cap shall become effective July
1, 2018.
C. Variances
for TBPEL and Phosphorus Loading Caps
1. The
Director may authorize a variance to the TBPEL or phosphorus loading cap under
any of the following conditions:
a. Where an
existing TMDL has allocated a total phosphorus wasteload to a treatment works,
no TBPEL or phosphorus loading cap, as applicable, will be applied.
b. If the owner of a discharging treatment
works can demonstrate that imposing the TBPEL or phosphorus loading cap would
result in an economic hardship, an alternative TBPEL or phosphorus loading cap
that would not cause economic hardship may be applied. "Economic hardship" for
a publicly owned treatment works is defined as sewer service costs that, as a
result of implementing a TBPEL or phosphorus loading cap, would be greater than
1.4% of the median adjusted gross household income of the service area based on
the latest information compiled by the Utah State Tax Commission, after
inclusion of grants, loans, or other funding made available by the Utah Water
Quality Board or other sources. The Director will consider other demonstrations
of economic hardship on a case-by-case basis.
c. If the owner of a discharging treatment
works can demonstrate that the TBPEL or phosphorus loading cap are clearly
unnecessary to protect waters downstream from the point of discharge, no TBPEL
or phosphorus loading cap will be applied.
d. If the owner of the discharging treatment
works can demonstrate that a commensurate phosphorus reduction can be achieved
in receiving waters using innovative alternative approaches such as water
quality trading, seasonal offsets, effluent reuse, or land
application.
e. Where the owner of
a non-lagoon discharging treatment works demonstrates due diligence toward
construction of a treatment facility designed to meet the TBPEL, the compliance
date shall be no later than January 1, 2025.
2. All variances to TBPEL and phosphorus
loading caps shall be revisited no more frequently than every five years, or
when a substantive change in facility operations or a substantive facility
upgrade occurs, to determine if the rationale used to justify the conditions in
Subsection R317-1-3.3.C remains applicable.
3. For treatment works required to implement
TBPEL or a phosphorus loading cap, the demonstration under Subsection
R317-1-3.3.C must be made by January 1, 2018. Unless this demonstration is
made, the owner of the discharging treatment works must proceed to implement
the TBPEL or phosphorus loading cap, as applicable, in accordance with,
respectively, Subsections R317-1-3.3.A and R317-1-3.3.B.
D. Facility Optimization to Remove Total
Inorganic Nitrogen
1. If the owner of a
discharging treatment works agrees to optimize the owner's facility, either
through operational changes, a capital construction project, or both, to reduce
effluent total inorganic nitrogen concentrations to a level agreeable to the
Director, a waiver of up to ten years from meeting either water quality-based
effluent limits or technology-based effluent limits for total inorganic
nitrogen will be granted. This includes meeting any total inorganic nitrogen
limit that may result from a TMDL or other water quality study that is specific
to the receiving water of the treatment works.
2. The waiver period under this section would
begin upon implementation of the optimization improvements or another date
agreed to by the owner of the treatment works and the Director.
3. The elements of the waiver under this
section will be identified in a compliance agreement that will be incorporated
into the facility's UPDES permit.
4. The waiver identified under this section
must be granted before January 1, 2020. Thereafter, no such waiver will be
considered or granted.
E. Monitoring
1. All discharging treatment works are
required to implement, at a minimum, monthly monitoring of:
a. influent for total phosphorus (as P) and
total Kjeldahl nitrogen (as N) concentrations; and
b. effluent for total phosphorus and
orthophosphate (as P), and ammonia, nitrate-nitrite, and total Kjeldahl
nitrogen (as N).
2. The
Director may authorize a variance to the monitoring requirements identified in
Subsection R317-1-3.3.D.1.
3. All
monitoring under Subsection R317-1-3.3.D shall be based on 24-hour composite
samples by use of an automatic sampler or by combining a minimum of four grab
samples collected at least two hours apart within a 24-hour period.
4. These monitoring requirements shall be
self-implementing beginning July 1, 2015.
3.4 Pollutants In Diverted Water Returned To
Stream.
A user of surface water diverted from waters of the State
will not be required to remove any pollutants which such user has not added
before returning the diverted flow to the original watercourse, provided there
is no increase in concentration of pollutants in the diverted water. Should the
pollutant constituent concentration of the intake surface waters to a facility
exceed the effluent limitations for such facility under a federal National
Pollutant Discharge Elimination System permit or a permit issued pursuant to
State authority, then the effluent limitations shall become equal to the
constituent concentrations in the intake surface waters of such facility. This
section does not apply to irrigation return flow.
Notes
Utah Admin. Code
R317-1-3
Amended by
Utah
State Bulletin Number 2015-2, effective
1/1/2015
Amended by
Utah
State Bulletin Number 2016-6, effective
2/25/2016
Amended by
Utah
State Bulletin Number 2020-18, effective
8/27/2020