Section R18-9-101. Definitions

In addition to the definitions established in A.R.S. § 49-201, the fol- lowing terms apply to Articles 1, 2, 3, and 4 of this Chapter:

1.        “Aggregate” means a clean graded hard rock, volcanic rock, or gravel of uniform size, between 3/4 inch and

2 1/2 inches in diameter, offering 30 percent or more void space, washed or prepared to be free of fine materials that will impair absorption surface performance, and has a hardness value of three or greater on the Moh’s Scale of Hardness (can scratch a copper penny).

2.        “Alert level” means a value or criterion established in an individual permit that serves as an early warning indicat- ing a potential violation of a permit condition related to BADCT or the discharge of a pollutant to groundwater.

3.        “AQL” means an aquifer quality limit and is a permit lim- itation set for aquifer water quality measured at the point of compliance that either represents an Aquifer Water Quality Standard or, if an Aquifer Water Quality Standard for a pollutant is exceeded in an aquifer at the time of per- mit issuance, represents the ambient water quality for that pollutant.

4.        “Aquifer Protection Permit” means an individual permit or a general permit issued under A.R.S. §§ 49-203, 49-241 through 49-252, and Articles 1, 2, and 3 of this Chapter.

5.        “Aquifer Water Quality Standard” means a standard established under A.R.S. §§ 49-221 and 49-223.

6.        “AZPDES” means the Arizona Pollutant Discharge Elim- ination System, which is the state program for issuing, modifying, revoking, reissuing, terminating, monitoring, and enforcing permits, and imposing and enforcing pre- treatment and biosolids requirements under A.R.S. Title 49, Chapter 2, Article 3.1 and 18 A.A.C. 9, Articles 9 and 10.

7.        “BADCT” means the best available demonstrated control technology, process, operating method, or other alternative to achieve the greatest degree of discharge reduction deter- mined for a facility by the Director under A.R.S. § 49-243.

8.        “Bedroom” means, for the purpose of determining design flow for an on-site wastewater treatment facility for a dwelling, any room that has:

a.         A floor space of at least 70 square feet in area, excluding closets;

b      A ceiling height of at least 7 feet;

c.         Electrical service and ventilation;

d.        A closet or an area where a closet could be con- structed;

e.         At least one window capable of being opened and used for emergency egress; and

f.         A method of entry and exit to the room that allows the room to be considered distinct from other rooms in the dwelling and to afford a level of privacy cus- tomarily expected for such a room.

9.        “Book net worth” means the net difference between total assets and total liabilities.

10.     “Chamber technology” means a method for dispersing treated wastewater into soil from an on-site wastewater treatment facility by one or more manufactured leaching chambers with an open bottom and louvered, load-bear- ing sidewalls that substitute for an aggregate-filled trench described in R18-9-E302.

11.     “CMOM Plan” means a Capacity, Management, Opera- tions, and Maintenance Plan, which is a written plan that describes the activities a permittee will engage in and actions a permittee will take to ensure that the capacity of the sewage collection system, when unobstructed, is suf- ficient to convey the peak wet weather flow through each reach of sewer, and provides for the management, opera-

tion, and maintenance of the permittee’s sewage collec- tion system.

12.     “Design capacity” means the volume of a containment feature at a discharging facility that accommodates all permitted flows and meets all Aquifer Protection Permit conditions, including allowances for appropriate peaking and safety factors to ensure sustained, reliable operation.

13.     “Design flow” means the daily flow rate a facility is designed to accommodate on a sustained basis while sat- isfying all Aquifer Protection Permit discharge limita- tions and treatment and operational requirements. The design flow either incorporates or is used with appropri- ate peaking and safety factors to ensure sustained, reli- able operation.

14.     “Direct reuse site” means an area where reclaimed water is applied or impounded.

15.     “Disposal works” means the system for disposing treated wastewater generated by the treatment works of a sewage treatment facility or on-site wastewater treatment facility, by surface or subsurface methods. Disposal works do not include systems for activities regulated under 18 A.A.C. 9, Article 7.

16.     “Drywell” means a well which is a bored, drilled or driven shaft or hole whose depth is greater than its width and is designed and constructed specifically for the dis- posal of storm water. Drywells do not include class 1, class 2, class 3 or class 4 injection wells as defined by the Federal Underground Injection Control Program (P.L. 93-523, part C), as amended. A.R.S. § 49-331(3)

17.     “Dwelling” means any building, structure, or improve- ment intended for residential use or related activity, including a house, an apartment unit, a condominium unit, a townhouse, or a mobile or manufactured home that has been constructed or will be constructed on real prop- erty.

18.     “Final permit determination” means a written notification to the applicant of the Director’s final decision whether to issue or deny an Individual Aquifer Protection Permit.

19.     “Groundwater Quality Protection Permit” means a permit issued by the Arizona Department of Health Services or the Department before September 27, 1989 that regulates the discharge of pollutants that may affect groundwater.

20.     “Homeowner’s association” means a nonprofit corpora- tion or unincorporated association of owners created pur- suant to a declaration to own and operate portions of a planned community and which has the power under the declaration to assess association members to pay the costs and expenses incurred in the performance of the associa- tion’s obligations under the declaration.

21.     “Injection well” means a well that receives a discharge through pressure injection or gravity flow.

22.     “Intermediate stockpile” means in-process material not intended for long-term storage that is in transit from one process to another at a mining site. Intermediate stockpile does not include metallic ore concentrate stockpiles or feedstocks not originating at the mining site.

23.     “Land treatment facility” means an operation designed to treat and improve the quality of waste, wastewater, or both, by placement wholly or in part on the land surface to perform part or all of the treatment. A land treatment facility includes a facility that performs biosolids drying, processing, or composting, but not land application per- formed in compliance with 18 A.A.C. 9, Article 10.

24.     “Mining site” means a site assigned one or more of the following primary Standard Industrial Classification Codes: 10, 12, 14, 32, and 33, and includes noncontigu-

ous properties owned or operated by the same person and connected by a right-of-way controlled by that person to which the public is not allowed access.

25.     “Nitrogen Management Area” means an area designated by the Director for which the Director prescribes mea- sures on an area-wide basis to control sources of nitrogen, including cumulative discharges from on-site wastewater treatment facilities, that threaten to cause or have caused an exceedance of the Aquifer Water Quality Standard for nitrate.

26.     “Notice of Disposal” means a document submitted to the Arizona Department of Health Services or the Depart- ment before September 27, 1989, giving notification of a pollutant discharge that may affect groundwater.

27.     “On-site wastewater treatment facility” means a conven- tional septic tank system or alternative system installed at a site to treat and dispose of wastewater, predominantly of human origin, generated at that site. An on-site waste- water treatment facility does not include a pre-fabricated, manufactured treatment works that typically uses an acti- vated sludge unit process and has a design flow of 3000 gallons per day or more.

28.     “Operational life” means the designed or planned period during which a facility remains operational while being subject to permit conditions, including closure require- ments. Operational life does not include post-closure activities.

29.     “Person” means an individual, employee, officer, manag- ing body, trust, firm, joint stock company, consortium, public or private corporation, including a government corporation, partnership, association or state, a political subdivision of this state, a commission, the United States government or any federal facility, interstate body or other entity. A.R.S. § 49-201(26). For the purposes of permitting a sewage treatment facility under Article 2 of this Chapter,  person  does  not  include a homeowner’s association.

30.     “Pilot project” means a short-term, limited-scale test designed to gain information regarding site conditions, project feasibility, or application of a new technology.

31.     “Process solution” means a pregnant leach solution, bar- ren solution, raffinate, or other solution uniquely associ- ated with the mining or metals recovery process.

32.     “Residential soil remediation level” means the applicable predetermined standard established in 18 A.A.C. 7, Arti- cle 2, Appendix A.

33.     “Seasonal high water table” means the free surface repre- senting the highest point of groundwater rise within an aquifer due to seasonal  water table changes over the course of a year.

34.     “Setback” means a minimum horizontal distance main- tained between a feature of a discharging facility and a potential point of impact.

35.     “Sewage” means untreated wastes from toilets, baths, sinks, lavatories, laundries, other plumbing fixtures, and waste pumped from septic tanks in places of human habi- tation, employment, or recreation. Sewage does not include gray water as defined in R18-9-701(4), if the gray water is reused according to 18 A.A.C. 9, Article 7.

36.     “Sewage collection system” means a system of pipelines, conduits, manholes, pumping stations, force mains, and all other structures, devices, and appurtenances that col- lect, contain, and convey sewage from its sources to the entry of a sewage treatment facility or on-site wastewater treatment facility serving sources other than a single-fam- ily dwelling.

37.     “Sewage treatment facility” means a plant or system for sewage treatment and disposal, except for an on-site wastewater treatment facility, that consists of treatment works, disposal works and appurtenant pipelines, con- duits, pumping stations, and related subsystems and devices. A sewage treatment facility does not include components of the sewage collection system or the reclaimed water distribution system.

38.     “Surface impoundment” means a pit, pond, or lagoon with a surface dimension equal to or greater than its depth, and used for the storage, holding, settling, treat- ment, or discharge of liquid pollutants or pollutants con- taining free liquids.

39.     “Tracer” means a substance, such as a dye or other chem- ical, used to change the characteristic of water or some other fluid to detect movement.

40.     “Tracer study” means a test conducted using a tracer to measure the flow velocity, hydraulic conductivity, flow direction, hydrodynamic dispersion, partitioning coeffi- cient, or other property of a hydrologic system.

41.     “Treatment works” means a plant, device, unit process, or other works, regardless of ownership, used for treating, stabilizing, or holding municipal or domestic sewage in a sewage treatment facility or on-site wastewater treatment facility.

42.     “Typical sewage” means sewage conveyed to an on-site wastewater treatment facility in which the total sus- pended solids (TSS) content does not exceed 430 mg/l, the five-day biochemical oxygen demand (BOD5) does not exceed 380 mg/l, the total nitrogen does not exceed

53 mg/l, and the content of oil and grease does not exceed 75 mg/l.

43.     “Underground storage facility” means a constructed underground storage facility or a managed underground storage facility. A.R.S. § 45-802.01(21).

44.     “Waters of the United States” means:

a.         All waters that are currently used, were used in the past, or may be susceptible to use in interstate or for- eign commerce, including all waters that are subject to the ebb and flow of the tide;

b.        All interstate waters, including interstate wetlands;

c.         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, deg- radation, or destruction of which would affect or could affect interstate or foreign commerce includ- ing any waters:

i.         That are or could be used by interstate or for- eign travelers for recreational or other pur- poses;

ii.        From which fish or shellfish are or could be taken and sold in interstate or foreign com- merce; or

iii.      That are used or could be used for industrial purposes by industries in interstate commerce;

d.        All impoundments of waters defined as waters of the United States under this definition;

e.         Tributaries of waters identified in subsections (a) through (d);

f.         The territorial sea; and

g.        Wetlands adjacent to waters (other than waters that are themselves wetlands) identified in subsections

(a) through (f).

Historical Note

Adopted effective September 27, 1989 (Supp. 89-3).

Amended by final rulemaking at 7 A.A.R. 235, effective January 1, 2001 (Supp. 00-4). Amended by final

rulemaking at 11 A.A.R. 4544, effective November 12,

2005 (05-3).