§ 92.1. Definitions.

 The following words and terms, when used in this chapter, have the following meanings, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise:

   AEU—Animal equivalent unit—One thousand pounds live weight of livestock or poultry animals, regardless of the actual number of individual animals comprising the unit, as defined in section 3 of the Nutrient Management Act (3 P. S. §  1703).

   Administrator—The Administrator of the EPA.

   Agricultural operation—The management and use of farming resources for the production of crops, livestock or poultry as defined in section 3 of the Nutrient Management Act.

   Agricultural process wastewater—Wastewater from agricultural operations, including from spillage or overflow from livestock or poultry watering systems; washing, cleaning or flushing pens, milkhouses, barns, manure pits; direct contact swimming, washing or spray cooling of livestock or poultry; egg washing; or dust control.

   Applicable effluent limitations or standards—State, interstate and Federal effluent limitations or standards to which a discharge is subject under the State and Federal Acts, including, but not limited to, water quality-based and technology-based effluent limitations, standards of performance, toxic effluent standards and prohibitions, BMPs and pretreatment standards.

   Applicable water quality standards—Water quality standards to which a discharge is subject under the State and Federal Acts, and regulations promulgated thereunder.

   Application—The Department’s form for applying for approval to discharge pollutants to surface waters of this Commonwealth under a new NPDES permit, or renewal or reissuance of an existing NPDES permit, or the modification, revision or transfer of an existing NPDES permit.

   BAT—Best available technology—

     (i)   The maximum degree of effluent reduction attainable through the application of the best treatment technology economically achievable within an industrial category or subcategory, or other category of discharger, taking into account:

       (A)   The age of equipment and facilities involved.

       (B)   The process employed.

       (C)   The engineering aspects of the application of various types of control techniques and process changes (including in-plant source reduction measures in addition to end of pipe controls).

       (D)   The cost of achieving the effluent reduction.

       (E)   Nonwater quality environmental impacts (including energy requirements).

       (F)   Other factors the Department deems appropriate.

     (ii)   The term includes categorical ELGs promulgated by the EPA under section 304(b) of the Federal Act (33 U.S.C.A. §  1314(b)).

   BMP—Best management practices—

     (i)   Schedules of activities, prohibitions of practices, maintenance procedures and other management practices to prevent or reduce pollution to surface waters of this Commonwealth.

     (ii)   The term includes:

       (A)   Treatment requirements.

       (B)   Operating procedures.

       (C)   Practices to control plant site runoff, spillage, or leaks, sludge or waste disposal, or drainage from raw material storage.

   CAFO—Concentrated animal feeding operation—A CAO with greater than 300 AEUs, any agricultural operation with greater than 1,000 AEUs, or any agricultural operation defined as a large CAFO under 40 CFR 122.23 (relating to concentrated animal feeding operations).

   CAO—Concentrated animal operation—An agricultural operation that meets the criteria established by the State Conservation Commission in regulations under the authority of 3 Pa.C.S. Chapter 5 (relating to nutrient management and odor management) in Chapter 83, Subchapter D (relating to nutrient management).

   CCW—Contact cooling water—Cooling water that comes into contact with any raw material, intermediate product, finished product, byproduct or waste product.

   CSO—Combined sewer overflow—Any intermittent overflow or other untreated discharge from a municipal combined sewer system (including domestic, industrial and commercial wastewater and stormwater) prior to reaching the headworks of the sewage treatment facility which results from a flow in excess of the dry weather carrying capacity of the system.

   Combined sewer system—A sewer system which has been designed to serve as both a sanitary sewer and a storm sewer.

   Concentrated aquatic animal production facility—A hatchery, fish farm or other facility which meets the criteria in 40 CFR Part 122, Appendix C (relating to criteria for determining a concentrated aquatic animal production facility), or which the Department designates under the criteria in 40 CFR 122.24(c) (relating to concentrated aquatic animal production facilities).

   Conventional pollutant—Biochemical oxygen demand, carbonaceous biochemical oxygen demand, suspended solids, pH, fecal coliform, oil or grease.

   Daily discharge—The discharge of a pollutant measured during a calendar day or any 24-hour period that reasonably and accurately represents the calendar day for purposes of sampling:

     (i)   For pollutants with limitations expressed in terms of mass, the daily discharge is calculated as the total mass of the pollutant discharged over the day.

     (ii)   For pollutants with limitations expressed in other units of measurement, daily discharge is calculated as the average measurement of that pollutant during the day.

   Discharge—An addition of any pollutant to surface waters of this Commonwealth from a point source, including:

     (i)   Additions of pollutants from surface runoff and stormwater which is collected or channelized.

     (ii)   Discharges through pipes, sewers or other conveyances which do not lead to a treatment works.

     (iii)   Discharges through pipes, sewers or other conveyances.

   Draft permit—A document prepared by the Department indicating the Department’s tentative decision to issue or deny, modify, revoke, renew or reissue a permit.

   ELG—Effluent Limitations Guideline—A regulation published by the Administrator under section 304(b) of the Federal Act (33 U.S.C.A. §  1314(b)), or by the Department, to revise or adopt effluent limitations.

   Effluent Limitation or Standard—A restriction established by the Department or the Administrator on quantities, rates and concentrations of chemical, physical, biological and other constituents which are discharged from point sources into surface waters, including BMP’s and schedules of compliance.

   Existing discharge—A discharge which is not a new discharge or a new source.

   Facility or activity—Any NPDES point source or any other facility or activity including land or appurtenances thereto that is subject to regulation under the NPDES Program.

   Federal Act—The Federal Water Pollution Control Act (33 U.S.C.A. § §  1251—1376), also known as the Clean Water Act or CWA.

   General NPDES permit or general permit—An NPDES permit that is used for a clearly described category of point source discharges, when those discharges are substantially similar in nature and do not have the potential to cause significant adverse environmental impact.

   Indirect discharger—A person who discharges sewage, industrial waste or other pollutants into a treatment works.

   Industrial user—Those industries identified in the Standard Industrial Classification Manual, Office of Management and Budget, 1987, as amended and supplemented, under the category ‘‘Division D-Manufacturing’’ and other classes of significant waste producers, as by regulation, the Administrator deems appropriate.

   Industrial waste—

     (i)   A liquid, gaseous, radioactive, solid or other substance, not sewage, resulting from manufacturing or industry, or from an establishment, and mine drainage, refuse, silt, coal mine solids, rock, debris, dirt and clay from coal mines, coal collieries, breakers or other coal processing operations.

     (ii)   The term includes all of these substances whether or not generally characterized as waste.

   Instantaneous maximum effluent limitation—The highest allowable discharge of a concentration or mass of a substance at any one time as measured by a grab sample.

   Intermittent stream—A body of water flowing in a channel or bed composed primarily of substrates associated with flowing water, which, during periods of the year, is below the local water table and obtains its flow from both surface runoff and groundwater discharges.

   Interstate agency—An agency of two or more states established by or under an agreement or compact approved by the Congress, or another agency of two or more states, having substantial powers or duties pertaining to the control of pollution as determined and approved by the Administrator.

   Large municipal separate storm sewer system—A municipal separate storm sewer system defined in 40 CFR 122.26(b)(4) (relating to stormwater discharge (applicable to state NPDES programs)).

   Livestock—

     (i)   Animals raised, stabled, fed or maintained on an agricultural operation with the purpose of generating income or providing work, recreation or transportation. Examples include: dairy cows, beef cattle, goats, sheep, swine and horses.

     (ii)   The term does not include aquatic species.

   Log sorting and log storage facilities—Facilities whose discharges result from the holding of unprocessed wood, for example, logs or roundwood with bark or after removal of bark held in self-contained bodies of water (mill ponds or log ponds) or stored on land where water is applied intentionally on the logs (wet decking). See 40 CFR Part 429, Subpart J (relating to log washing), including the effluent limitations guidelines.

   Manure—

     (i)   Animal excrement, including poultry litter, which is produced at an agricultural operation.

     (ii)   The term includes materials such as bedding and raw materials which are commingled with that excrement.

   Maximum daily discharge limitation—The highest allowable daily discharge.

   Medium municipal separate storm sewer system—A municipal separate storm sewer system as defined in 40 CFR 122.26(b)(7).

   Minor discharge—A discharge which has a total volume of less than 50,000 gallons on every day of the year, does not affect the waters of another state, and is not identified by the Department, the Regional Administrator or by the Administrator in regulations issued under section 307(a) of the Federal Act (33 U.S.C.A. §  1317(a)) as a discharge which is not a minor discharge. If there is more than one discharge from a facility and the sum of the volumes of all discharges from the facility exceeds 50,000 gallons on any day of the year, no discharge from the facility is a minor discharge.

   Municipal separate storm sewer system—A separate storm sewer (including roads with drainage systems, municipal streets, catch basins, curbs, gutters, ditches, manmade channels or storm drains) which is all of the following:

     (i)   Owned or operated by a state, city, town, borough, county, district, association or other public body (created by or under State law) having jurisdiction over disposal of sewage, industrial wastes, stormwater or other wastes, including special districts under State law such as a sewer district, flood control district or drainage district, or similar entity, or a designated and approved management agency under section 208 of the Federal Act (33 U.S.C.A. §  1288) that discharges to surface waters of this Commonwealth.

     (ii)   Designed or used for collecting or conveying stormwater.

     (iii)   Not a combined sewer.

     (iv)   Not part of a POTW.

   NOI—Notice Of Intent—A complete form submitted for NPDES general permit coverage which contains information required by the terms of the permit and by § §  92.81—92.83 (relating to general permits). An NOI is not an application.

   NPDES form—An issued NPDES permit and a National form developed for use in the NPDES, including the application and the NPDES reporting form.

   NPDES permit—A permit or equivalent document or requirements issued by the Administrator, or, when appropriate, by the Department after enactment of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act Amendments of 1972 (33 U.S.C.A. § §  1281 and 1361), to regulate the discharge of pollutants under section 402 of the Federal Act (33 U.S.C.A. §  1342).

   NPDES primary industry categories—The primary industry categories in 40 CFR Part 122, Appendix A (relating to NPDES primary industry categories), which is incorporated by reference.

   NPDES reporting form—The form for reporting monitoring results approved by the Administrator for use in this Commonwealth, also referred to as a discharge monitoring report (DMR), and any supplemental forms provided by the Department.

   New discharger—A building, structure, facility, activity or installation from which there is or may be a discharge of pollutants that did not commence the discharge at a particular site prior to August 13, 1979, which is not a new source, and which has never received a final effective NPDES permit for discharges at that site.

   New source—A building, structure, facility, activity or installation from which there is or may be a discharge of pollutants, the construction of which commenced after promulgation of standards of performance under section 306 of the Federal Act (33 U.S.C.A. §  1316) which are applicable to the source, or after proposal of standards of performance in accordance with section 306 of the Federal Act which are applicable to the source.

   Noncontact cooling water—Cooling water that does not contact any raw material, intermediate product, finished product, byproduct or waste product.

   Nonconventional pollutant—A pollutant which is not a conventional or toxic pollutant.

   POTWs—Publicly Owned Treatment Works—

     (i)   A device or system used in the treatment (including recycling and reclamation) of municipal sewage or industrial wastes of a liquid nature which is owned by a state or municipality.

     (ii)   The term includes sewers, pipes or other conveyances only if they convey wastewater to a POTW providing treatment.

   Perennial stream—A body of water flowing in a channel or bed composed primarily of substrates associated with flowing waters and capable, in the absence of pollution or other manmade stream disturbances, of supporting a benthic macroinvertebrate community which is composed of two or more recognizable taxonomic groups of organisms which are large enough to be seen by the unaided eye and can be retained by a United States Standard No. 30 sieve (28 meshs per inch, 0.595 mm openings) and live at least part of their life cycles within or upon available substrates in a body of water or water transport system.

   Person—Any individual, public or private corporation, partnership, association, municipality or political subdivision of this Commonwealth, institution, authority, firm, trust, estate, receiver, guardian, personal representative, successor, joint venture, joint stock company, fiduciary; department, agency or instrumentality of State, Federal or local government, or an agent or employe thereof; or any other legal entity.

   Point source—Any discernible, confined and discrete conveyance, including, but not limited to, any pipe, ditch, channel, tunnel, conduit, well, discrete fissure, container, rolling stock, CAFO, landfill leachate collection system, or vessel or other floating craft, from which pollutants are or may be discharged.

   Pollutant—Any contaminant or other alteration of the physical, chemical, biological or radiological integrity of surface water which causes or has the potential to cause pollution as defined in section 1 of the State Act (35 P. S. §  691.1).

   Pollution prevention—Source reduction and other practices that reduce or eliminate the creation of pollutants through increased efficiency in the use of raw materials, energy, water or other resources, or protection of natural resources by conservation.

   Primary industrial facility—An industrial facility in a primary industry category, as defined in 40 CFR 122.2 (relating to definitions).

   Process wastewater—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.

   Regional Administrator—The EPA Regional Administrator for Region III.

   Rock crushing and gravel washing facilities—Facilities which process crushed and broken stone, gravel and riprap (see 40 CFR Part 436, Subpart B (relating to crushed stone subcategory), including the effluent limitations guidelines).

   SSO—Sanitary Sewer Overflow—An intermittent overflow of wastewater, or other untreated discharge from a separate sanitary sewer system (which is not a combined sewer system), which results from a flow in excess of the carrying capacity of the system or from some other cause prior to reaching the headworks of the sewage treatment facility.

   Schedule of compliance—A schedule of remedial measures including an enforceable sequence of actions or operations leading to compliance with effluent limitations, prohibition, other limitations of standard.

   Separate storm sewer—A conveyance or system of conveyances (including pipes, conduits, ditches and channels) primarily used for collecting and conveying stormwater runoff.

   Setback—A specified distance from the top of the bank of surface waters, or potential conduits to surface waters, where manure and agricultural process wastewater may not be land applied. Examples of conduits to surface waters includes, but are not limited to:

     (i)   Open tile line intake structures.

     (ii)   Sinkholes.

     (iii)   Agricultural wellheads.

   Sewage—A substance that contains any of the waste products or excrementitious or other discharge from the bodies of human beings or animals.

   Silvicultural point source—

     (i)   A discernible, confined and discrete conveyance related to rock crushing, gravel washing, log sorting or log storage facilities which is operated in connection with silvicultural activities and from which pollutants are discharged into waters of this Commonwealth.

     (ii)   The term does not include nonpoint 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 runoff.

   Single residence sewage treatment plant—A system of piping, tanks or other facilities serving a single family residence located on a single family residential lot, which collects, disposes and treats solely direct or indirect sewage discharges from the residence into surface waters of this Commonwealth.

   Small municipal separate storm sewer system—A municipal separate storm sewer system as defined in 40 CFR 122.26(b)(16)—(18).

   State Act—The Clean Streams Law (35 P. S. § §  691.1—691.1001).

   Stormwater—Runoff from precipitation, snow melt runoff and surface runoff and drainage.

   Stormwater discharge associated with construction activity—The discharge or potential discharge of stormwater into waters of this Commonwealth from construction activities including clearing and grubbing, grading and excavation activities involving 5 acres (2 hectares) or more of earth disturbance, or an earth disturbance on any portion, part of or during any stage of a larger common plan of development or sale that involves 5 acres (2 hectares) or more of earth disturbance over the life of the project.

   Stormwater discharge associated with industrial activity—The discharge from any conveyance which is used for collecting and conveying stormwater and which is directly related to manufacturing, processing or raw materials storage areas at an industrial area, as defined in 40 CFR 122.26(b)(14) which is incorporated by reference.

   Surface waters—Perennial and intermittent streams, rivers, lakes, reservoirs, ponds, wetlands, springs, natural seeps and estuaries, excluding water at facilities approved for wastewater treatment such as wastewater treatment impoundments, cooling water ponds and constructed wetlands used as part of a wastewater treatment process.

   Toxic pollutant—Those pollutants, or combinations of pollutants, including disease-causing agents, which after discharge and upon exposure, ingestion, inhalation or assimilation into any organism, either directly from the environment or indirectly by ingestion through food chains, may, on the basis of information available to the Administrator or Department, cause death, disease, behavioral abnormalities, cancer, genetic mutations, physiological malfunctions, including malfunctions in reproduction, or physical deformations in these organisms or their offspring.

   Vegetated buffer—A permanent strip of dense perennial vegetation established parallel to the contours of and perpendicular to the dominant slope of the field for purposes that include slowing water runoff, enhancing water infiltration, and minimizing the risk of any potential pollutants from leaving the field and reaching surface waters.

   WETT—Whole Effluent Toxicity Testing—

     (i)   A test, survey, study, protocol or assessment which includes the use of aquatic, bacterial, invertebrate or vertebrate species to measure acute or chronic toxicity, and any biological or chemical measure of bioaccumulation, bioconcentration or impact on established aquatic and biological communities.

     (ii)   The term includes any established, scientifically defensible method which is sufficiently sensitive to measure toxic effects.

   Water quality-based effluent limitation—An effluent limitation based on the need to attain or maintain the water quality criteria and to assure protection of designated and existing uses.

   Water quality standards—The combination of water uses to be protected and the water quality criteria necessary to protect those uses.

   Wetlands—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, including swamps, marshes, bogs and similar areas.

   Whole effluent toxicity—The total toxic effect of an effluent measured directly with a toxicity test.

   The provisions of this §  92.1 issued under section 1920-A of The Administrative Code of 1929 (71 P. S. §  510-20); and sections 5(b)(1) and 402 of The Clean Streams Law (35 P. S. § §  691.5(b)(1) and 691.402).

   The provisions of this §  92.1 amended July 20, 1984, effective July 21, 1984, 14 Pa.B. 2672; amended November 17, 2000, effective November 18, 2000, 30 Pa.B. 6059; amended October 21, 2005, effective October 22, 2005, 35 Pa.B. 5796. Immediately preceding text appears at serial pages (310163) to (310164), (271959) to (271964) and (296985).

   Pollutant

   A discharge that tested positive for excessive levels of ammonia, chloride, nitrate, nitrite, phosphorous, sulfate, dissolved solids, total coliform bacteria, fecal coliform bacteria, copper, lead, nickel and zinc was a ‘‘pollutant’’as defined in §  92.1. Reynolds v. Rick’s Mushroom Services, Inc., 246 F. Supp. 2d 449 (E. D. Pa. 2003).

   This section cited in 7 Pa. Code §  130e.2 (relating to definitions); 25 Pa. Code §  91.1 (relating to definitions); 25 Pa. Code §  92.5a (relating to CAFOs); and 25 Pa. Code §  96.1 (relating to definitions).