[Code of Federal Regulations]

[Title 40, Volume 21]

[Revised as of July 1, 2006]

From the U.S. Government Printing Office via GPO Access

[CITE: 40CFR125.58]



[Page 314-316]

 

                   TITLE 40--PROTECTION OF ENVIRONMENT

 

         CHAPTER I--ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY (CONTINUED)

 

PART 125_CRITERIA AND STANDARDS FOR THE NATIONAL POLLUTANT DISCHARGE 

ELIMINATION SYSTEM--Table of Contents

 

 Subpart G_Criteria for Modifying the Secondary Treatment Requirements 

               Under Section 301(h) of the Clean Water Act

 

Sec.  125.58  Definitions.



    For the purpose of this subpart:

    (a) Administrator means the EPA Administrator or a person designated 

by the EPA Administrator.

    (b) Altered discharge means any discharge other than a current 

discharge or improved discharge, as defined in this regulation.

    (c) Applicant means an applicant for a new or renewed section 301(h) 

modified permit. Large applicants have populations contributing to their 

POTWs equal to or more than 50,000 people or average dry weather flows 

of 5.0 million gallons per day (mgd) or more; small applicants have 

contributing populations of less than 50,000 people and average dry 

weather flows of less than 5.0 mgd. For the purposes of this definition 

the contributing population and flows shall be based on projections for 

the end of the five-year permit term. Average dry weather flows shall be 

the average daily total discharge flows for the maximum month of the dry 

weather season.

    (d) Application means a final application previously submitted in 

accordance with the June 15, 1979, section 301(h) regulations (44 FR 

34784); an application submitted between December 29, 1981, and December 

29, 1982; or a section 301(h) renewal application submitted in 

accordance with these regulations. It does not include a preliminary 

application submitted in accordance with the June 15, 1979, section 

301(h) regulations.

    (e) Application questionnaire means EPA's ``Applicant Questionnaire 

for Modification of Secondary Treatment Requirements,'' published as an 

appendix to this subpart.

    (f) Balanced indigenous population means an ecological community 

which:

    (1) Exhibits characteristics similar to those of nearby, healthy 

communities existing under comparable but unpolluted environmental 

conditions; or

    (2) May reasonably be expected to become re-established in the 

polluted water body segment from adjacent waters if sources of pollution 

were removed.

    (g) Categorical pretreatment standard means a standard promulgated 

by EPA under 40 CFR Chapter I, Subchapter N.

    (h) Current discharge means the volume, composition, and location of 

an applicant's discharge at the time of permit application.

    (i) Improved discharge means the volume, composition, and location 

of an applicant's discharge following:

    (1) Construction of planned outfall improvements, including, without 

limitation, outfall relocation, outfall repair, or diffuser 

modification; or



[[Page 315]]



    (2) Construction of planned treatment system improvements to 

treatment levels or discharge characteristics; or

    (3) Implementation of a planned program to improve operation and 

maintenance of an existing treatment system or to eliminate or control 

the introduction of pollutants into the applicant's treatment works.

    (j) Industrial discharger or industrial source means any source of 

nondomestic pollutants regulated under section 307(b) or (c) of the 

Clean Water Act which discharges into a POTW.

    (k) Modified discharge means the volume, composition, and location 

of the discharge proposed by the applicant for which a modification 

under section 301(h) of the Act is requested. A modified discharge may 

be a current discharge, improved discharge, or altered discharge.

    (l) New York Bight Apex means the ocean waters of the Atlantic Ocean 

westward of 73 degrees 30 minutes west longitude and northward of 40 

degrees 10 minutes north latitude.

    (m) Nonindustrial source means any source of pollutants which is not 

an industrial source.

    (n) Ocean waters means those coastal waters landward of the baseline 

of the territorial seas, the deep waters of the territorial seas, or the 

waters of the contiguous zone. The term ``ocean waters'' excludes saline 

estuarine waters.

    (o) Permittee means an NPDES permittee with an effective section 

301(h) modified permit.

    (p) Pesticides means demeton, guthion, malathion, mirex, 

methoxychlor, and parathion.

    (q) Pretreatment means the reduction of the amount of pollutants, 

the elimination of pollutants, or the alteration of the nature of 

pollutant properties in wastewater prior to or in lieu of discharging or 

otherwise introducing such pollutants into a POTW. The reduction or 

alteration may be obtained by physical, chemical, or biological 

processes, process changes, or by other means, except as prohibited by 

40 CFR part 403.

    (r) Primary or equivalent treatment for the purposes of this subpart 

means treatment by screening, sedimentation, and skimming adequate to 

remove at least 30 percent of the biochemical oxygen demanding material 

and of the suspended solids in the treatment works influent, and 

disinfection, where appropriate.

    (s) Public water supplies means water distributed from a public 

water system.

    (t) Public water system means a system for the provision to the 

public of piped water for human consumption, if such system has at least 

fifteen (15) service connections or regularly serves at least twenty-

five (25) individuals. This term includes: (1) Any collection, 

treatment, storage, and distribution facilities under the control of the 

operator of the system and used primarily in connection with the system, 

and (2) Any collection or pretreatment storage facilities not under the 

control of the operator of the system which are used primarily in 

connection with the system.

    (u) Publicly owned treatment works or POTW means a treatment works, 

as defined in section 212(2) of the Act, which is owned by a State, 

municipality, or intermunicipal or interstate agency.

    (v) Saline estuarine waters means those semi-enclosed coastal waters 

which have a free connection to the territorial sea, undergo net seaward 

exchange with ocean waters, and have salinities comparable to those of 

the ocean. Generally, these waters are near the mouth of estuaries and 

have cross-sectional annual mean salinities greater than twenty-five 

(25) parts per thousand.

    (w) Secondary removal equivalency means that the amount of a toxic 

pollutant removed by the combination of the applicant's own treatment of 

its influent and pretreatment by its industrial users is equal to or 

greater than the amount of the toxic pollutant that would be removed if 

the applicant were to apply secondary treatment to its discharge where 

the discharge has not undergone pretreatment by the applicant's 

industrial users.

    (x) Secondary treatment means the term as defined in 40 CFR part 

133.

    (y) Shellfish, fish, and wildlife means any biological population or 

community that might be adversely affected by the applicant's modified 

discharge.



[[Page 316]]



    (z) Stressed waters means those ocean waters for which an applicant 

can demonstrate to the satisfaction of the Administrator, that the 

absence of a balanced indigenous population is caused solely by human 

perturbations other than the applicant's modified discharge.

    (aa) Toxic pollutants means those substances listed in 40 CFR 

401.15.

    (bb) Water quality criteria means scientific data and guidance 

developed and periodically updated by EPA under section 304(a)(1) of the 

Clean Water Act, which are applicable to marine waters.

    (cc) Water quality standards means applicable water quality 

standards which have been approved, left in effect, or promulgated under 

section 303 of the Clean Water Act.

    (dd) Zone of initial dilution (ZID) means the region of initial 

mixing surrounding or adjacent to the end of the outfall pipe or 

diffuser ports, provided that the ZID may not be larger than allowed by 

mixing zone restrictions in applicable water quality standards.