[Code of Federal Regulations]

[Title 40, Volume 28]

[Revised as of July 1, 2006]

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

[CITE: 40CFR403.3]



[Page 10-13]

 

                   TITLE 40--PROTECTION OF ENVIRONMENT

 

         CHAPTER I--ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY (CONTINUED)

 

PART 403_GENERAL PRETREATMENT REGULATIONS FOR EXISTING AND NEW SOURCES OF 

POLLUTION--Table of Contents

 

Sec.  403.3  Definitions.



    For the purposes of this part:

    (a) Except as discussed below, the general definitions, 

abbreviations, and methods of analysis set forth in 40 CFR part 401 

shall apply to this regulation.

    (b) The term Act means Federal Water Pollution Control Act, also 

known as the Clean Water Act, as amended, 33 U.S.C. 1251, et seq.

    (c) The term Approval Authority means the Director in an NPDES State 

with an approved State pretreatment program and the appropriate Regional 

Administrator in a non-NPDES State or NPDES State without an approved 

State pretreatment program.

    (d) The term Approved POTW Pretreatment Program or Program or POTW 

Pretreatment Program means a program administered by a POTW that meets 

the criteria established in this regulation (Sec. Sec.  403.8 and 403.9) 

and which



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has been approved by a Regional Administrator or State Director in 

accordance with Sec.  403.11 of this regulation.

    (e) The term Best Management Practices or BMPs means schedules of 

activities, prohibitions of practices, maintenance procedures, and other 

management practices to implement the prohibitions listed in Sec.  

403.5(a)(1) and (b). BMPs also include treatment requirements, operating 

procedures, and practices to control plant site runoff, spillage or 

leaks, sludge or waste disposal, or drainage from raw materials storage.

    (f) The term Control Authority refers to:

    (1) The POTW if the POTW's Pretreatment Program Submission has been 

approved in accordance with the requirements of Sec.  403.11; or

    (2) The Approval Authority if the Submission has not been approved.

    (g) The term Director means the chief administrative officer of a 

State or Interstate water pollution control agency with an NPDES permit 

program approved pursuant to section 402(b) of the Act and an approved 

State pretreatment program.

    (h) The term Water Management Division Director means one of the 

Directors of the Water Management Divisions within the Regional offices 

of the Environmental Protection Agency or this person's delegated 

representative.

    (i) The term Indirect Discharge or Discharge means the introduction 

of pollutants into a POTW from any non-domestic source regulated under 

section 307(b), (c) or (d) of the Act.

    (j) The term Industrial User or User means a source of Indirect 

Discharge.

    (k) The term Interference means a Discharge which, alone or in 

conjunction with a discharge or discharges from other sources, both:

    (1) Inhibits or disrupts the POTW, its treatment processes or 

operations, or its sludge processes, use or disposal; and

    (2) Therefore is a cause of a violation of any requirement of the 

POTW's NPDES permit (including an increase in the magnitude or duration 

of a violation) or of the prevention of sewage sludge use or disposal in 

compliance with the following statutory provisions and regulations or 

permits issued thereunder (or more stringent State or local 

regulations): Section 405 of the Clean Water Act, the Solid Waste 

Disposal Act (SWDA) (including title II, more commonly referred to as 

the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA), and including State 

regulations contained in any State sludge management plan prepared 

pursuant to subtitle D of the SWDA), the Clean Air Act, the Toxic 

Substances Control Act, and the Marine Protection, Research and 

Sanctuaries Act.

    (l) The term National Pretreatment Standard, Pretreatment Standard, 

or Standard means any regulation containing pollutant discharge limits 

promulgated by the EPA in accordance with section 307 (b) and (c) of the 

Act, which applies to Industrial Users. This term includes prohibitive 

discharge limits established pursuant to Sec.  403.5.

    (m)(1) The term New Source means any building, structure, facility 

or installation from which there is or may be a Discharge of pollutants, 

the construction of which commenced after the publication of proposed 

Pretreatment Standards under section 307(c) of the Act which will be 

applicable to such source if such Standards are thereafter promulgated 

in accordance with that section, provided that:

    (i) The building, structure, facility or installation is constructed 

at a site at which no other source is located; or

    (ii) The building, structure, facility or installation totally 

replaces the process or production equipment that causes the discharge 

of pollutants at an existing source; or

    (iii) The production or wastewater generating processes of the 

building, structure, facility or installation are substantially 

independent of an existing source at the same site. In determining 

whether these are substantially independent, factors such 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 should be considered.

    (2) Construction on a site at which an existing source is located 

results in a modification rather than a New Source if the construction 

does not create a



[[Page 12]]



new building, structure, facility or installation meeting the criteria 

of paragraphs (m)(1)(ii) or (m)(1)(iii) of this section, but otherwise 

alters, replaces, or adds to existing process or production equipment.

    (3) Construction of a new source as defined under this paragraph has 

commenced if the owner or operator has:

    (i) Begun, or caused to begin as part of a continuous onsite 

construction program:

    (A) Any placement, assembly, or installation of facilities or 

equipment; or

    (B) Significant site preparation work including clearing, 

excavation, or removal of existing buildings, structures, or facilities 

which 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 which are intended to be used in its 

operation within a reasonable time. Options to purchase or contracts 

which can be terminated or modified without substantial loss, and 

contracts for feasibility, engineering, and design studies do not 

constitute a contractual obligation under this paragraph.

    (n) The terms NPDES Permit or Permit means a permit issued to a POTW 

pursuant to section 402 of the Act.

    (o) The term NPDES State means a State (as defined in 40 CFR 122.2) 

or Interstate water pollution control agency with an NPDES permit 

program approved pursuant to section 402(b) of the Act.

    (p) The term Pass Through means a Discharge which exits the POTW 

into waters of the United States in quantities or concentrations which, 

alone or in conjunction with a discharge or discharges from other 

sources, is a cause of a violation of any requirement of the POTW's 

NPDES permit (including an increase in the magnitude or duration of a 

violation).

    (q) The term Publicly Owned Treatment Works or POTW means a 

treatment works as defined by section 212 of the Act, which is owned by 

a State or municipality (as defined by section 502(4) of the Act). This 

definition includes any devices and systems used in the storage, 

treatment, recycling and reclamation of municipal sewage or industrial 

wastes of a liquid nature. It also includes sewers, pipes and other 

conveyances only if they convey wastewater to a POTW Treatment Plant. 

The term also means the municipality as defined in section 502(4) of the 

Act, which has jurisdiction over the Indirect Discharges to and the 

discharges from such a treatment works.

    (r) The term POTW Treatment Plant means that portion of the POTW 

which is designed to provide treatment (including recycling and 

reclamation) of municipal sewage and industrial waste.

    (s) The term 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 Sec.  403.6(d). Appropriate pretreatment technology 

includes control equipment, such as equalization tanks or facilities, 

for protection against surges or slug loadings that might interfere with 

or otherwise be incompatible with the POTW. However, where wastewater 

from a regulated process is mixed in an equalization facility with 

unregulated wastewater or with wastewater from another regulated 

process, the effluent from the equalization facility must meet an 

adjusted pretreatment limit calculated in accordance with Sec.  

403.6(e).

    (t) The term Pretreatment requirements means any substantive or 

procedural requirement related to Pretreatment, other than a National 

Pretreatment Standard, imposed on an Industrial User.

    (u) The term Regional Administrator means the appropriate EPA 

Regional Administrator.

    (v) Significant Industrial User. (1) Except as provided in 

paragraphs (v)(2) and (v)(3) of this section, the term Significant 

Industrial User means:

    (i) All Industrial Users subject to Categorical Pretreatment 

Standards under 40 CFR 403.6 and 40 CFR chapter I, subchapter N; and

    (ii) Any other Industrial User that: discharges an average of 25,000 

gallons per day or more of process wastewater



[[Page 13]]



to the POTW (excluding sanitary, noncontact cooling and boiler blowdown 

wastewater); contributes a process wastestream which makes up 5 percent 

or more of the average dry weather hydraulic or organic capacity of the 

POTW Treatment plant; or is designated as such by the Control Authority 

on the basis that the Industrial User has a reasonable potential for 

adversely affecting the POTW's operation or for violating any 

Pretreatment Standard or requirement (in accordance with 40 CFR 

403.8(f)(6)).

    (2) The Control Authority may determine that an Industrial User 

subject to categorical Pretreatment Standards under Sec.  403.6 and 40 

CFR chapter I, subchapter N is a Non-Significant Categorical Industrial 

User rather than a Significant Industrial User on a finding that the 

Industrial User never discharges more than 100 gallons per day (gpd) of 

total categorical wastewater (excluding sanitary, non-contact cooling 

and boiler blowdown wastewater, unless specifically included in the 

Pretreatment Standard) and the following conditions are met:

    (i) The Industrial User, prior to the Control Authority's finding, 

has consistently complied with all applicable categorical Pretreatment 

Standards and Requirements;

    (ii) The Industrial User annually submits the certification 

statement required in Sec.  403.12(q) together with any additional 

information necessary to support the certification statement; and

    (iii) The Industrial User never discharges any untreated 

concentrated wastewater.

    (3) Upon a finding that an Industrial User meeting the criteria in 

paragraph (v)(1)(ii) of this section has no reasonable potential for 

adversely affecting the POTW's operation or for violating any 

Pretreatment Standards or requirement, the Control Authority may at any 

time, on its own initiative or in response to a petition received from 

an Industrial User or POTW, and in accordance with 40 CFR 403.8(f)(6), 

determine that such Industrial User is not a Significant Industrial 

User.

    (w) The term Submission means:

    (1) A request by a POTW for approval of a Pretreatment Program to 

the EPA or a Director;

    (2) A request by a POTW to the EPA or a Director for authority to 

revise the discharge limits in categorical Pretreatment Standards to 

reflect POTW pollutant removals; or

    (3) A request to the EPA by an NPDES State for approval of its State 

pretreatment program.



[46 FR 9439, Jan. 28, 1981, as amended at 49 FR 5132, Feb. 10, 1984; 49 

FR 28059, July 10, 1984; 51 FR 20430, June 4, 1986; 51 FR 23760, July 1, 

1986; 52 FR 1600, Jan. 14, 1987; 53 FR 40610, Oct. 17, 1988; 55 FR 

30129, July 24, 1990; 70 FR 60191, Oct. 14, 2005]