WAC 173-216-030
Definitions. For the purposes of this
chapter the following definitions shall be applicable:
(1) "Beneficial uses" shall include, but not be limited
to, use for domestic water, irrigation, fish, shellfish, game,
and other aquatic life, municipal, recreation, industrial
water, generation of electric power, and navigation.
(2) "Dangerous wastes" means any discarded, useless,
unwanted, or abandoned nonradioactive substances, including
but not limited to certain pesticides, or any residues or
containers of such substances which are disposed of in such
quantity or concentration as to pose a substantial present or
potential hazard to human health, wildlife, or the environment
because such wastes or constituents or combinations of such
wastes:
(a) Have short-lived, toxic properties that may cause
death, injury, or illness or have mutagenic, teratogenic, or
carcinogenic properties; or
(b) Are corrosive, explosive, flammable, or may generate
pressure through decomposition or other means (Hazardous Waste
Disposal Act, chapter 70.105 RCW).
(3) "Department" means department of ecology.
(4) "Domestic wastewater" means water carrying human
wastes, including kitchen, bath, and laundry wastes from
residences, buildings, industrial establishments or other
places, together with such groundwater infiltration or surface
waters as may be present (submission of plans and reports for
construction of wastewater facilities, chapter 173-240 WAC).
(5) "Domestic wastewater facility" means all structures,
equipment, or processes required to collect, carry away,
treat, reclaim, or dispose of domestic wastewater together
with such industrial waste as may be present. In case of
subsurface sewage treatment and disposal, the term is
restricted to mean those facilities treating and disposing of
domestic wastewater only from:
(a) A septic tank with subsurface sewage treatment and
disposal and an ultimate design capacity exceeding fourteen
thousand five hundred gallons per day at any common point; or
(b) A mechanical treatment system or lagoon followed by
subsurface disposal with an ultimate design capacity exceeding
three thousand five hundred gallons per day at any common
point (submission of plans and reports for construction of
wastewater facilities, chapter 173-240 WAC).
(6) "FWPCA" means Federal Water Pollution Control Act as
amended by 1981 amendment (33 U.S.C. § 466 et seq.).
(7) "General permit" means a permit which covers multiple
dischargers within a designated geographical area, in lieu of
individual permits being issued to each discharger.
(8) "Industrial wastewater" means water or liquid-carried
waste from industrial or commercial processes, as distinct
from domestic wastewater. These wastes may result from any
process or activity of industry, manufacture, trade or
business, from the development of any natural resource, or
from animal operations such as feed lots, poultry houses, or
dairies. The term includes contaminated stormwater and, also,
leachate from solid waste facilities (Submission of plans and
reports for construction of wastewater facilities, chapter 173-240 WAC).
(9) "Interfere with" means a discharge by an industrial
user which, alone or in conjunction with discharges by other
sources, inhibits or disrupts the POTW, its treatment
processes or operations, or its sludge processes, use or
disposal and which 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 by the POTW in
accordance with the following statutory provisions and
regulations or permits issued thereunder (or more stringent
state or local regulations): Section 405 of the FWPCA, 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 or the SWDA, the Clean Air
Act, the Toxic Substances Control Act, and the Marine
Protection Research and Sanctuaries Act.
(10) "Municipal sewerage system" or "publicly owned
treatment works (POTW)" means a publicly owned domestic
wastewater facility or a privately owned domestic wastewater
facility that is under contract to a municipality.
(11) "NPDES" means National Pollutant Discharge
Elimination System permit program under section 402 of FWPCA.
(12) "New source" means any building, structure,
facility, or installation from which there is or may be a
discharge, the construction of which commenced; after proposal
of Pretreatment Standards under section 307(c) of the FWPCA
which are applicable to such sources.
(13) "Pass through" means the discharge of pollutants
through a municipal sewerage system into waters of the state
in quantities or concentrations which are a cause of or
significantly contribute to a violation of any requirement of
water quality standards for waters of state of Washington,
chapter 173-201 WAC, or of the NPDES or state waste discharge
permit, including an increase in the magnitude or duration of
a violation (section 307 of FWPCA). Failure to obtain
approval of an application for a new or increased discharge or
change in the nature of the discharge according to WAC 173-216-110(5) would constitute such a violation.
(14) "Person" includes any political subdivision, local,
state or federal government agency, municipality, industry,
public or private corporation, partnership, association, firm,
individual, or any other entity whatsoever.
(15) "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.
(16) "Pretreatment requirements" means any substantive or
procedural state, local, or federal requirements or standards
developed under chapter 90.48 RCW and sections 307 and/or 402
of the FWPCA.
(17) "Pretreatment standards," "categorical standards,"
or "standards," means any pollutant discharge limitations,
including those developed under section 307 (b) and (c) of the
FWPCA and implemented through regulations in 40 CFR Subchapter
N, that apply to the discharge of nondomestic wastes to POTWs.
This term includes prohibitive discharge limits established
pursuant to WAC 173-216-060.
(18) "Subsurface sewage treatment and disposal" means the
physical, chemical, or biological treatment and disposal of
domestic wastewater within the soil profile by placement
beneath the soil surface in trenches, beds, seepage pits,
mounds, or fills (Submission of plans and reports for
construction of wastewater facilities, chapter 173-240 WAC).
(19) "Waste materials" means any discarded, abandoned,
unwanted or unrecovered material(s), except the following are
not waste materials for the purposes of this chapter:
(a) Discharges into the ground or groundwater of return
flow, unaltered except for temperature, from a groundwater
heat pump used for space heating or cooling: Provided, That
such discharges do not have significant potential, either
individually, or collectively, to affect groundwater quality
or uses.
(b) Discharges of stormwater that is not contaminated or
potentially contaminated by industrial or commercial sources.
(20) "Waters of the state" means all lakes, rivers,
ponds, streams, inland waters, groundwaters, salt waters, and
all other waters and water courses within the jurisdiction of
the state of Washington.
(21) In the absence of other definitions as set forth
herein, the definitions as set forth in 40 CFR Part 403.3
shall be used for circumstances concerning the discharge of
waste into sewerage systems.
[Statutory Authority: Chapter 90.48 RCW. 93-10-099 (Order
92-55), § 173-216-030, filed 5/5/93, effective 5/19/93. Statutory Authority: Chapter 43.21A RCW. 86-06-040 (Order
86-03), § 173-216-030, filed 3/4/86. Statutory Authority:
Chapters 43.21A and 90.48 RCW. 83-23-073 (Order DE 83-29), §
173-216-030, filed 11/18/83.]