WAC 173-351-100
Definitions. Unless otherwise noted,
all terms contained in this part are defined by their plain
meaning. This section contains definitions for terms that
appear throughout this regulation; additional definitions
appear in the specific sections to which they apply.
"Active area" means that part of a facility that includes
the active portion and portions of a facility that recycle,
store, treat, or dispose of solid (including liquid) wastes. The active area includes leachate treatment facilities and
runoff ponds. It excludes run-on ponds and on-site roads
which are used for any purpose; on-site roads are considered
part of the buffer zone. See active portion and buffer zone
definition below.
"Active life" means the period of operation beginning
with the initial receipt of solid waste and ending at
completion of closure activities in accordance with WAC 173-351-500, Closure and post-closure care.
"Active portion" means that part of a facility or MSWLF
unit that has received or is receiving wastes and that has not
been closed in accordance with WAC 173-351-500, Closure and
post-closure care.
"Areas susceptible to mass movement." See WAC 173-351-130 (7)(b)(iv).
"Arid" means locations in the state of Washington having
less than twelve inches (30 centimeters) of precipitation
annually.
"Biosolids" means municipal sewage sludge that is a
primarily organic, semisolid product resulting from the
wastewater treatment process, that can be beneficially
recycled and meets all requirements under chapter 70.95J RCW. Biosolids includes septic tank sludge, also known as septage,
that can be beneficially recycled and meets all requirements
of chapter 70.95J RCW.
"Buffer zone" means that part of a facility which lies
between the active area and the property boundary.
"Closure" means those actions taken by the owner or
operator of a MSWLF unit or facility to cease disposal
operations and to ensure that a MSWLF unit or facility is
closed in conformance with applicable regulations at the time
of such closures and to prepare the site for the post-closure
period. Closure is considered part of operation. See
definition of operation.
"Commercial solid waste" means all types of solid waste
generated by stores, offices, restaurants, warehouses, and
other nonmanufacturing activities, excluding residential and
industrial wastes.
"Composite liner." See WAC 173-351-300 (2)(a)(ii).
"Construction quality assurance" means a planned system
of activities that provide assurance that a facility is
constructed as specified in the design and that the materials
used in construction are manufactured according to
specifications. Construction quality assurance includes
inspections, verifications, audits, and evaluations of
materials and workmanship necessary to determine and document
the quality of the constructed facility.
"Construction quality control" means a planned system of
activities that is used to directly monitor and control the
quality of a construction project. Construction quality
controls are the measures under taken by the contractor or
installer to determine compliance with requirements for
workmanship and materials put forth in the plans and
specification for the construction project.
"Contaminate" means to allow to discharge a substance
into groundwater that would cause:
The concentration of that substance in the groundwater to
exceed the maximum contamination level specified in chapter 173-200 WAC; or
A statistically significant increase in the concentration
of that substance in the groundwater where the existing
concentration of that substance exceeds the maximum
contaminant level specified in chapter 173-200 WAC; or
A statistically significant increase above background in
the concentration of a substance which:
Has been determined to present a substantial risk to
human health or the environment in the concentrations found at
the point of compliance by the jurisdictional health
department in consultation with the department and the
department of health.
"Dangerous wastes" means any solid waste designated as
dangerous waste under chapter 173-303 WAC, the Dangerous
waste regulations.
"Demolition waste" means solid waste, largely inert waste
resulting from the demolition or razing of buildings, roads
and other man-made structures.
"Demonstration" means a showing by the owner or operator
that human health and the environment can be protected as
equally as a given requirement in the regulation. A
demonstration is made in the application for a permit under
WAC 173-351-700. A successful demonstration allows or
authorizes an activity authorized for the life of the facility
unless an alternative time period is approved by the
jurisdictional health department.
"Disposal" or "deposition" means the discharge, deposit,
injection, dumping, leaking, or placing of any solid waste
into or on any land or water.
"Establish" means to construct a new or laterally
expanded MSWLF unit.
"Existing MSWLF unit" means any municipal solid waste
landfill unit that is receiving solid waste as of the
appropriate dates specified in WAC 173-351-010 (2)(c). Waste
placement in existing units must be consistent with past
operating practices or modified practices to ensure good waste
management practices, including operating plans approved under
chapter 173-304 WAC. For the purposes of this rule, any
existing horizontal expansion approved by the jurisdictional
health department for which as-built plans documenting
construction prior to the effective date of this chapter, have
been prepared and submitted to the jurisdictional health
department shall be considered an existing MSWLF unit.
"Household waste" means any solid waste (including
garbage, trash, and sanitary waste in septic tanks) derived
from households (including household hazardous waste)
(including single and multiple residences, hotels and motels,
bunkhouses, ranger stations, crew quarters, campgrounds,
picnic grounds, and day-use recreation areas). This term does
not include commercial, industrial, inert and demolition
waste, or wood waste.
Note:
Sanitary waste in septic tanks that is not disposed of in a MSWLF unit is subject to other state and federal rules.
"Hydrostratigraphic unit" means any water-bearing
geologic unit or units hydraulically connected or grouped
together on the basis of similar hydraulic conductivity which
can be reasonably monitored; several geologic formations or
part of a geologic formation may be grouped into a single
hydrostratigraphic unit; perched sand lenses may be considered
a hydrostratigraphic unit or part of a hydrostratigraphic
unit, for example.
Note:
'Hydraulically connected' denotes water-bearing units which can transmit water to other transmissive units.
"Inert waste" means noncombustible, nondangerous solid
wastes that are likely to retain their physical and chemical
structure under expected conditions of disposal, including
resistance to biological attack and chemical attack from
acidic rain water.
"Industrial solid wastes" means solid waste or waste
by-products generated by manufacturing or industrial processes
such as scraps, trimmings, packing, pallets, and other
discarded materials not otherwise designated as dangerous
waste under chapter 173-303 WAC, the Dangerous waste
regulations. This term does not include commercial, inert,
demolition, construction, woodwaste, mining waste, or oil and
gas waste but does include lunch room, office, or other
similar waste generated by employees at the industrial
facility.
"Jurisdictional health department" means city, county,
city-county, or district public health department as defined
in chapters 70.05, 70.08, and 70.46 RCW.
"Landfill." See "Facility."
"Lateral expansion" means a horizontal expansion of the
waste boundaries of an existing MSWLF unit that is not an
existing horizontal expansion. (See also definition of
"existing MSWLF unit.")
"Leachate" means a liquid that has passed through or
emerged from solid waste and contains soluble, suspended, or
miscible materials removed from such waste.
"Lithified earth material." See WAC 173-351-200
(6)(b)(iii).
"Lower explosive limit." See WAC 173-351-200 (4)(d).
"Maximum horizontal acceleration in lithified earth
material." See WAC 173-351-200 (6)(b)(ii).
"Modification" means a substantial change in the design
or operational plans including removal of a design element of
a MSWLF unit previously set forth in a permit application or a
disposal or processing activity that is not approved in the
permit. To be considered a substantial change, a modification
must be reasonably related to a specific requirement of this
rule. Lateral expansions, a fifty percent increase or greater
in design volume capacity or changes resulting in significant
adverse environmental impacts that have lead a responsible
official to issue a declaration of significance under WAC 197-11-736 shall not be considered a modification but would
require permit reissuance under these rules.
"Municipal sewage sludge" means a semisolid substance
consisting of settled sewage solids combined with varying
amounts of water and dissolved materials generated from a
publicly owned wastewater treatment plant. For the purposes
of this rule sewage sludge generated from publicly owned
leachate waste treatment works that receive sewage from
on-site sanitary facilities shall not be considered to be
municipal sewage sludge.
"Municipal solid waste landfill unit (MSWLF unit)" means
a discrete area of land or an excavation that receives
household waste, and that is not a land application unit,
surface impoundment, injection well, or waste pile, as those
terms are defined under chapter 173-304 WAC, the Minimum
functional standards for solid waste handling or chapter 173-218 WAC, Underground injection control program. A MSWLF
unit also may receive other types of RCRA subtitle D wastes,
such as commercial solid waste, nonhazardous sludge,
conditionally-exempt small quantity generator waste, and
industrial solid waste. Such a landfill may be publicly or
privately owned. A MSWLF unit may be a new MSWLF unit, an
existing MSWLF unit, or a lateral expansion.
"New MSWLF unit" means any municipal solid waste landfill
unit that has not received waste prior to the effective date
of this regulation.
"Nonarid" means locations in the state of Washington
having equal to or more than twelve inches (30 centimeters) of
precipitation annually.
"Nuisance" means unlawfully doing an act, or omitting to
perform a duty, which act or omission either annoys, injures,
or endangers the comfort, repose, health or safety of others,
offends decency, or unlawfully interferes with, obstructs or
tends to obstruct, any lake or navigable river, bay, stream,
canal, or basin, or any public park, square, street or
highway; or in any way renders other persons insecure in life,
or in the use of property.
"Open burning" means the combustion of solid waste
without:
Control of combustion air to maintain adequate
temperature for efficient combustion;
Containment of the combustion reaction in an enclosed
device so as to provide sufficient residence time and mixing
for complete combustion; and
Control of the emission of the combustion products.
"Operator" means the person(s) responsible for the
overall operation of a facility or part of a facility.
"Operation" means those actions taken by an owner or
operator of a facility or MSWLF unit beginning with waste
acceptance at a facility or MSWLF unit up to and including
closure of the facility or MSWLF unit.
"Owner" means the person(s) who owns a facility or part
of a facility.
"Point of compliance" means the point located on land
owned by the owner of the MSWLF unit, and is no more than one
hundred fifty meters (four hundred ninety-two feet) from the
waste management unit boundary; see also WAC 173-351-300
(2)(c).
"Poor foundation conditions." See WAC 173-351-130
(7)(b)(ii).
"Post-closure" means those actions taken by an owner or
operator of a facility or MSWLF unit after closure.
"Purchase" means execution of a long term lease, securing
of options to purchase or execution of agreements to purchase.
"Qualified ground-water scientist." See WAC 173-351-400(2).
"Random inspection." See WAC 173-351-200 (1)(b)(ii).
"Regulated dangerous waste." See WAC 173-351-200
(1)(b)(i).
"Runoff" means any rainwater, leachate, or other liquid
that drains over land from any part of a facility.
"Run-on" means any rainwater, leachate, or other liquid
that drains over land onto any part of a facility.
"Saturated zone" means that part of the earth's crust in
which all voids are filled with water.
"Seismic impact zone." See WAC 173-351-130 (6)(b)(i).
"Sewage sludge" means a semisolid substance consisting of
settled sewage solids combined with varying amounts of water
and dissolved materials generated from a wastewater treatment
system, that does not meet the requirements of chapter 70.95J RCW.
"Sludge" means any solid, semisolid, or liquid waste
generated from a municipal, commercial, or industrial
wastewater treatment plant, water supply treatment plant, or
air pollution control facility exclusive of the treated
effluent from a wastewater treatment plant.
"Sole source aquifer." See WAC 173-351-140 (1)(b)(vii).
"Solid waste" means all putrescible and nonputrescible
solid and semisolid wastes including, but not limited to
garbage, rubbish, ashes, industrial wastes, commercial waste,
swill, sewage sludge, demolition and construction wastes,
abandoned vehicles or parts thereof, discarded commodities and
recyclable materials.
"Structural components." See WAC 173-351-130 (7)(b)(ii).
"Vadose zone" means that portion of a geologic formation
in which soil pores contain some water, the pressure of that
water is less than atmospheric, and the formation occurs above
the zone of saturation.
"Waste management unit boundary" means a vertical surface
located at the hydraulically down gradient limit of the unit. This vertical surface extends down into the hydrostratigraphic
unit(s) identified in the hydrogeologic report.
"Waters of the state" means lakes, rivers, ponds,
streams, inland waters, undergroundwaters, salt water, and all
other surface waters and watercourses within the jurisdiction
of the state of Washington.
"Woodwaste" means solid waste consisting of wood pieces
or particles generated as a by-product or waste from the
manufacturing of wood products, handling and storage of raw
materials and trees and stumps.