Section 10. Definitions

The words and terms used in this chapter shall have the meanings defined in the State Water Control Law Chapter 3.1 (§ 62.1-44.2 et seq.) of Title 62.1 of the Code of Virginia and the Virginia Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (VPDES) Permit Regulation (9VAC25-31) unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. Additionally, for the purposes of this chapter:

"Best management practices" or "BMPs" means schedules of activities, practices (and prohibitions of practices), structures, vegetation, maintenance procedures, and other management practices to prevent or reduce the discharge of pollutants to surface waters. BMPs also include treatment requirements, operating procedures, and practices to control plant site run-off, spillage or leaks, sludge or waste disposal, or drainage from raw material storage.

"Colocated facility" means an industrial activity other than mineral mining operating on a site where the primary industrial activity is mineral mining. Such an activity must have wastewater characteristics similar to those of the mineral mine and be located within the permitted mining area. The term refers to activities that are commonly found at mining sites such as manufacturing of ready-mix concrete (SIC Code 3273), concrete products (SIC Codes 3271 and 3272), and asphalt paving materials (SIC Code 2951) except asphalt emulsion manufacturing. It does not mean industrial activity that is specifically excluded from this permit.

"Department" or "DEQ" means the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality.

"Industrial activity" means activity associated with mineral mining facilities generally identified by SIC Major Group 14 including active or inactive mining operations that discharge stormwater that has come into contact with any overburden, raw material, intermediate products, finished products, by-products or waste products located on the site of such operations. (Inactive mining operations are mining sites that are not being actively mined, but which have an identifiable owner/operator; inactive mining sites do not include sites where mining claims are being maintained prior to disturbances associated with the extraction, beneficiation, or processing of mined materials, nor sites where minimal activities are undertaken for the sole purpose of maintaining a mining claim.) Industrial activity also includes facilities classified under other SIC codes that may be colocated within the mineral mine permit area, unless they are expressly excluded by this general permit.

"Municipal separate storm sewer system" or "MS4" means a conveyance or system of conveyances, including roads with drainage systems, municipal streets, catch basins, curbs, gutters, ditches, man-made channels, or storm drains (i) owned or operated by a state, city, town, county, district, association, or other public body (created by or pursuant to 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 an Indian tribe or an authorized Indian tribal organization, or a designated and approved management agency under § 208 of the Clean Water Act that discharges to surface waters of the state; (ii) designed or used for collecting or conveying stormwater; (iii) that is not a combined sewer; and (iv) that is not part of a publicly owned treatment works (POTW).

"Permittee" means the owner of a nonmetallic mineral mine covered under this general permit.

"Process wastewater" means any wastewater used in the slurry transport of mined material, air emissions control, or processing exclusive of mining, and any other water that becomes commingled with such wastewater in a pit, pond, lagoon, mine, or other facility used for treatment of such wastewater. It includes mine pit dewatering, water used in the process of washing stone, noncontact cooling water, wastewater from vehicle or equipment degreasing activities, vehicle washing and return water from operations where mined material is dredged and miscellaneous plant cleanup wastewaters.

"Run-off coefficient" means the fraction of total rainfall that will appear at the conveyance as run-off.

"SIC" means the Standard Industrial Classification Code or Industrial Grouping from the U.S. Office of Management and Budget Standard Industrial Classification Manual, 1987 Edition.

"Significant materials" includes, but is not limited to, raw materials; fuels; materials such as solvents, detergents, and plastic pellets; finished materials; hazardous substances designated under Section 101(14) of the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act (CERCLA) (42 USC § 9601 et seq.); any chemical the owner is required to report pursuant to Section 313 of the Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act (EPCRA) (42 USC § 11001 et seq.); fertilizers; pesticides; and waste products such as ashes, slag and sludge (including pond sediments) that have the potential to be released with stormwater discharges.

"Significant spills" includes, but is not limited to, releases of oil or hazardous substances in excess of reportable quantities under § 311 of the Clean Water Act (see 40 CFR 110.10 and 40 CFR 117.21) or § 102 of the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act (CERCLA) (42 USC § 9601 et seq.) (see 40 CFR 302.4).

"Stormwater" means stormwater run-off, snow melt run-off, and surface run-off and drainage.

"Stormwater discharge associated with industrial activity" means the discharge from any conveyance that is used for collecting and conveying stormwater and that is directly related to manufacturing, processing or raw materials storage areas at an industrial plant. The term does not include discharges from facilities or activities excluded from the VPDES program under 9VAC25-31. For the categories of industries identified in the "industrial activity" definition, the term includes, but is not limited to, stormwater discharges from industrial plant yards; immediate access roads and rail lines used or traveled by carriers of raw materials, manufactured products, waste material, or by-products used or created by the mineral mine; material handling sites; refuse sites; sites used for the application or disposal of process wastewaters; sites used for the storage and maintenance of material handling equipment; sites used for residual treatment, storage, or disposal; shipping and receiving areas; manufacturing buildings; storage areas (including tank farms) for raw materials, and intermediate and finished products; and areas where industrial activity has taken place in the past and significant materials remain and are exposed to stormwater. For the purposes of this paragraph, material handling activities include the storage, loading and unloading, transportation, or conveyance of any raw material, intermediate product, finished product, by-product or waste product. The term excludes areas located on plant lands separate from the plant's industrial activities, such as office buildings and accompanying parking lots as long as the drainage from the excluded areas is not mixed with stormwater drained from the above described areas.

"Total maximum daily load" or "TMDL" means a calculation of the maximum amount of a pollutant that a waterbody can receive and still meet water quality standards and an allocation of that amount to the pollutant's sources. A TMDL includes wasteload allocations (WLAs) for point source discharges, and load allocations (LAs) for nonpoint sources or natural background or both, and must include a margin of safety (MOS) and account for seasonal variations.

"Twenty-five-year, 24-hour storm event" means the maximum 24-hour precipitation event with a probable recurrence interval of once in 25 years as established by the National Weather Service or appropriate regional or state rainfall probability information.

"Vehicle or equipment degreasing" means the washing or steam cleaning of engines of a vehicle or piece of equipment and other drive components in which the purpose is to clean and degrease and clean petroleum products from the equipment for maintenance. Washing the vehicle exterior for the purpose of removing sediment is not considered vehicle or equipment degreasing.

Historical Notes

Derived from VR680-14-20 § 1, eff. June 30, 1994; amended, Volume 15, Issue 16, eff. June 30, 1999; Volume 20, Issue 16, eff. July 1, 2004; Volume 25, Issue 19, eff. June 24, 2009; Volume 30, Issue 11, eff. July 1, 2014.

Statutory Authority

§ 62.1-44.15 of the Code of Virginia; § 402 of the federal Clean Water Act; 40 CFR Parts 122, 123, and 124.