Section 780. National pretreatment standards: categorical standards

National pretreatment standards included in the regulations incorporated by reference in 9VAC25-31-30, unless specifically noted otherwise, shall be in addition to all applicable pretreatment standards and requirements set forth in this part.

A. Category determination request.

1. Application deadline. Within 60 days after the effective date of a pretreatment standard for a subcategory under which an industrial user may be included, the industrial user or POTW may request that the Water Management Division Director or director, as appropriate, provide written certification on whether the industrial user falls within that particular subcategory. If an existing industrial user adds or changes a process or operation which may be included in a subcategory, the existing industrial user must request this certification prior to commencing discharge from the added or changed processes or operation. A new source must request this certification prior to commencing discharge. Where a certification is submitted by a POTW, the POTW shall notify any affected industrial user of such submission. The industrial user may provide written comments on the POTW submission to the Water Management Division Director or director, as appropriate, within 30 days of notification.

2. Contents of application. Each request shall contain a statement:

a. Describing which subcategories might be applicable; and

b. Citing evidence and reasons why a particular subcategory is applicable and why others are not applicable. Any person signing the application statement submitted pursuant to this section shall make the following certification:

"I certify under penalty of law that this document and all attachments were prepared under my direction or supervision in accordance with a system designed to assure that qualified personnel properly gather and evaluate the information submitted. Based on my inquiry of the person or persons who manage the system, or those persons directly responsible for gathering the information, the information submitted is, to the best of my knowledge and belief, true, accurate, and complete. I am aware that there are significant penalties for submitting false information, including the possibility of fine and imprisonment for knowing violations."

3. Deficient requests. The Water Management Division Director or director will only act on written requests for determinations that contain all of the information required. Persons who have made incomplete submissions will be notified by the Water Management Division Director or director that their requests are deficient and, unless the time period is extended, will be given 30 days to correct the deficiency. If the deficiency is not corrected within 30 days or within an extended period allowed by the Water Management Division Director or the director, the request for a determination shall be denied.

4. Final decision.

a. When the Water Management Division Director or director receives a submittal he will, after determining that it contains all of the information required by subdivision 2 of this subsection, consider the submission, any additional evidence that may have been requested, and any other available information relevant to the request. The Water Management Division Director or director will then make a written determination of the applicable subcategory and state the reasons for the determination.

b. Where the request is submitted to the director, the director shall forward the determination described in this subdivision to the Water Management Division Director who may make a final determination. If the Water Management Division Director does not modify the director's decision within 60 days after receipt thereof, or if the Water Management Division Director waives receipt of the determination, the director's decision is final.

c. Where the request is submitted by the industrial user or POTW to the Water Management Division Director or where the Water Management Division Director elects to modify the director's decision, the Water Management Division Director's decision will be final.

d. The director shall send a copy of the determination to the affected industrial user and the POTW.

5. Requests for public hearing or legal decision. Within 30 days following the date of receipt of notice of the final determination as provided for by subdivision A 4 d of this section, the requester may submit a petition to reconsider or contest the decision to the regional administrator who shall act on such petition expeditiously and state the reasons for his determination in writing.

B. Deadline for compliance with categorical standards. Compliance by existing sources with categorical pretreatment standards shall be within three years of the date the standard is effective unless a shorter compliance time is specified in the regulations incorporated by reference in 9VAC25-31-30. Direct dischargers with VPDES permits modified or reissued to provide a variance pursuant to § 301(i)(2) of the CWA shall be required to meet compliance dates set in any applicable categorical pretreatment standard. Existing sources which become industrial users subsequent to promulgation of an applicable categorical pretreatment standard shall be considered existing industrial users except where such sources meet the definition of a new source as defined in 9VAC25-31-10. New sources shall install and have in operating condition, and shall "start up" all pollution control equipment required to meet applicable pretreatment standards before beginning to discharge. Within the shortest feasible time (not to exceed 90 days), new sources must meet all applicable pretreatment standards.

C. 1. Concentration and mass limits pollutant discharge limits in categorical pretreatment standards will be expressed either as concentration or mass limits. Wherever possible, where concentration limits are specified in standards, equivalent mass limits will be provided so that local, state or federal authorities responsible for enforcement may use either concentration or mass limits. Limits in categorical pretreatment standards shall apply to the effluent of the process regulated by the standard, or as otherwise specified by the standard.

2. When the limits in a categorical pretreatment standard are expressed only in terms of mass of pollutant per unit of production, the control authority may convert the limits to equivalent limitations expressed either as mass of pollutant discharged per day or effluent concentration for purposes of calculating effluent limitations applicable to individual industrial users.

3. A control authority calculating equivalent mass-per-day limitations under subdivision 2 of this subsection shall calculate such limitations by multiplying the limits in the standard by the industrial user's average rate of production. This average rate of production shall be based not upon the designed production capacity but rather upon a reasonable measure of the industrial user's actual long-term daily production, such as the average daily production during a representative year. For new sources, actual production shall be estimated using projected production.

4. A control authority calculating equivalent concentration limitations under subdivision 2 of this subsection shall calculate such limitations by dividing the mass limitations derived under subdivision 3 of this subsection by the average daily flow rate of the industrial user's regulated process wastewater. This average daily flow rate shall be based upon a reasonable measure of the industrial user's actual long-term average flow rate, such as the average daily flow rate during the representative year.

5. When the limits in a categorical pretreatment standard are expressed only in terms of pollutant concentrations, an industrial user may request that the control authority convert the limits to equivalent mass limits. The determination to convert concentration limits to mass limits is within the discretion of the control authority. The control authority may establish equivalent mass limits only if the industrial user meets all the following conditions in subdivisions 5 a (1) through (5) of this subsection as follows.

a. To be eligible for equivalent mass limits, the industrial user must:

(1) Employ, or demonstrate that it will employ, water conservation methods and technologies that substantially reduce water use during the term of its control mechanism;

(2) Currently use control and treatment technologies adequate to achieve compliance with the applicable categorical pretreatment standard, and not have used dilution as a substitute for treatment;

(3) Provide sufficient information to establish the facility's actual average daily flow rate for all wastestreams, based on data from a continuous effluent flow monitoring device, as well as the facility's long-term average production rate. Both the actual average daily flow rate and the long-term average production rate must be representative of current operating conditions;

(4) Not have daily flow rates, production levels, or pollutant levels that vary so significantly that equivalent mass limits are not appropriate to control the discharge; and

(5) Have consistently complied with all applicable categorical pretreatment standards during the period prior to the industrial user's request for equivalent mass limits.

b. An industrial user subject to equivalent mass limits must:

(1) Maintain and effectively operate control and treatment technologies adequate to achieve compliance with the equivalent mass limits;

(2) Continue to record the facility's flow rates through the use of a continuous effluent flow monitoring device;

(3) Continue to record the facility's production rates and notify the control authority whenever production rates are expected to vary by more than 20% from its baseline production rates determined in subdivision 5 a (3) of this subsection. Upon notification of a revised production rate, the Control Authority must reassess the equivalent mass limit and revise the limit as necessary to reflect changed conditions at the facility; and

(4) Continue to employ the same or comparable water conservation methods and technologies as those implemented pursuant to subdivision 5 a (1) of this subsection so long as it discharges under an equivalent mass limit.

c. A control authority that chooses to establish equivalent mass limits:

(1) Must calculate the equivalent mass limit by multiplying the actual average daily flow rate of the regulated process(es) of the industrial user by the concentration-based daily maximum and monthly average standard for the applicable categorical pretreatment standard and the appropriate unit conversion factor;

(2) Upon notification of a revised production rate, must reassess the equivalent mass limit and recalculate the limit as necessary to reflect changed conditions at the facility; and

(3) May retain the same equivalent mass limit in subsequent control mechanism terms if the industrial user's actual average daily flow rate was reduced solely as a result of the implementation of water conservation methods and technologies, and the actual average daily flow rates used in the original calculation of the equivalent mass limit were not based on the use of dilution as a substitute for treatment pursuant to subdivision 5 d of this subsection. The industrial user must also be in compliance with 9VAC25-31-890 (regarding the prohibition of bypass).

d. The control authority may not express limits in terms of mass for pollutants such as pH, temperature, radiation, or other pollutants which cannot appropriately be expressed as mass.

6. The control authority may convert the mass limits of the categorical pretreatment standards at 40 CFR Parts 414, 419, and 455 to concentration limits for purposes of calculating limitations applicable to individual industrial users under the following conditions: when converting such limits to concentration limits, the control authority must use the concentrations listed in the applicable subparts of 40 CFR Parts 414, 419, and 455 and document that dilution is not being substituted for treatment as prohibited by subsection D of this section.

7. Equivalent limitations calculated in accordance with subdivisions 3 4, 5 and 6 of this subsection are deemed pretreatment standards for the purposes of § 307(d) of the CWA and this part. The control authority must document how the equivalent limits were derived and make this information publicly available. Once incorporated into its control mechanism, the individual user must comply with the equivalent limitations in lieu of the promulgated categorical standards from which the equivalent limitations were derived.

8. Many categorical pretreatment standards specify one limit for calculating maximum daily discharge limitations and a second limit for calculating maximum monthly average, or four-day average, limitations. Where such standards are being applied, the same production or flow figure shall be used in calculating both the average and the maximum equivalent limitation.

9. Any industrial user operating under a control mechanism incorporating equivalent mass or concentration limits calculated from a production based standard shall notify the control authority within two business days after the user has a reasonable basis to know that the production level will significantly change within the next calendar month. Any user not notifying the control authority of such anticipated change will be required to meet the mass or concentration limits in its control mechanism that were based on the original estimate of the long term average production rate.

D. Dilution prohibited as substitute for treatment. Except where expressly authorized to do so by an applicable pretreatment standard or requirement, no industrial user shall ever increase the use of process water, or in any other way attempt to dilute a discharge as a partial or complete substitute for adequate treatment to achieve compliance with a pretreatment standard or requirement. The control authority may impose mass limitations on industrial users which are using dilution to meet applicable pretreatment standards or requirements, or in other cases where the imposition of mass limitations is appropriate.

E. Combined wastestream formula. Where process effluent is mixed prior to treatment with wastewaters other than those generated by the regulated process, fixed alternative discharge limits may be derived by the control authority, or by the industrial user with the written concurrence of the control authority. These alternative limits shall be applied to the mixed effluent. When deriving alternative categorical limits, the control authority or industrial user shall calculate both an alternative daily maximum value using the daily maximum values specified in the appropriate categorical pretreatment standard or standards and an alternative consecutive sampling day average value using the monthly average values specified in the appropriate categorical pretreatment standards. The industrial user shall comply with the alternative daily maximum and monthly average limits fixed by the control authority until the control authority modifies the limits or approves an industrial user modification request. Modification is authorized whenever there is a material or significant change in the values used in the calculation to fix alternative limits for the regulated pollutant. An industrial user must immediately report any such material or significant change to the control authority. Where appropriate new alternative categorical limits shall be calculated within 30 days.

1. Alternative limit calculation. For purposes of these formulas, the "average daily flow" means a reasonable measure of the average daily flow for a 30-day period. For new sources, flows shall be estimated using projected values. The alternative limit for a specified pollutant will be derived by the use of either of the following formulas:

a. Alternative concentration limit.

where:

C_T = the alternative concentration limit for the combined wastestream.

C_i = the categorical pretreatment standard concentration limit for a pollutant in the regulated stream i.

F_i = the average daily flow (at least a 30-day average) of stream i to the extent that it is regulated for such pollutant.

F_D = the average daily flow (at least a 30-day average) from: (i) boiler blowdown streams, noncontact cooling streams, stormwater streams, and demineralizer backwash streams; provided, however, that where such streams contain a significant amount of a pollutant, and the combination of such streams, prior to treatment, with an industrial user's regulated process wastestreams will result in a substantial reduction of that pollutant, the control authority, upon application of the industrial user, may exercise its discretion to determine whether such streams should be classified as diluted or unregulated. In its application to the control authority, the industrial user must provide engineering, production, sampling and analysis and such other information so that the control authority can make its determination; (ii) sanitary wastestreams where such streams are not regulated by a categorical pretreatment standard; or (iii) any process wastestreams which were or could have been entirely exempted from categorical pretreatment standards for one or more of the following reasons (see Appendix D of 40 CFR Part 403):

(1) The pollutants of concern are not detectable in the effluent from the industrial user;

(2) The pollutants of concern are present only in trace amounts and are neither causing nor likely to cause toxic effects;

(3) The pollutants of concern are present in amounts too small to be effectively reduced by technologies known to the administrator; or

(4) The wastestream contains only pollutants which are compatible with the POTW.

F_T = The average daily flow (at least a 30-day average) through the combined treatment facility (includes F_i, F_D and unregulated streams).

N = The total number of regulated streams.

b. Alternative mass limit.

where:

M_T = the alternative mass limit for a pollutant in the combined wastestream.

M_i = the categorical pretreatment standard mass limit for a pollutant in the regulated stream i (the categorical pretreatment mass limit multiplied by the appropriate measure of production).

F_i = the average flow (at least a 30-day average) of stream i to the extent that it is regulated for such pollutant.

F_D = the average daily flow (at least a 30-day average) from: (i) boiler blowdown streams, noncontact cooling streams, stormwater streams, and demineralizer backwash streams; provided, however, that where such streams contain a significant amount of a pollutant, and the combination of such streams, prior to treatment, with an industrial user's regulated process wastestreams will result in a substantial reduction of that pollutant, the control authority, upon application of the industrial user, may exercise its discretion to determine whether such streams should be classified as diluted or unregulated. In its application to the control authority, the industrial user must provide engineering, production, sampling and analysis and such other information so that the control authority can make its determination; (ii) sanitary wastestreams where such streams are not regulated by a categorical pretreatment standard; or (iii) any process wastestreams which were or could have been entirely exempted from categorical pretreatment standards for one or more of the following reasons (see Appendix D of 40 CFR Part 403):

(1) The pollutants of concern are not detectable in the effluent from the industrial user;

(2) The pollutants of concern are present only in trace amounts and are neither causing nor likely to cause toxic effects;

(3) The pollutants of concern are present in amounts too small to be effectively reduced by technologies known to the administrator; or

(4) The wastestream contains only pollutants which are compatible with the POTW.

F_T = The average flow (at least a 30-day average) through the combined treatment facility (includes F_i, F_D and unregulated streams).

N = The total number of regulated streams.

2. An alternative pretreatment limit may not be used if the alternative limit is below the analytical detection limit for any of the regulated pollutants.

3. Self-monitoring required to insure compliance with the alternative categorical limit shall be conducted in accordance with the requirements of 9VAC25-31-840 G.

4. Where a treated regulated process wastestream is combined prior to treatment with wastewaters other than those generated by the regulated process, the industrial user may monitor either the segregated process wastestream or the combined wastestream for the purpose of determining compliance with applicable pretreatment standards. If the industrial user chooses to monitor the segregated process wastestream, it shall apply the applicable categorical pretreatment standard. If the user chooses to monitor the combined wastestream, it shall apply an alternative discharge limit calculated using the combined wastestream formula as provided in this section. The industrial user may change monitoring points only after receiving approval from the control authority. The control authority shall ensure that any change in an industrial user's monitoring point or points will not allow the user to substitute dilution for adequate treatment to achieve compliance with applicable standards.

Historical Notes

Derived from Volume 12, Issue 20, eff. July 24, 1996; amended, Virginia Register Volume 16, Issue 25, eff. September 27, 2000; Volume 18, Issue 09, eff. February 15, 2002; Volume 22, Issue 24, eff. September 6, 2006; Volume 28, Issue 10, eff. February 15, 2012.

Statutory Authority

§ 62.1-44.15 of the Code of Virginia; § 402 of the federal Clean Water Act; 40 CFR Parts 122, 123, 124, 403, and 503.