Section 250-RICR-150-10-3.5 - DefinitionsA. For the purposes of these rules and regulations, the following terms shall have the following meanings: 1. "Abutter" means any person who owns property adjacent to, or across a road, railroad, or stream from a proposed facility or site.2. "Agricultural lands" means those lands utilized for or having the potential for the production of food crops, feed crops or fiber crops.3. "Agronomic rate" means the sludge application rate that is designed to provide the amount of nitrogen or other nutrient(s) needed by the crop or vegetation and minimize the amount of nitrogen that passes below the root zone of the crop or the vegetation to the groundwater.4. "Aquifer" means a geologic formation, group of formations, or part of a formation capable of yielding a significant amount of groundwater to wells and springs.5. "Applicant" means a person who applies for an Order of Approval or the Director's approval pursuant to these rules and regulations.6. "Beneficial use" means taking advantage of the nutrient content and/or soil conditioning properties of sludge by supplying agronomic or soil conditioning benefits such as nitrogen, phosphorus, micronutrients, or organic matter needs for crops, silviculture or establishing a vegetative cover for reclamation sites. 7. "Bulk distribution" means the distribution of Class A Biosolids in a container greater than 100 pounds.8. "Bulking agent" means material such as sawdust, woodchips or yard trimmings which is added to the sludge to provide structure, lower total moisture content, allow air to reach and be held in small pockets by preventing settling and compaction of the sludge, and in some cases to act as a carbon source for composting operations.9. "Class A biosolids" means any treated sludge that meets the metals and pathogen limits established in § 3.32 of this Part.10. "Class B biosolids" means any treated sludge that does not meet the metals limits established in § 3.32 of this Part but meets the metals limits established in § 3.33 of this Part.11. "Class C biosolids" means any treated sludge that does not meet the metals limits established in § 3.33 of this Part.12. "Closure" means the procedures used to cease the use of a facility, or a portion thereof, in a manner that will minimize future risks of environmental damage, and includes all post-closure inspection, monitoring, and maintenance activities.13. "Composting" means the biological method of stabilizing organic residues through an aerobic, self-heating process.14. "Cover" means soil or other approved material placed over sewage sludge in a land disposal site or sewage sludge or solid waste in a solid waste landfill.15. "Department" means the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management.16. "Director" means the Director of the Department of Environmental Management or any designee to whom the Director delegates any powers and duties vested in that office.17. "Disposal" means the final discharge, deposit, injection, dumping, mixing, spilling, leaking, incinerating, or placing of sludge into or onto any land so that such sludge or any constituent thereof may enter the environment, be emitted into the air or be discharged into any surface water or groundwater.18. "Distributor" means any person who distributes or markets Class A Biosolids. Any person that receives and distributes or markets packaged Class A Biosolids exclusively is not considered a distributor.19. "Facility" means any building, structure and operation, including land or appurtenances thereto, on one contiguous site used for the generation, processing or management of sludge. A facility includes, but is not limited to a publicly or privately owned treatment works, sludge treatment facility, sludge-only landfill (or monofill), sludge incinerator and site where sludge is treated, stockpiled or mixed with other sludge or other material for shipment off-site.20. "Feed crops" means crops grown for consumption by animals.21. "Fiber crops" means crops, such as flax or cotton that are cultivated for their fiber content and are not consumed by humans or by animals intended for human consumption.22. "Flood plain" means that land area adjacent to a river which is, on the average, likely to be covered with flood water resulting from a 100 year frequency storm, and shall be that land so designated as flood plain on the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Federal Insurance Administration Flood Hazard Boundary Map, currently administered by FEMA.23. "Food crops" means crops, including tobacco, consumed by humans.24. "Generator" means the person who holds title to a publicly owned treatment works or privately owned treatment works located in Rhode Island that produces sewage sludge or the facility or site located in Rhode Island where sludge is mixed or treated to produce another material.25. "Groundwater" means water found underground which completely fills the open spaces between particles of soil and spaces within rock formations.26. "Hazardous waste" means any waste as defined in accordance with R.I. Gen. Laws Chapters 23-19.1 and 23-19.4, and regulations adopted pursuant thereto.27. "Incorporated into the soil" means the injection of liquid sludge beneath the surface of the soil or the mixing of sludge with the surface soil for beneficial use.28. "Land application" or "land-applied" means the spraying or spreading of sludge onto the land surface; the injection of sludge below the land surface; or the incorporation of sludge into the soil so that the sludge can either condition the soil or fertilize crops or vegetation grown in the soil.29. "Land disposal" or "land-disposed" means the burial of sludge in a sludge-only landfill (or monofill). Burial of sludge in a solid waste landfill is not considered land disposal.30. "Lead free" means any sludge having no lead present or having lead present in amounts less than the standards established in the Rhode Island Department of Health "Rules and Regulations for Lead Poisoning Prevention".31. "Lead safe" means any sludge, which pursuant to the Rhode Island Department of Health "Rules and Regulations for Lead Poisoning Prevention," poses no significant environmental lead exposure hazard despite having a lead concentration above that required for a designation as "lead free" (see § 3.5(A)(30) of this Part above). 32. "Management" or "manage" means the supervising, controlling, or undertaking of any sludge activity(ies) regulated under these rules and regulations including transporting, processing, land applying, disposing, stockpiling, treating or distributing of sludge.33. "Monitoring well" means a cased and screened well that intercepts the groundwater and can be used to detect the presence of groundwater contamination. All monitoring wells are to be designed based on criteria established by the Department.34. "Office of water resources" means the Office of Water Resources of the Department of Environmental Management.35. "Operator" means the person in control of or having responsibility for managing the sludge activity(ies) at a facility, site or publicly or privately owned wastewater treatment facility.36. "Order of approval" means a written document issued by the department, which authorizes the holder to manage a site or facility or transport sludge according to the terms of the document.37. "Owner" means the person named on the Federal National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) or the Rhode Island Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (RIPDES) permit issued for a facility or the applicant named on the Order of Approval or the person holding title to a facility or site where sludge is generated and/or managed or is proposed to be generated and/or managed. 38. "Pathogen" means disease-causing organisms including, but not limited to, certain bacteria, protozoa, viruses, and viable helminth ova.39. "Person" means an individual, trust, firm, joint stock company, corporation (including a quasi-governmental corporation), partnership, association, syndicate, municipality, municipal or state agency, fire district, club, non-profit agency or any subdivision, commission, department, bureau, agency or department of state or federal government (including any quasi-governmental corporation) or of any interstate body.40. "pH" means the logarithm of the reciprocal of the hydrogen ion concentration (base 10).41. "Pollutant" means any dredged material, solid waste, incinerator residue, sewage, garbage, sewage sludge, sediment, filter backwash, munitions, chemical wastes, biological materials, radioactive materials, heat, wrecked or discarded equipment, rock, sand, cellar dirt, industrial or municipal or agricultural waste or effluent, petroleum or petroleum products, including but not limited to oil; or any material which will likely alter the physical, chemical, biological or radiological characteristics and/or integrity of water.42. "Private drinking water supply well" means any well established for the purpose of meeting all or part of a person's potable water needs provided said well does not supply a public drinking water supply.43. "Privately owned treatment works" means any facility which is owned by a private individual or private party or corporation or other private entity and is used for the treatment of pollutants. This definition includes sewers, pipes if they convey wastewater to a privately owned treatment works as well as any equipment, buildings or machinery used in the treatment operation.44. "Processing" means any activity that reduces the quantity of sludge or alters its chemical, biological, or physical state.45. "Processes to significantly reduce pathogens" or "PSRPs" and "processes to further reduce pathogens" or "PFRPs" means the processes listed in §§ 3.28 and 3.29 of this Part, respectively, which will reduce pathogens in sludge.46. "Public drinking water supply well" means any well supplying a water system with piped water for human consumption, provided that such a system has at least 15 service connections or regularly serves an average of at least 25 individuals daily at least 60 days of the year.47. "Publicly owned treatment works" means any facility which is used for the treatment of pollutants and is owned by the state or any political subdivision thereof, municipality, or other public entity, including any quasi-governmental corporation. This definition includes sewers, pipes if they convey wastewater to a publicly owned treatment works and any equipment, buildings or machinery used in the treatment operation.48. "Reclamation" means the addition of organic matter and nutrients to improve and/or promote establishment of vegetation on soils which have been severely disturbed or which are in a poor vegetative state.49. "Septage" means either liquid or solid material removed from a septic tank, cesspool, portable toilet, marine sanitation device, or similar treatment works that receives only domestic sewage.50. "Sewage" or "wastewater" means human waste, or wastes from toilets and other receptacles intended to receive or retain body waste, and any wastes, including wastes from human households, commercial establishments, and industries.51. "Silviculture" means the growing or cultivation of forests.52. "Site" means contiguous land areas owned by the same person(s) on which sludge is managed even if the land area is divided by a highway, railroad, water body, or boundary of a political subdivision.53. "Sludge" or "sewage sludge" means residue, partially solid, or solid, treated or untreated, resulting from the treatment of sewage, including such residues from the cleaning of sewers, by processes, such as settling, flotation, filtration and centrifugation, that does not meet the criteria for a hazardous waste. Domestic septage is not considered sludge.54. "Solid waste regulations" means the "Rules and Regulations for Solid Waste Management Facilities", Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management, Subchapter 05 Part 1 of this Chapter.55. "Stockpiling" means the storage of sludge.56. "Surface water" means any waters of the State that are not groundwaters.57. "Toxicity characteristic leachate procedure" or "TCLP" means a quantitative analysis to determine hazardous characteristics as described in 40 C.F.R. § 261, Appendix II.58. "Transporter" means any person engaged in the removal or transporting of sludge.59. "Treated sludge" means sewage sludge that is treated by one or more of the methods listed in § 3.29 of this Part.60. "Vector" means a carrier that is capable of transmitting a pathogen from one organism to another, including but not limited to flies and other insects, rodents, birds and other vermin.61. "Waters of the state" or "the waters" means all surface water and groundwater of the State of Rhode Island, including all tidewaters, territorial seas, wetlands, land masses partially or wholly submerged in water, and both inter- and intra-state bodies of water which are, have been or will be used in commerce, by industry, for the harvesting of fish and shellfish or for recreational purposes.62. "Well" means a bored, drilled or driven shaft or a dug hole, with a depth greater than its largest surface dimension, through which groundwater flows under natural or induced pressure.63. "Wellhead protection area" means that portion of the ground surface and subsurface area surrounding a public well or wellfield through which water will move toward and reach such well or wellfield as designated by the Director in accordance with the Rhode Island Wellhead Protection Program.64. "Wetlands" means those areas that are inundated or saturated by surface or groundwater at a frequency and duration sufficient to support, and that under normal circumstances do support, a prevalence of vegetation typically adapted for life in saturated soil conditions. Wetlands generally include swamps, marshes, bogs and similar areas. For freshwaters, wetlands are determined by the Office of Water Resources using the Rules and Regulations Governing the Enforcement and Administration of the Freshwater Wetlands Act, Subchapter 15 Part 1 of this Chapter. Coastal wetlands are determined by rules and regulations under the jurisdiction of the Coastal Resources Management Council.250 R.I. Code R. 250-RICR-150-10-3.5