Section 0400-46-01-.01 - GENERAL(1) General (a) Introduction and Purpose This rule provides definitions of terms, general standards and procedures, and overview information applicable to these rules.
The purpose of these rules is to set forth criteria and procedures for developing and maintaining a Priority Ranking System and List for the financing of wastewater treatment works and wastewater facilities. The Priority Ranking System, as described in this rule, is the basis of eligibility determinations and potential allocations of financial assistance from the Department of Environment and Conservation. Pursuant to T.C.A. Title 68, Chapter 221, Parts 8 and 10, the State of Tennessee is authorized to provide financial assistance to local governments for the construction of wastewater treatment works and wastewater facilities identified on the Department's Project Priority List. Each project's Priority Rank is generated from the Project Criteria Points and the Priority Point Value (PPV) formula according to these rules. A potential applicant's project will be placed on the Project Priority List following its evaluation and the assignment of a Priority Rank. The process of being placed on the Project Priority List may be initiated either by the Department or by written request from the potential applicant. The Department will maintain the Project Priority List.
(b) Use of Number and Gender As used in these rules:
1. Words in the masculine gender also include the feminine and neuter genders; and2. Words in the singular also include the plural; and3. Words in the plural include the singular.(c) Rule Structure These rules are organized, numbered, and referenced according to the following outline form:
(2) Definitions and ReferencesWhen used in these rules, the following terms have the meanings given below unless otherwise specified:
(a) Collector Sewer. The common lateral sewers within a publicly owned treatment system that are primarily installed to receive wastewater directly from facilities that convey wastewater from individual systems or from private property. This term also includes service connections for those facilities such as the following: 1. Crossover sewers that connect more than one property on one side of a major street, road, or highway to a lateral sewer on the other side when they are more cost effective than parallel sewers; and2. Pumping units and pressurized lines serving individual structures or groups of structures when such units are cost effective and are owned and maintained by the municipality or utility district. This definition excludes all facilities that convey wastewater from individual structures or from private property to the public lateral sewer.
(b) Combined Sewer Overflow (CSO). The overflow discharge from a sewer line that is designed as a sanitary sewer and a storm sewer.(c) Conventional Pollutants. The conventional pollutants in wastewater effluent are 5-day biochemical oxygen demand (BOD5) and/or 5-day carbonaceous biochemical oxygen demand (CBOD5), ammonia nitrogen (NH3-N) and/or total nitrogen (N-Total), phosphorus (P), dissolved oxygen (DO), fecal coliform and/or E. coli, total suspended solids (TSS), settleable solids (SS), and pH.(d) Effluent Trading Projects. Effluent or water quality trading is an innovative approach to achieve water quality goals more efficiently. Trading is based on the fact that sources in a watershed can face very different costs to control the same pollutant. Trading programs allow facilities facing higher pollution control costs to meet their regulatory obligations by purchasing environmentally equivalent or superior pollution reductions from another source at lower cost, thus achieving the same water quality improvement at lower overall cost.(e) Infiltration/Inflow (I/I) Correction. Procedures to reduce or eliminate infiltration/inflows that do not involve extensive excavation and/or replacement, including, but not limited to, the following:1. Pressure testing and sealing procedures;2. Limited excavation and replacement where severe infiltration/inflow problems have been documented and can be corrected. Examples of limited excavation and replacement are the replacement or repair of manhole covers, the repair of crushed pipe within an area of temporary or permanent groundwater, or the replacement or repair of a sewer segment beneath a waterway; and3. Trenchless technologies such as sliplining, pipe bursting, cured-in-place pipe, etc.(f) Interceptor Sewer (Interceptors). A sewer that is designed for one or more of the following purposes: 1. To intercept wastewater from a final point in a collector sewer and convey the wastewater directly to a treatment facility or another interceptor;2. To replace an existing wastewater treatment facility and transport the wastewater to an adjoining collector sewer or interceptor sewer for conveyance to a treatment plant;3. To transport wastewater from one or more municipal collector sewers to another municipality or to a regional plant for treatment; or4. To intercept an existing major discharge of a raw or inadequately treated wastewater for transport directly to another interceptor or a treatment plant.(g) Local Government. A county, incorporated town or city, metropolitan government, water and/or wastewater authority, or state agency that has authority to administer a wastewater facility, or any combination of two or more of the foregoing acting jointly to construct a wastewater facility. "Local government" shall also mean any publicly-owned utility district existing on July 1, 1984, or if created after that date, any publicly-owned utility district operating a wastewater facility with at least 500 customer connections.(h) Major Sewer Rehabilitation. Construction that involves the removal and replacement of the existing pipes or manholes. This definition is considered applicable for this chapter under one or more of the following conditions: 1 In locations where pipes or manholes have lost their structural integrity, e.g., pipes or manholes are collapsed, broken, or badly deteriorated and cracked;2. In cases where pipe size enlargement, change in grade, and/or line realignment are needed in addition to pipe deficiency corrections; or3. In cases where damages to the existing pipes or manholes have been attributed to corrosion, soil movement, an increasing traffic load, or other similar factors, and it is desirable to prevent the recurrence of these damages by replacing the existing structures with structures of better quality and greater strength.(i) National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) Permit. A permit issued by the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation, Division of Water Resources, to discharge treated wastewater into a body of water.(j) Nonpoint Source (NPS) Pollution. Pollution occurring when precipitation moves over and through the ground, picking up and carrying away pollutants, and depositing them into waters of the state.(k) Permit Limits. Limitations for pollutants discharged from WWTPs that are identified in an authorization, license, or equivalent control document issued by the Division of Water Resources that implements the requirements of the Tennessee Water Quality Control Act.(l) Planning/Design. Facilities planning consists of those necessary plans and studies directly relating to existing and future conditions and effects of wastewater facilities or treatment works as outlined in the application requirements of Rule 0400-46-06-.06. Design consists of creating those necessary bid/contract documents, plans, and specifications for the construction of wastewater facilities or treatment works consistent with the approved facilities plan and necessary to construct the proposed wastewater facilities.(m) Pump Station/Force Main. A pump station is a mechanical device that raises and transfers wastewater. A force main is a pipe conveyance system for wastewater that is under hydraulic pressure due to energy imparted by a pump.(n) Refinancing. A project previously constructed for which State Revolving Fund Loan Program funds may buy or refinance local debt obligations where the initial debt was incurred after March 7, 1985. Projects that have incurred debt using their own means of financing must have met the requirements of Chapter 0400-46-06 in order to be eligible for refinancing.(o) Stormwater Projects. Projects that will convey, store, and/or treat accumulated surface flow water from precipitation.(p) Wastewater Treatment Plant (WWTP). Any facility whose purpose is to store, treat, neutralize, stabilize, recycle, reclaim, or dispose of municipal sewage or wastewater.(q) Water-Quality Impaired Stream Segment. Any stream segment that has been determined by the Division of Water Resources not to meet its classified uses. All other terms used in this chapter are as defined in Chapter 0400-46-06 unless the context requires otherwise.
Tenn. Comp. R. & Regs. 0400-46-01-.01
Original rule filed September 16, 2013; effective December 15, 2013. Rule originally numbered1200-22-01.Authority: T.C.A. §§ 68-221-801 et seq., 68-221-1001 et seq., and 4-5-201 et seq.