40 CFR § 125.81 - Who is subject to this subpart?

(a) This subpart applies to a new facility if it:

(1) Is a point source that uses or proposes to use a cooling water intake structure;

(2) Has at least one cooling water intake structure that uses at least 25 percent of the water it withdraws for cooling purposes as specified in paragraph (c) of this section; and

(3) Has a design intake flow greater than two (2) million gallons per day (MGD).

(b) Use of a cooling water intake structure includes obtaining cooling water by any sort of contract or arrangement with an independent supplier (or multiple suppliers) of cooling water if the supplier or suppliers withdraw(s) water from waters of the United States. Use of cooling water does not include obtaining cooling water from a public water system or the use of treated effluent that otherwise would be discharged to a water of the U.S. This provision is intended to prevent circumvention of these requirements by creating arrangements to receive cooling water from an entity that is not itself a point source.

(c) The threshold requirement that at least 25 percent of water withdrawn be used for cooling purposes must be measured on an average monthly basis. A new facility meets the 25 percent cooling water threshold if, based on the new facility's design, any monthly average over a year for the percentage of cooling water withdrawn is expected to equal or exceed 25 percent of the total water withdrawn.

(d) This subpart does not apply to facilities that employ cooling water intake structures in the offshore and coastal subcategories of the oil and gas extraction point source category as defined under 40 CFR 435.10 and 40 CFR 435.40.