Ariz. Admin. Code § R18-9-A902 - AZPDES Permit Transition, Applicability, And Exclusions

A. Upon the effective date of EPA approval of the AZPDES program, the Department shall, under A.R.S. Title 49, Chapter 2, Article 3.1 and Articles 9 and 10 of this Chapter, administer any permit authorized or issued under the NPDES program, including an expired permit that EPA has continued in effect under 40 CFR 122.6.

1. The Director shall give a notice to all Arizona NPDES permittees, except NPDES permittees located on and discharging in Indian Country, and shall publish a notice in one or more newspapers of general circulation in the state. The notice shall contain:

b.a. The name and address of the Department;

c.b. The name of each individual permitted facility and its permit number;

d.c. The title of each general permit administered by the Department;

e.d. The name and address of the contact person, to which the permittee will submit notification and monitoring reports; and

f. Information specifying the state laws equivalent to the federal laws or regulations referenced in a NPDES permit; and

g.e. The name, address, and telephone number of a person from whom an interested person may obtain further information about the transition.

2. The Department shall provide the following entities with a copy of the notice:

a. Each county department of health, environmental services, or comparable department;

b. Each Arizona council of government, tribal government, the states of Utah, Nevada, New Mexico, and California, and EPA Region 9;

c. Any person who requested, in writing, notification of the activity;

d. The Mexican Secretaria de Medio Ambiente y Recursos Naturales, and

e. The United States Section of the International Boundary and Water Commission.

3. If a timely application for a NPDES permit was submitted to EPA before approval of the AZPDES program, the applicant may continue the process with EPA or request the Department to act on the application. In either case, the Department shall issue the permit.

4. The terms and conditions under which the permit was issued remain the same until the permit is modified.

B. Article 9 of this Chapter applies to any "discharge of a pollutant." Examples of categories that result in a "discharge of a pollutant" and may require an AZPDES permit include:

1. CAFOs;

2. Concentrated aquatic animal production facilities;

3. Case-by-case designation of concentrated aquatic animal production facilities;

a. The Director may designate any warm- or cold-water aquatic animal production facility as a concentrated aquatic animal production facility upon determining that it is a significant contributor of pollution to navigable waters. The Director shall consider the following factors when making this determination:

i. The location and quality of the receiving waters of the United States;

ii. The holding, feeding, and production capacities of the facility;

iii. The quantity and nature of the pollutants reaching navigable waters; and

iv. Any other relevant factor;

b. A permit application is not required from a concentrated aquatic animal production facility designated under subsection (B)(3)(a) until the Director conducts an onsite inspection of the facility and determines that the facility should and could be regulated under the AZPDES permit program;

4. Aquaculture projects;

5. Manufacturing, commercial, mining, and silviculture point sources;

6. POTWs;

7. New sources and new dischargers;

8. Stormwater discharges:

a. Associated with industrial activity as defined under 40 CFR 122.26(b)(14), incorporated by reference in R18-9-A905(A)(1)(d). The Department shall not consider a discharge to be a discharge associated with industrial activity if the discharge is composed entirely of stormwater and meets the conditions of no exposure as defined under 40 CFR 122.26(g), incorporated by reference in R18-9-A905(A)(1)(d);

b. From a large, medium, or small MS4;

c. From a construction activity, including clearing, grading, and excavation, that results in the disturbance of:

i. Equal to or greater than one acre or;

ii. Less than one acre of total land area that is part of a larger common plan of development or sale if the larger common plan will ultimately disturb equal to or greater than one acre; but

iii. Not including routine maintenance that is performed to maintain the original line and grade, hydraulic capacity, or original purpose of the facility;

d. Any discharge that the Director determines contributes to a violation of a water quality standard or is a significant contributor of pollutants to a navigable water, which may include a discharge from a conveyance or system of conveyances (including roads with drainage systems and municipal streets) used for collecting and conveying stormwater runoff or a system of discharges from municipal separate storm sewers.

C. Articles 9 and 10 of this Chapter apply to the following biosolids categories and may require an AZPDES permit:

1. Treatment works treating domestic sewage that would not otherwise require an AZPDES permit; and

2. Using, applying, generating, marketing, transporting, and disposing of biosolids.

D. Director designation of MS4s.

1. The Director may designate and require any small MS4 located outside of an urbanized area to obtain an AZPDES stormwater permit. The Director shall base this designation on whether a stormwater discharge results in or has the potential to result in an exceedance of a water quality standard, including impairment of a designated use, or another significant water quality impact, including a habitat or biological impact.

a. When deciding whether to designate a small MS4, the Director shall consider the following criteria:

i. Discharges to sensitive waters,

ii. Areas with high growth or growth potential,

iii. Areas with a high population density,

iv. Areas that are contiguous to an urbanized area,

v. Small MS4s that cause a significant contribution of pollutants to a navigable water,

vi. Small MS4s that do not have effective programs to protect water quality, and

vii. Any other relevant criteria.

b. The same requirements for small MS4s designated under 40 CFR 122.32(a)(1) apply to permits for designated MS4s not waived under R18-9-B901(A)(3).

2. The Director may designate an MS4 as part of a large or medium system due to the interrelationship between the discharges from a designated storm sewer and the discharges from a municipal separate storm sewer described under R18-9-A901(16)(a) and (b), or R18-9-A901(20)(a) or (b), as applicable. In making this determination, the Director shall consider the following factors:

a. Physical interconnections between the municipal separate storm sewers;

b. The location of discharges from the designated municipal separate storm sewer relative to discharges from municipal separate storm sewers described in R18-9-A901(16)(a) and R18-9-A901(20)(a);

c. The quantity and nature of pollutants discharged to a navigable water;

d. The nature of the receiving waters; and

e. Any other relevant factor.

3. The Director shall designate a small MS4 that is physically interconnected with a MS4 that is regulated by the AZPDES program if the small MS4 substantially contributes to the pollutant loading of the regulated MS4.

E. Petitions. The Director may, upon a petition, designate as a large, medium or small MS4, a municipal separate storm sewer located within the boundaries of a region defined by a stormwater management regional authority based on a jurisdictional, watershed, or other appropriate basis that includes one or more of the systems described in R18-9-A901(16), R18-9-A901(20) or R18-9-A901(35), as applicable.

F. Phase-ins.

1. The Director may phase-in permit coverage for a small MS4 serving a jurisdiction with a population of less than 10,000 if a phasing schedule is developed and implemented for approximately 20 percent annually of all small MS4s that qualify for the phased-in coverage.

a. If the phasing schedule is not yet approved for permit coverage, the Director shall, by December 9, 2002, determine whether to issue an AZPDES permit or allow a waiver under R18-9-B901(A)(3) for each eligible MS4.

b. All regulated MS4s shall have coverage under an AZPDES permit no later than March 8, 2007.

2. The Director may provide a waiver under R18-9-B901(A)(3) for any municipal separate storm sewage system operating under a phase-in plan.

G. Exclusions. The following discharges do not require an AZPDES permit:

1. Discharge of dredged or fill material into a navigable water that is regulated under section 404 of the Clean Water Act (33 U.S.C. 1344);

2. The introduction of sewage, industrial wastes, or other pollutants into POTWs by indirect dischargers. Plans or agreements to switch to this method of disposal in the future do not relieve dischargers of the obligation to have and comply with a permit until all discharges of pollutants to a navigable water are eliminated. This exclusion does not apply to the introduction of pollutants to privately owned treatment works or to other discharges through a pipe, sewer, or other conveyance owned by the state, a municipality, or other party not leading to treatment works;

3. Any discharge in compliance with the instructions of an on-scene coordinator under 40 CFR 300, The National Oil and Hazardous Substances Pollution Contingency Plan; or 33 CFR 153.10(e), Control of Pollution by Oil and Hazardous Substances, Discharge Removal;

4. Any introduction of pollutants from a nonpoint source agricultural or silvicultural activity, including stormwater runoff from an orchard, cultivated crop, pasture, rangeland, and forest land, but not discharges from a concentrated animal feeding operation, concentrated aquatic animal production facility, silvicultural point source, or to an aquaculture project;

5. Return flows from irrigated agriculture;

6. Discharges into a privately owned treatment works, except as the Director requires under 40 CFR 122.44(m), which is incorporated by reference in R18-9-A905(A)(3)(d);

7. Discharges from conveyances for stormwater runoff from mining operations or oil and gas exploration, production, processing or treatment operations, or transmission facilities, composed entirely of flows from conveyances or systems of conveyances, including pipes, conduits, ditches, and channels, used for collecting and conveying precipitation runoff and that are not contaminated by contact with or that has not come into contact with, any overburden, raw material, intermediate products, finished product, byproduct, or waste product located on the site of the operations.

H. Conditional no exposure exclusion.

1. Discharges composed entirely of stormwater are not considered stormwater discharges associated with an industrial activity if there is no exposure, and the discharger satisfies the conditions under 40 CFR 122.26(g), which is incorporated by reference in R18-9-A905(A)(1)(d).

2. For purposes of this subsection:

a. "No exposure" means that all industrial materials and activities are protected by a storm resistant shelter to prevent exposure to rain, snow, snowmelt, and runoff.

b. "Industrial materials or activities" include material handling equipment or activities, industrial machinery, raw materials, intermediate products, by-products, final products, or waste products.

c. "Material-handling activities" include storage, loading and unloading, transportation, or conveyance of any raw material, intermediate product, final product, or waste product.

Notes

Ariz. Admin. Code § R18-9-A902

New Section made by final rulemaking at 7 A.A.R. 5879, effective December 7, 2001 (Supp. 01-4). Amended by final rulemaking at 8 A.A.R. 2704, effective June 5, 2002 (Supp. 02-2). Amended by final rulemaking at 9 A.A.R. 5564, effective February 2, 2004 (Supp. 03-4). Amended by final expedited rulemaking at 31 A.A.R. 989, effective 3/7/2025.