Ga. Comp. R. & Regs. R. 391-3-4-.05 - Criteria for Siting
(1)
The following criteria must be met for a site proposed as a solid waste
handling facility:
(a) Zoning. The site must
conform to all local zoning/land use ordinances. Written verification must be
submitted to the Division by the applicant demonstrating that the proposed site
complies with local zoning and land use ordinances, if any. This verification
shall include a letter from the local governmental authority stating that the
proposed site complies with local zoning or land use ordinances, if any. This
verification shall be provided at the time of submission of a permit
application and reaffirmed by the governmental authority prior to permit
issuance.
(b) Disposal Facility
Siting Decision. Whenever any county, municipality group of counties, or
authority begins a process to select a site for a municipal solid waste
disposal facility, documentation shall be submitted which demonstrates
compliance with O.C.G.A.
12-8-26(a), and
whenever the governing authority of any county or municipality takes action
resulting in a publicly- or privately-owned municipal solid waste disposal
facility siting decision, documentation shall be submitted which demonstrates
compliance with O.C.G.A.
12-8-26(b).
(c) Airport Safety:
1. New MSWLF units or lateral expansions of
existing units shall not be located within 10,000 feet (3,048 meters) of any
public-use or private-use airport runway end used by turbojet aircraft or
within 5,000 feet (1,524 meters) of any public-use or private-use airport
runway end used by only piston-type aircraft.
2. Owners or operators of existing MSWLF
units, that are located within 10,000 feet (3,048 meters) of any public- use or
private-use airport runway end used by turbojet aircraft or within 5,000 feet
(1,524 meters) of any public- use or private-use airport runway end used by
only piston-type aircraft must demonstrate that the units are designed and
operated so that the MSWLF units do not pose a bird hazard to
aircraft.
3. Owners or operators
proposing to site new MSWLF units and lateral expansions within a five-mile
radius of any public-use or private-use airport runway end used by turbojet or
piston-type aircraft must notify the affected airport and the Federal Aviation
Administration (FAA).
4. The owner
or operator must place the demonstration in paragraph 2. of this section in the
operating record and notify the Director that it has been placed in the
operating record not later than October 1, 1993.
5. For purposes of this section:
a. "Public-use airport" means an airport open
to the public without prior permission and without restrictions within the
physical capacities of available facilities.
b. "Private-use airport" means an airport
that is not open to the public and which may not be used without prior
permission of the airport owner and which has restrictions other than the
physical capacities of available facilities and such airport is shown on the
Sectional Aeronautical Charts published by the U.S. Department of Commerce for
Atlanta, Jacksonville, or New Orleans, which charts are dated at least one year
prior to the submission of a MSWLF permit or major permit modification
application.
c. "Bird hazard" means
an increase in the likelihood of bird/aircraft collisions that may cause damage
to the aircraft or injury to its occupants.
(d) Floodplains. A solid waste handling
facility located in the 100-year floodplain shall not restrict the flow of the
100-year flood, reduce the temporary water storage capacity of the floodplain,
or result in a washout of solid waste so as to pose a hazard to human health
and the environment. The owner or operator must place a demonstration of
compliance in the operating record and notify the Director that it has been
placed in the operating record.
1. For
purposes of this section:
a. "Floodplains"
means the low land and relatively flat areas adjoining inland and coastal
waters, including flood-prone areas of offshore islands, that are inundated by
the 100-year flood.
b. "100-year
flood" means a flood that has a 1-percent or greater chance of recurring in any
given year or a flood of a magnitude equalled or exceeded once in 100 years on
the average over a significantly long period.
c. "Washout" means the carrying away of solid
waste by waters of the base flood.
(e) Wetlands. A solid waste handling facility
shall not be located in wetlands, as defined by the U.S. Corps. of Engineers,
unless evidence is provided to the Director, by the applicant, that use of such
wetlands has been permitted or otherwise authorized under all other applicable
state and federal laws and rules. The owner or operator must place a
demonstration of compliance in the operating record and notify the Directory
that it has been placed in the operating record.
(f) Fault Areas.
1. New landfill units and lateral expansions
of existing landfills shall not be located within 200 feet (60 meters) of a
fault that has had displacement in Holocene time unless the owner or operator
demonstrates to the Director that an alternative setback distance of less than
200 feet (60 meters) will prevent damage to the structural integrity of the
landfill unit and will be protective of human health and the
environment.
2. For the purposes of
this section.
a. "Fault" means a fracture or a
zone of fractures in any material a long which strata on one side have been
displaced with respect to that on the other side.
b. "Displacement" means the relative movement
of any two sides of a fault measured in any direction.
c. "Holocene" means the most recent epoch of
the Quaternary period, extending from the end of the Pleistocene Epoch to the
present.
(g)
Seismic Impact Zones.
1. New landfill units
and lateral expansions shall not be located in seismic impact zones, unless the
owner or operator demonstrates to the Director that all containment structures,
including liners, leachate collection systems, and surface water control
systems, are designed to resist the maximum horizontal acceleration in
lithified earth material for the site. The owner or operator must place the
demonstration in the operating record and notify the Director that it has been
placed in the operating record.
2.
For the purposes of this section:
a. Seismic
impact zone means an area with a ten percent or greater probability that the
maximum horizontal acceleration in lithified earth material, expressed as a
percentage of the earth's gravitational pull will exceed 0.10g in 250
years.
b. Maximum horizontal
acceleration in lithified earth material means the maximum expected horizontal
acceleration depicted on a seismic hazard map, with a 90 percent or greater
probability that the acceleration will not be exceeded in 250 years, or the
maximum expected horizontal acceleration based on a site -specific seismic risk
assessment.
c. Lithified earth
material means all rock, including all naturally occurring and naturally formed
aggregates or masses of minerals or small particles of older rock that formed
by crystallization of magma or by induration of loose sediments. This term does
not include man-made materials, such as fill, concrete, and
asphalt, or unconsolidated earth materials, soil, or regolith lying at or near
the earth surface.
(h) Unstable areas.
1. Owners or operators of new landfill units,
existing landfill units, and lateral expansions located in an unstable area
must demonstrate that engineering measures have been incorporated into the
landfill unit's design to ensure that the integrity of the structural
components of the landfill unit will not be disrupted. The owner or operator
must place the demonstration in the operating record and notify the Director
that it has been placed in the operating record. The owner or operator must
consider the following factors, at a minimum, when determining whether an area
is unstable:
a. On-site or local soil
conditions that may result in significant differential settling;
b. On-site or local geologic or
geomorphologic features; and
c.
On-site or local human-made features or events (both surface and
subsurface).
2. For the
purposes of this section:
a. "Unstable area"
means a location that is susceptible to natural or human-induced events or
forces capable of impairing the integrity of some or all of the landfill
structural components responsible for preventing releases from a landfill.
Unstable areas can include poor foundation conditions, areas susceptible to
mass movements, and karst terrains.
b. "Structural components" means liners,
leachate collection systems, final covers, run- on/run- off systems, and any
other component used in the construction and operation of the landfill that is
necessary for protection of human health and the environment.
c. "Poor foundation conditions" means those
areas where features exist which indicate that a natural or man-induced event
may result in inadequate foundation support for the structural components of a
landfill unit.
d. "Areas
susceptible to mass movement" mean those areas of influence (i.e., areas
characterized as having an active or substantial possibility of mass movement)
where the movement of earth material at, beneath, or adjacent to the landfill
unit, because of natural or man-induced events, results in the downslope
transport of soil and rock material by means of gravitational influence. Areas
of mass movement include, but are not limited to, landslides, avalanches,
debris slides and flows, soil fluction, block sliding, and rock fall.
e. "Karst terrains" means areas where karst
topography, with its characteristic surface and subterranean features, is
developed as the result of dissolution of limestone, dolomite, or other soluble
rock. Characteristic physiographic features present in karst terrains include,
but are not limited to, sinkholes, sinking streams, caves, large springs, and
blind valleys.
(i) Significant Groundwater Recharge Areas. A
new municipal solid waste landfill or lateral expansion of an existing
municipal solid waste landfill shall not have any part of such site located
within two miles of any area that has been designated by the Director as a
significant groundwater recharge area unless such municipal solid waste
landfill will have a liner and leachate collection system. In the case of a
regional landfill which accepts solid waste generated outside the counties or
special districts constituting the region or a municipal solid waste landfill
which accepts solid waste generated outside the county in which the landfill is
located, no part of such site shall be within any area that has been designated
as a significant groundwater recharge area.
(j) Hydrogeological Assessment. A
hydrogeological site investigation shall be conducted with the following
factors, as a minimum, evaluated:
1. Distance
to nearest point of public or private drinking water supply: all public water
supply wells or surface water intakes within two miles and private (domestic)
water supply wells within one-half mile of a landfill must be
identified;
2. Depth to the upper
most aquifer: for landfills, the thickness and nature of the unsaturated zone
and its ability for natural contamination control must be evaluated;
3. Uppermost aquifer gradient: for landfills,
the direction and rate of flow of groundwater shall be determined in order to
properly evaluate the potential for contamination at a specific site.
Measurements of water levels in site exploratory borings and the preparation of
water table maps are required. Borings to water are required to estimate the
configuration and gradient of the uppermost aquifer;
4. Topographic setting: features which shall
be provided include, but are not limited to, all upstream and downstream
drainage areas affecting or affected by the proposed site, floodplains,
gullies, karst conditions, wetlands, unstable soils and percent
slope;
5. Geologic setting: for
landfills, the depth to bedrock, the type of bedrock and the amount of
fracturing and jointing in the bedrock shall be determined. In limestone or
dolostone regions, karst terrain shall not be used for waste disposal. This
consideration does not preclude the siting of landfills in limestone terrains,
but rather is intended to prevent landfills from being sited in or adjacent to
sink-holes, provided, however, that the demonstration required by subparagraph
(h) has been made.
6. Hydraulic
conductivity: evaluation of landfill sites shall take into consideration the
hydraulic conductivity of the surface material in which the wastes are to be
buried, as well as the hydraulic conductivity of the subsurface materials
underlying the fill;
7. Sorption
and attenuation capacity: for landfills, the sorptive characteristics of an
earth material and its ability to absorb contaminants shall be determined;
and
8. Distance to surface water:
municipal solid waste landfills shall not be situated within two miles
upgradient of any surface water intake for a public drinking water source
unless engineering modifications such as liners and leachate collection systems
and ground-water monitoring systems are provided.
(k) New MSWLF units shall not be located
within two miles of a federally restricted military air space which is used for
a bombing range unless the MSWLF was permitted and operational on July 1,
1997.
(2)
Construction/Demolition waste landfills must comply with the siting criteria
specified in "Criteria for Performing Site Acceptability Studies for Solid
Waste Landfills in Georgia", Circular 14, Appendix B.
(3) Industrial waste landfills permitted to
receive only a single type industrial waste (monofill) or receive only a single
industry's waste, must comply with the siting criteria specified in "Criteria
for Performing Site Acceptability Studies for Solid Waste Landfills in
Georgia", Circular 14, Appendix A. Commercial industrial waste landfills must
meet the same siting criteria as municipal solid waste landfills.
(4) A site assessment report addressing the
criteria listed above shall be prepared by a geologist registered in Georgia or
a geotechnical engineer registered in Georgia and submitted to the Division for
review at the time of submitting a permit application. The site assessment
report shall be prepared in accordance with Circular 14, 1991, (amended 1997)
as published by the Georgia Geologic Survey, Georgia Environmental Protection
Division.
(5) Monitoring wells and
borings shall be constructed by a driller having a valid and current bond with
the Water Well Standards Advisory Council.
(6) CCR units must meet the siting criteria
in 391-3-4-.10.
Notes
State regulations are updated quarterly; we currently have two versions available. Below is a comparison between our most recent version and the prior quarterly release. More comparison features will be added as we have more versions to compare.
No prior version found.