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Virginia Administrative Code
Title 9. Environment
Agency 25. State Water Control Board
Chapter 31. Virginia Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (VPDES) Permit Regulation
11/21/2024

9VAC25-31-640. Management practices.

A. Sewage sludge shall not be placed on an active sewage sludge unit if it is likely to adversely affect a threatened or endangered species listed in 9VAC25-260-320 or § 4 of the Endangered Species Act (16 USC § 1533 et seq.) or its designated critical habitat.

B. An active sewage sludge unit shall not restrict the flow of a base flood.

C. When a surface disposal site is located in a seismic impact zone, an active sewage sludge unit shall be designed to withstand the maximum recorded horizontal ground level acceleration.

D. An active sewage sludge unit shall be located 60 meters or more from a fault that has displacement in Holocene time, unless otherwise specified by the department.

E. An active sewage sludge unit shall not be located in an unstable area.

F. An active sewage sludge unit shall not be located in a wetland, except as provided in a permit issued by the department.

G. 1. Run-off from an active sewage sludge unit shall be collected and shall be disposed in accordance with this chapter and any other applicable requirements.

2. The run-off collection system for an active sewage sludge unit shall have the capacity to handle run-off from a 24-hour, 25-year storm event.

H. The leachate collection system for an active sewage sludge unit that has a liner and leachate collection system shall be operated and maintained during the period the sewage sludge unit is active and for three years after the sewage sludge unit closes.

I. Leachate from an active sewage sludge unit that has a liner and leachate collection system shall be collected and shall be disposed in accordance with the applicable requirements during the period the sewage sludge unit is active and for three years after the sewage sludge unit closes.

J. When a cover is placed on an active sewage sludge unit, the concentration of methane gas in air in any structure within the surface disposal site shall not exceed 25% of the lower explosive limit for methane gas during the period that the sewage sludge unit is active and the concentration of methane gas in air at the property line of the surface disposal site shall not exceed the lower explosive limit for methane gas during the period that the sewage sludge unit is active.

When a final cover is placed on a sewage sludge unit at closure, the concentration of methane gas in air in any structure within the surface disposal site shall not exceed 25% of the lower explosive limit for methane gas for three years after the sewage sludge unit closes and the concentration of methane gas in air at the property line of the surface disposal site shall not exceed the lower explosive limit for methane gas for three years after the sewage sludge unit closes, unless otherwise specified by the department.

K. A food crop, a feed crop, or a fiber crop shall not be grown on an active sewage sludge unit unless the owner/operator of the surface disposal site demonstrates to the department that through management practices, public health and the environment are protected from any reasonably anticipated adverse effects of pollutants in sewage sludge when crops are grown.

L. Animals shall not be grazed on an active sewage sludge unit unless the owner/operator of the surface disposal site demonstrates to the department that through management practices, public health and the environment are protected from any reasonably anticipated adverse effects of pollutants in sewage sludge when animals are grazed.

M. Public access to a surface disposal site shall be restricted for the period that the surface disposal site contains an active sewage sludge unit and for three years after the last active sewage sludge unit in the surface disposal site closes.

N. Sewage sludge placed on an active sewage sludge unit shall not contaminate an aquifer. Results of a groundwater monitoring program developed by a qualified groundwater scientist or a certification by a qualified groundwater scientist shall be used to demonstrate that sewage sludge placed on an active sewage sludge unit does not contaminate an aquifer.

Statutory Authority

§ 62.1-44.15 of the Code of Virginia; § 402 of the federal Clean Water Act; 40 CFR Parts 122, 123, 124, 403, and 503.

Historical Notes

Derived from Virginia Register Volume 12, Issue 20, eff. July 24, 1996; amended, Virginia Register Volume 39, Issue 4, eff. November 9, 2022.

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