NR 111.03(5)(a)(a) At existing facilities, “closed-cycle recirculating system” means a system designed and properly operated, using minimized make-up and blowdown flows withdrawn from a surface water of the state to support contact or non-contact cooling uses within a facility, or a system designed to include certain impoundments, that operates by passing cooling water through a condenser and other components of the cooling system and reuses the water for cooling multiple times. “Closed-cycle recirculating system” includes all of the following:
NR 111.03(5)(a)1.
1. A facility with wet, dry, or hybrid cooling towers, a system of impoundments that are not waters of the state, or any combination thereof. A properly operated and maintained closed-cycle recirculating system withdraws new source water, or make-up water, only to replenish losses that have occurred due to blowdown, drift, and evaporation. If surface waters of the state are withdrawn for the purposes of replenishing losses to a closed-cycle recirculating system other than those due to blowdown, drift, and evaporation from the cooling system, the department may determine that a cooling system is a closed-cycle recirculating system if the facility demonstrates to the satisfaction of the department that make-up water withdrawal attributed specifically to the cooling portion of the cooling system has been minimized.
NR 111.03(5)(a)2.
2. A system with impoundments of waters of the state where the impoundment was constructed prior to October 14, 2014 and created for the purpose of serving as part of the cooling water system as documented in the project purpose statement for any required federal clean water act section 404 permit obtained to construct the impoundment. In the case of an impoundment whose construction pre-dated the clean water act requirement to obtain a section 404 permit, documentation of the project's purpose shall be demonstrated to the satisfaction of the department. This documentation may be some other license or permit obtained to lawfully construct the impoundment for the purposes of a cooling water system or other such evidence as the department finds necessary. For impoundments constructed in uplands or not in waters of the state, no documentation of a section 404 or other permit is required.
NR 111.03(5)(b)
(b) At new facilities, “
closed-cycle recirculating system” means a system described as follows:
NR 111.03(5)(b)1.
1. It is designed, using minimized makeup and blowdown flows, to withdraw water from a natural or other water source to support contact cooling uses, noncontact cooling uses, or both within a facility.
NR 111.03(5)(b)2.
2. The water is usually sent to a cooling canal or channel, lake, pond, or tower to allow waste heat to be dissipated to the atmosphere and then is returned to the system.
NR 111.03(5)(b)4.
4. New source water, or make-up water, is added to the system to replenish losses that have occurred due to blowdown, drift, and evaporation.
NR 111.03(6)
(6) “Cooling water” means water used for contact or non-contact cooling, including water used for equipment cooling, evaporative cooling tower make-up, and dilution of effluent heat content. Cooling water is water intended to absorb waste heat rejected from the process or processes used, or from auxiliary operations on the facility's premises. For the purposes of calculating the percentage of a facility's intake flow that is used for cooling purposes as defined in s.
NR 111.02 (6), water obtained from a public water system, reclaimed water from a wastewater treatment facility, treated effluent from a manufacturing facility, or cooling water that is used in a manufacturing process either before or after it is used for cooling is not considered “cooling water.”
NR 111.03(7)
(7) “Cooling water intake structure” means the total physical structure and any associated constructed waterways used to withdraw cooling water from surface waters of the state. The cooling water intake structure extends from the point at which water is withdrawn from surface waters of the state up to, and including, the intake pumps.
NR 111.03(8)
(8) “
Department” means the department of natural resources.
NR 111.03(9)(a)(a) At an existing facility, “design intake flow” or “DIF” means the value assigned during the cooling water intake structure design to the maximum instantaneous rate of flow of water the cooling water intake system is capable of withdrawing from a source waterbody. The facility's DIF may be adjusted to reflect permanent changes to the maximum capabilities of the cooling water intake system to withdraw cooling water, including pumps permanently removed from service, flow limit devices, and physical limitations of the piping. “Design intake flow” or “DIF” does not include values associated with emergency and fire suppression capacity or redundant pumps, such as back-up pumps.
NR 111.03(9)(b)
(b) At a new facility, “design intake flow” or "DIF” means the value assigned during the facility's design to the total volume of water withdrawn from a source waterbody over a specific time period.
NR 111.03(10)
(10) “Design intake velocity” means the value assigned during the design of a cooling water intake structure to the average speed at which intake water passes through the open area of the intake screen, inlet, or other device against which organisms might be impinged or through which they might be entrained. This definition applies only to intakes at new facilities.
NR 111.03 Note
Note: See sub. (26) for the definition of “maximum design intake velocity”.
NR 111.03(11)
(11) “Entrainable organisms” means any life stages of fish and shellfish that are potentially subject to entrainment but does not include organisms that are collected or retained by a sieve with a maximum opening dimension of 0.56 inches.
NR 111.03 Note
Note: Examples of sieves that would be included as having an opening dimension of 0.56 inches or less include a 3/8 inch square mesh or a 1/2 inch by 1/4 inch mesh.
NR 111.03(12)
(12) “
Entrainment” means the entrance and passing through into a cooling water intake structure and into a cooling water system, including the condenser or heat exchanger, of entrainable organisms. A facility shall use the same mesh size when counting entrainment as is used when counting impingement.
NR 111.03(13)
(13) “Entrainment mortality” means death as a result of entrainment through the cooling water intake structure, or death as a result of exclusion from the cooling water intake structure by fine mesh screens or other protective devices intended to prevent the passage of entrainable organisms through the cooling water intake structure.
NR 111.03(14)
(14) “Entrapment” means the condition in which impingeable fish and shellfish lack the means to escape the cooling water intake. “Entrapment” includes the conditions in which organisms are caught in the bucket of a traveling screen and unable to reach a fish return, caught in the forebay of a cooling water intake system without any means of being returned to the source waterbody without experiencing mortality, or caught in a cooling water intake system where the velocities in the intake pipes or in any channels leading to the forebay prevent the organisms from being able to return to the source waterbody through the intake pipe or channel.
NR 111.03(16)
(16) “Facility” means any WPDES point source as defined in s.
283.01 (12), Stats., or any other facility or activity that is subject to regulation under the WPDES program.
NR 111.03(17)
(17) “
Flow reduction” means any modification to a cooling water intake structure or its operation that serves to reduce the volume of cooling water withdrawn.
NR 111.03 Note
Note: Examples of flow reduction include variable speed pumps, seasonal flow reductions, wet cooling towers, dry cooling towers, hybrid cooling towers, unit closures, or substitution for withdrawals by reuse of effluent from a nearby facility.
NR 111.03(18)
(18) “
Fragile species” means those species of fish and shellfish with an impingement survival rate less than 30 percent, including alewife, gizzard shad, rainbow smelt, and any other species deemed fragile by the department.
NR 111.03(19)
(19) “Hydraulic zone of influence” means the portion of the source waterbody hydraulically affected by the cooling water intake structure withdrawal of water.
NR 111.03(20)
(20) “Impingement” means the entrapment of any life stages of fish and shellfish on the outer part of an intake structure or against a screening device during periods of intake water withdrawal. Impingement includes those organisms collected or retained on a sieve with maximum distance in the opening of 0.56 inches and excludes those organisms that pass through the sieve. The owner or operator of a facility shall use a sieve with the same mesh size when counting entrainment as is used when counting impingement.
NR 111.03 Note
Note: This definition is intended to prevent the conversion of entrainable organisms to counts of impingement or impingement mortality.
NR 111.03(21)
(21) “Impingement mortality” means death as a result of impingement. “Impingement mortality” also includes the inevitable mortality of organisms due to their removal from their natural ecosystem and lack of ability to escape the cooling water intake system.
NR 111.03(22)
(22) “Independent supplier” means an entity, other than the regulated facility, that owns and operates its own cooling water intake structure; directly withdraws water from surface waters of the state; and provides the cooling water to other facilities for their use, regardless of whether the entity also retains a portion of the water for its own use. “Independent supplier” does not include an entity that provides potable water to residential populations such as a public water system.
NR 111.03(23)
(23) “Lake or reservoir” means any inland body of open water with some minimum surface area free of rooted vegetation and with an average hydraulic retention time of more than 7 days. “Lake or reservoir” includes a flow-through reservoir with an average hydraulic retention time of greater than 7 days.
NR 111.03 Note
Note: Lakes or reservoirs might be natural waterbodies or impounded streams, surrounded by land or by land and a man-made retainer, such as a dam. Lakes or reservoirs might be fed by rivers, streams, springs, or local precipitation.
NR 111.03(24)
(24) “Latent mortality” means the delayed mortality of organisms that were initially alive upon being impinged or entrained but that do not survive the delayed effects of impingement and entrainment during an extended holding period. “Delayed effects of impingement and entrainment” includes temperature change, physical stress, and chemical stress.
NR 111.03(25)
(25) “Maximize” means to increase to the greatest amount, extent, or degree reasonably possible.
NR 111.03(26)
(26) “
Maximum design intake velocity” means the value assigned during the cooling water intake structure design to the maximum instantaneous speed at which the cooling system is capable of withdrawing water through the intake screen or inlet from a source waterbody, applied at all points between the point at which water is withdrawn from a water of the state and the first screen or other structure that has a mesh with a maximum distance in the openings of 0.56 inches, and calculated using the following equation:
where:
V = the maximum design intake velocity.
Q = the maximum volumetric flow rate based on pump capacities, excluding emergency and redundant pumps.
A = typical wetted area of the screen at Q7,10 flows.
P = screen open area percentage divided by 100.
For a facility that uses other intake designs that do not use a screen, the maximum design intake velocity shall be determined using an alternate method approved by the department.
NR 111.03(28)
(28) “Minimize” means to reduce to the smallest amount, extent, or degree reasonably possible.
NR 111.03(29)
(29) “Modified traveling screen” means a traveling water screen that incorporates measures protective of fish and shellfish, including all of the following:
NR 111.03(29)(a)
(a) A screen with a collection bucket or an equivalent mechanism designed to minimize turbulence to aquatic life.
NR 111.03(29)(b)
(b) The addition of a guard rail or barrier to prevent loss of fish from the collection system or the replacement of screen panel materials with smooth woven mesh, drilled mesh, molded mesh, or similar materials that protect fish from descaling and other abrasive injury.
NR 111.03(29)(c)
(c) The continuous or near-continuous rotation of screens and operation of fish collection equipment to ensure any impinged organisms are recovered as soon as practical.
NR 111.03(29)(d)
(d) A low pressure wash or gentle vacuum to remove fish prior to any high pressure spray to remove debris from the screens.
NR 111.03(29)(e)
(e) A fish handling and return system with sufficient water flow to return the fish directly to the source water in a manner that does not promote predation or re-impingement of the fish or require a large vertical drop. The department may approve of fish being returned to water sources other than the original source water, taking into account any recommendations from the U.S. fish and wildlife service with respect to endangered or threatened species.
NR 111.03 Note
Note: Examples of modified traveling screens include Modified Ristroph screens with a fish handling and return system, dual flow screens with smooth mesh, and rotary screens with fish returns or vacuum returns.
NR 111.03(31)
(31) “Natural thermal stratification” means the naturally occurring division of a waterbody into horizontal layers of differing densities as a result of variations in the temperature at different depths.
NR 111.03 Note
Note: Examples of new facilities are provided in
40 CFR 125.83. This definition is intended to be equivalent to the definition of “new facility” in
40 CFR 125.83.
NR 111.03(33)
(33) “New unit” means a new stand-alone unit at an existing facility on which construction began after October 14, 2014 and that is not otherwise classified as a new facility under s.
NR 111.02 (3) or that is not otherwise already subject to subch.
III, regardless of whether it has its own dedicated cooling water intake structure or uses an existing one. In this subsection, “stand-alone unit” means a separate unit that is added to a facility for either the same general industrial operation or another purpose.
NR 111.03 Note
Note: A new unit may have its own dedicated cooling water intake structure, or the new unit may use an existing or modified cooling water intake structure.
NR 111.03(34)
(34) “Nuisance species” means common carp (
Cyprinus carpio), grass carp (
Ctenopharyngodon idella), silver carp (
Hypophthalmichthys molitrix), bighead carp (
Aristichthys nobilis), black carp (
Mylopharyngodon piceus), goldfish (
Carassius auratus), sea lamprey (
Petromyzon marinus), alewife (
Alosa pseudoharengus) except in Lake Michigan and Lake Superior, rainbow smelt (
Osmerus mordax) except in Lake Michigan and Lake Superior, threespine stickleback (
Gasterosteus aculeatus), white perch (
Morone americana) except in Lake Michigan and Lake Superior, ruffe (
Gymnocephalus cernuus), tubenose goby (
Proterorhinus marmoratus), round goby (
Apollonia melanostomus), rusty crayfish (
Orocnectes rusticus), red swamp crayfish (
Procambarus clarkii), the species listed in ss.
NR 40.04 (2) (c) and
40.05 (2) (c), the shellfish species listed in ss.
NR 40.04 (2) (d) and
40.05 (2) (d), and any species subsequently added by the department. “Nuisance species” also includes the species designated by the department as detrimental in the waters of the state specified in s.
NR 20.38.
NR 111.03(35)
(35) “Offshore velocity cap” means an open intake designed to change the direction of water withdrawal from vertical to horizontal, thereby creating horizontal velocity patterns that result in avoidance of the intake by fish and other aquatic organisms, and that satisfies all of the following:
NR 111.03(35)(b)
(b) It uses bar screens or otherwise excludes large aquatic organisms.
NR 111.03(36)
(36) “Operational measure” means a modification to any operation that serves to minimize impact to all life stages of fish and shellfish from the cooling water intake structure.
NR 111.03 Note
Note: Examples of “operational measures” include more frequent rotation of traveling screens, use of a low pressure wash to remove fish prior to any high pressure spray to remove debris, maintaining adequate volume of water in a fish return, and debris minimization measures such as air sparging of intake screens or other measures taken to maintain the design intake velocity.
NR 111.03(37)
(37) “
River or stream” means a lotic, or free-flowing, system. “River or stream” includes a flow-through reservoir with a retention time of 7 days or less.
NR 111.03(38)
(38) “Q
7,10 flow” means the average minimum 7-day low streamflow which occurs once in 10 years.
NR 111.03(39)
(39) “Social benefits” means the increase in social welfare, including physical and biological effects on the environment, that results from taking an action. “Social benefits” includes private benefits and those benefits not taken into consideration by private decision makers in the actions they choose to take, including effects occurring in the future. Benefits are generally treated one or more of 3 ways: A narrative containing a qualitative discussion of environmental effects, a quantified analysis expressed in physical or biological units, and a monetized benefits analysis in which dollar values are applied to quantified physical or biological units. The dollar values in a social benefits analysis are based on the principle of willingness-to-pay, which captures monetary benefits by measuring what individuals are willing to forgo in order to enjoy a particular benefit. Willingness-to-pay for nonuse values can be measured using benefits transfer or a stated preference survey.
NR 111.03(40)
(40) “Social costs” means costs estimated from the viewpoint of society, rather than individual stakeholders, representing the total burden imposed on the economy and consisting of the sum of all opportunity costs incurred associated with taking actions. “Opportunity costs” means the value lost to society of all the goods and services that will not be produced and consumed as a facility complies with permit requirements, and society reallocates resources away from other production activities and toward minimizing adverse environmental impacts.
NR 111.03(41)
(41) “Source water” means the water of the state from which the cooling water is withdrawn.
NR 111.03(42)
(42) “Thermocline” means the middle layer of a thermally stratified lake or reservoir where there is a rapid decrease in temperatures.
NR 111.03(43)
(43) “Threatened and endangered species” or “threatened or endangered species” means all species listed in s.
NR 27.03.
NR 111.03(44)
(44) “
WPDES” means the Wisconsin pollutant discharge elimination system.
NR 111.03 History
History: CR 19-105: cr. Register May 2020 No. 773, eff. 6-1-20; correction in (5) (b) (intro.), (16) made under s. 35.17, Stats., Register May 2020 No. 773. NR 111.10
NR 111.10
Requirement to comply with BTA standards. NR 111.10(1)(1)
The owner or operator of an existing facility that meets the applicability criteria specified in s.
NR 111.02 shall at a minimum do all of the following:
NR 111.10(1)(a)
(a) Comply with the BTA standards for impingement mortality under s.
NR 111.12 and entrainment under s.
NR 111.13, including any measures to protect threatened and endangered species and federally designated critical habitat established under ss.
NR 111.11 (2) (a) and
111.16.
NR 111.10(2)
(2) The requirements specified in sub.
(1) shall be implemented through a WPDES permit for each facility subject to this subchapter. Based on the information submitted in the permit application, the department shall determine the requirements and conditions to include in the permit.
NR 111.10 History
History: CR 19-105: cr. Register May 2020 No. 773, eff. 6-1-20. NR 111.11
NR 111.11
Timing of BTA determinations. NR 111.11(1)(a)(a)
Permits expiring after July 14, 2018. The owner or operator of an existing facility whose currently effective permit expires after July 14, 2018 shall submit to the department the information required in the applicable provisions of subch.
V when applying for a subsequent permit.
NR 111.11(1)(b)
(b)
Permits expiring on or after October 14, 2014 and prior to or on July 14, 2018. The owner or operator of a facility whose currently effective permit expires on or after October 14, 2014, and prior to or on July 14, 2018, may request that the department establish an alternate schedule for the submission of the information required under subch.
V when applying for a subsequent permit. If the owner or operator of the facility demonstrates that it cannot develop the required information by the applicable date for submission, the department shall establish an alternate schedule for submission of the required information.
NR 111.11(2)(a)(a)
Reissuance of permits that expired after July 14, 2018 and permits that expired on or prior to July 14, 2018 that did not receive an alternate schedule. In the case of reissuance of any permit that expired after July 14, 2018 and in the case of reissuance of any permits expiring on or prior to July 14, 2018, that did not receive an alternate schedule under sub.
(1) (b), the department shall include in the reissued permit, at a minimum, conditions to implement and ensure compliance with the impingement mortality standard specified in s.
NR 111.12 and the entrainment standard specified in s.
NR 111.13, including any measures to protect threatened and endangered species and federally designated critical habitat required by the department. In addition, the department shall include in the permit conditions, management practices, and operational measures necessary to ensure proper operation of any technology used to comply with these standards.
NR 111.11(2)(b)
(b)
Permits receiving an alternate schedule. In the case of any permit for which the department, under sub.
(1) (b), has established an alternate schedule for submission of the information required under subch.
V, the department may include permit conditions to ensure that, for any subsequent permit, the department has all the information required under subch.
V necessary to establish impingement mortality and entrainment BTA requirements under ss.
NR 111.12 and
111.13. In addition, the department shall establish interim BTA requirements in the permit based on the department's best professional judgment on a site-specific basis.
