Register May 2011 No. 665
Chapter NR 204
DOMESTIC SEWAGE SLUDGE MANAGEMENT
NR 204.04 Exceptional quality sludge.
NR 204.05 Permit issuance.
NR 204.06 Reporting and monitoring requirements.
NR 204.07 Land application of sludge.
NR 204.08 Landfill disposal.
NR 204.09 Alternative uses of sludge.
NR 204.10 Storage facilities.
NR 204.11 Sludge management plan.
NR 204.12 Grit and screenings disposal.
NR 204.13 Sludge management program standards and requirements based upon federal regulations.
Ch. NR 204 Note
Note: Chapter NR 204 as it existed on December 31, 1995 was repealed and a new chapter was created effective January 1, 1996.
NR 204.01
NR 204.01 Purpose. The purpose of this chapter is to establish discharge standards, monitoring, record keeping and reporting requirements for the use and disposal of sewage sludge and grit and screenings. Section
283.31, Stats., requires a permit for the lawful discharge of any pollutant into the waters of the state and for the disposal of sludge. Section
283.01 (20), Stats., defines“waters of the state" to include groundwater. The land application of sludge is considered a potential discharge to waters of the state. It is the intent of the department, through this chapter, to protect public health and to restore, protect and maintain the physical, chemical and biological integrity of the soil, air, surface water and groundwater of the state and to allow no detrimental effects to these resources, and the natural environment. The beneficial use of sewage sludge and its recycling to the land as a fertilizer or soil conditioner is encouraged, rather than disposing of sludge through incineration or landfilling.
NR 204.01 Note
Note: The department has promulgated this chapter pursuant to state statutory authority. Local governments should not enact ordinances which are inconsistent with this chapter or which infringe upon the spirit and general policies of the state's sludge program.
NR 204.01 History
History: Cr.
Register, December, 1995, No. 480, eff. 1-1-96; corrections made under s. 13.93 (2m) (b) 7., Stats.,
Register, November, 1996, No. 491.
NR 204.02(1)
(1)
Applicability. Any person who treats or generates sludge, applies sludge to land or places sludge in a landfill shall comply with the requirements in this chapter.
NR 204.02(1)(a)1.
1. The use and disposal of sludge and grit and screenings generated by any domestic wastewater treatment works.
NR 204.02(1)(a)2.
2. The quantity and quality of sludge that is applied to land or landfilled. This includes sludge which is combined with another material. The other material may include industrial sludge, other municipal sludge, septage, manure, any material used for mixing or other wastes with which the sludge forms a composted material.
NR 204.02 Note
Note: Note: Chs.
NR 502 and
518 may also apply to processing and use of solid waste and sludge mixtures.
NR 204.02(1)(a)3.
3. The land on which sludge is applied and any landfill which receives the sludge.
NR 204.02(1)(b)2.
2. Septage as defined in
ch. NR 113. This does not exempt centralized septage treatment facilities which are required to obtain a WPDES permit.
NR 204.02(1)(b)4.
4. Bulk or bagged material which is derived from exceptional quality sludge. This is material which is derived after the generator distributes exceptional quality sludge. It does not include a bulk material which becomes exceptional quality after mixing or treatment with non-exceptional sludge.
NR 204.02(1)(b)5.
5. Industrial sludge, including sewage sludge generated during the treatment of industrial wastewater that is combined with domestic sewage originating at that industrial facility.
NR 204.02(1)(b)6.
6. Sludge with PCB concentrations greater than 50 mg/kg on a dry weight basis, unless this sludge is applied under a management plan approved by U.S. environmental protection agency (EPA) region V pursuant to
40 CFR part 761.
NR 204.02 Note
Note: The regulation of the incineration of sludge under
40 CFR part 503 will be administered by the U.S. environmental protection agency.
NR 204.02(2)
(2) Responsibility. A facility that generates sludge is ultimately responsible for the handling, transporting, storage and land application or disposal of the sludge and grit and screenings. A generator is responsible for compliance with its WPDES permit and all applicable provisions of this chapter. In the event a generator sends its sludge to another person for final land application or disposal and that person alters the characteristics of the sludge by mixing it with other wastes or substances or by treating it in some other manner, then the person who receives the sludge shall also be considered a generator and shall assume primary responsibility for compliance with this chapter. If a generator gives the sludge to another person to land apply, but that person does not alter the characteristics of the sludge, then that person is also responsible for complying with applicable provisions in this chapter, such as the land management practices specified in
s. NR 204.07.
NR 204.02(3)
(3) Forms. All forms required in this chapter may be obtained from the Department of Natural Resources, Bureau of Wastewater Management, 101 S. Webster Street, P.O. Box 7921, Madison, Wisconsin 53707.
NR 204.02 History
History: Cr.
Register, December, 1995, No. 480, eff. 1-1-96; correction in (1) (b) 1. made under s.
13.92 (4) (b) 7., Stats.,
Register February 2010 No. 650.
NR 204.03
NR 204.03 Definitions. The following definitions are applicable to terms used in this chapter. Definitions of other terms and the meaning of abbreviations are in
ch. NR 205.
NR 204.03(1)
(1) “Aerobic digestion" means the biochemical decomposition of organic matter in sewage sludge into carbon dioxide and water by microorganisms in the presence of air.
NR 204.03(2)
(2) “Agricultural land" means land on which a food crop, a feed crop or fiber crop will be grown within 12 months following sludge application. This includes range land and land used as pasture.
NR 204.03(3)
(3) “Agronomic rate" means the whole sludge application rate, on a dry weight basis, designed to provide the amount of nitrogen needed by the food crop, feed crop, fiber crop, cover crop or vegetation grown on the land, and designed to minimize the amount of nitrogen in the sewage sludge that passes below the root zone of the crop or vegetation grown on the land to the groundwater.
NR 204.03(4)
(4) “Anaerobic digestion" means the biochemical decomposition of organic matter in sewage sludge into methane gas and carbon dioxide by microorganisms in the absence of air.
NR 204.03(5)
(5) “Annual pollutant loading rate" means the maximum amount of a pollutant that can be applied to a unit area of land during a 365-day period.
NR 204.03(6)
(6) “Application rate" means the loading limits placed on a landspreading site, as established by the agronomic needs of the crop and the characteristics of the sludge, normally expressed as dry tons/acre, gallons/acre or cu yd/acre.
NR 204.03(7)
(7) “Available nitrogen" means the nitrogen which is present in the sludge in the NH
3-N form and the nitrogen that is mineralized from the organic nitrogen in the sludge; both of which can then be absorbed and assimilated by growing plants in the cropping year.
NR 204.03(8)
(8) “Bag or other container" or “bagged" or “bag" means either a bag or an open or closed receptacle that has a capacity of one metric ton or less. This includes a bucket, a box, a carton and a vehicle or trailer.
NR 204.03(9)
(9) “Bedrock" means the rocks that underlie soil material. Bedrock may be present at the earth's surface when the weathered in-place consolidated material, larger than 2 mm in size, is greater than 50% by volume.
NR 204.03(10)
(10) “Bulk sewage sludge" means sewage sludge which will be applied to the land but is not bagged.
NR 204.03(11)
(11) “Centralized septage treatment facility" means a treatment facility which accepts septage from multiple sources and treats the septage prior to discharge or disposal.
NR 204.03(12)
(12) “Community well" means a public well which serves at least 15 service connections used by year-round residents or regularly serves at least 25 year- round residents. Any well serving 7 or more homes, 10 or more mobile homes, 10 or more apartment units or 10 or more condominium units shall be considered a community well unless information is available to indicate that 25 year- round residents will not be served.
NR 204.03(13)
(13) “Cumulative metals loading rate" means the maximum amount of an inorganic metal that can be applied to a unit area of land.
NR 204.03(14)
(14) “Density of microorganisms" means the number of microorganisms per unit mass of total solids, on a dry weight basis, in the sewage sludge.
NR 204.03(15)
(15) “Department" means the department of natural resources.
NR 204.03(16)
(16) “Detrimental effects" means contamination of the lands or waters of the state or making the same injurious to public health, harmful for commercial or agricultural use, or deleterious to animal or plant life.
NR 204.03(17)
(17) “Domestic sewage" means waste and wastewater from humans or household operations that is discharged to or otherwise enters a treatment works.
NR 204.03(18)
(18) “Dry run" means a drainage pathway, either natural or artificial, with definable banks, which contains confined flow during periods of natural runoff.
NR 204.03(19)
(19) “Exceptional quality sludge" means sludge that meets the class A requirements for pathogens, as specified in
s. NR 204.07 (6) (a), the high quality pollutant concentrations, as specified in
s. NR 204.07 (5) (c), and one of the pre-land application processes to reduce vector attraction, as specified in
s. NR 204.07 (7) (a) to
(i).
NR 204.03(20)
(20) “Feed crops" means crops produced primarily for consumption for animals.
NR 204.03(22)
(22) “Floodplain" means the land which has been or may be covered by flood water during the regional flood as specified under
s. NR 116.03 (16) and
(41).
NR 204.03(23)
(23) “Food crops" means tobacco and crops grown for human consumption.
NR 204.03(24)
(24) “Generator" means either the person who generates or prepares sludge during the treatment of domestic sewage in a treatment works or the person who derives a material from sludge or the person who changes the sludge characteristics either through treatment, mixing or any other process.
NR 204.03(25)
(25) “Geometric mean" means the average of the log values of the colony density and taking the antilog of that value, or by taking the nth root of the products of the n values, i.e., (Y
1○Y
2○Y
3○.....Y
n) to the 1/nth power.
NR 204.03(26)
(26) “Grit" means the heavy solid materials such as sand, gravel and cinders collected from the headwork of a treatment system.
NR 204.03(27)
(27) “Groundwater" means any of the waters of the state, as defined in ss.
281.01 (18) and
283.01 (20), Stats., occurring in a saturated subsurface geological formation of permeable rock or soil.
NR 204.03(28)
(28) “High groundwater level" means the higher of either the elevation to which the soil is saturated as observed as a free water surface in an unlined hole or the elevation to which the soil has been seasonally or periodically saturated as indicated by soil color patterns throughout the soil profile.
NR 204.03(29)
(29) “High quality sludge" means sludge that meets the monthly average pollutant concentration limits which are shown, as Table 3, in
s. NR 204.07 (5) (c).
NR 204.03(31)
(31) “Incorporation" means the mixing of sludge with topsoil to a minimum depth of 4 inches by such means as discing, mold-board plowing, chisel plowing, rototilling or other tillage methods.
NR 204.03(32)
(32) “Injection" means the subsurface placement of liquid sludge to a depth of 4 to 12 inches.
NR 204.03(33)
(33) “Land application" means the spraying or spreading of sludge onto the land surface, the injection of sludge below the land surface, or the incorporation of sludge into the soil. Sludge can either condition the soil or fertilize crops or vegetation grown in the soil.
NR 204.03(34)
(34) “Land with high potential for public exposure" means land that the public uses frequently. This includes sites such as a public contact site, a lawn or home garden, and a reclamation site located in a populated area, e.g., a construction site located in a city.
