Chapter NR 200

Chapter NR 200

APPLICATION FOR DISCHARGE PERMITS AND WATER
QUALITY STANDARDS VARIANCES

Subchapter I — Purpose, Definitions and General Provisions

NR 200.01   Purpose.

NR 200.02   Definitions.

NR 200.024   Use of information.

NR 200.027   Analytical methods and laboratory requirements.

Subchapter II — Application for Discharge Permits

NR 200.03   Applicability and exclusions.

NR 200.04   Reporting of existing discharges.

NR 200.05   Reporting of new discharges.

NR 200.06   Application for reissuance.

NR 200.065   Application monitoring requirements for discharges to surface waters.

NR 200.07   Application forms.

NR 200.09   Incomplete application.

NR 200.10   Time periods for action on permit applications and modification requests.

NR 200.11   Draft Permit.

Subchapter III — Application for Water Quality Standards Variances

NR 200.20   General.

NR 200.21   Time deadline for filing variance requests.

NR 200.22   Information to be included in an application for a variance.

NR 200.23   Signature of authorized representative.

NR 200.24   Application completeness.

NR 200.25   Time periods for department action on applications.

Ch. NR 200 Note Note: Chapter NR 200 as it existed on May 31, 1985, was repealed and a new chapter NR 200 was created effective June 1, 1985.

subch. I of ch. NR 200 Subchapter I — Purpose, Definitions and General Provisions

NR 200.01 NR 200.01 Purpose. The purpose of this chapter is:

NR 200.01(1) (1) To set forth the requirements for filing applications for the discharge permits required by s. 283.31, Stats., to prescribe the form of such applications pursuant to s. 283.37, Stats., and to specify the number of business days within which the department will publish a public notice indicating its intended action on a Wisconsin pollutant discharge elimination system permit application or request for modification pursuant to s. 227.116, Stats. Section 283.31, Stats., requires a permit for the lawful discharge of any pollutant into the waters of the state, which include groundwaters by the definition in s. 283.01 (13), Stats. The federal water pollution control act of 1977, P.L. 95-217; 33 USC 466 et seq., requires a permit for the lawful discharge of any pollutant into navigable waters. Therefore in Wisconsin, permits are required for discharges from point sources to surface waters of the state and additionally to land areas where pollutants may percolate, seep to, or be leached to groundwaters. This includes the land application of sludge.

NR 200.01(2) (2) To set forth the requirements for filing applications for variances to water quality standards allowed by s. 283.15, Stats.

NR 200.01 History History: Cr. Register, May, 1985, No. 353, eff. 6-1-85; am. Register, December, 1995, No. 480, eff. 1-1-96; corrections made under s. 13.93 (2m) (b) 7., Stats., Register, November, 1996, No. 491; am. Register, November, 1999, No. 527, eff. 12-1-99.

NR 200.02 NR 200.02 Definitions. For the purpose of this chapter the following definitions are applicable:

NR 200.02(1) (1) “Business days” means each day except Saturday; Sunday; January 1; the third Monday in January, which shall be the day of celebration for January 15; the last Monday in May, which shall be the day of celebration for May 30; July 4; the first Monday in September; the 4th Thursday in November; December 24; December 25; December 31; and the day following if January 1, July 4 or December 25 falls on Sunday.

NR 200.02(2) (2) “Cooling water” means water which has been used primarily for cooling but which may be contaminated with process waste or airborne material. Examples are the discharge from barometric condensers or the blowdown from cooling towers.

NR 200.02(3) (3) “Department” means the department of natural resources.

NR 200.02(4) (4) “Discharge of pollutant” or “discharge of pollutants” means any addition of any pollutant to the waters of this state from any point source, including the land application of sludge.

NR 200.02(5) (5) “Limit of detection” means the lowest concentration level that can be determined to be statistically different from a blank.

NR 200.02(6) (6) “Limit of quantitation” means the level above which quantitative results may be obtained with a specified degree of confidence.

NR 200.02 Note Note: The limit of quantitation is established as defined under s. NR 149.48 (3).

NR 200.02(7) (7) “Major municipal discharge” means a point source discharge with an average daily volume equal to or greater than one million gallons per day of either municipal wastewater from a publicly owned treatment works or of domestic wastewater from a privately owned treatment works.

NR 200.02(8) (8) “Minor municipal discharge” means a point source discharge with an average daily volume less than one million gallons per day of either municipal wastewater from a publicly owned treatment works or domestic wastewater from a privately owned treatment works.

NR 200.02(9) (9) “Municipality” means any city, town, village, county, county utility district, town sanitary district, town utility district, school district or metropolitan sewage district or any other public entity created pursuant to law and having authority to collect, treat or dispose of sewage, industrial wastes or other wastes.

NR 200.02(10) (10) “Noncontact cooling water” means water used for cooling which does not come into contact with any raw material, intermediate or finished product, or waste and has been used in heat exchangers, air or refrigeration compressors, or other cooling means where contamination with process waste is not normally expected.

NR 200.02(11) (11) “Permit” means a permit for the discharge of pollutants issued by this department.

NR 200.02(12) (12) “Person” means an individual, owner or operator, corporation, partnership, association, municipality, interstate agency, state agency, or federal agency.

NR 200.02(13) (13) “Point source” means any discernible, confined and discrete conveyance, including but not limited to any pipe, outfall, ditch, channel, tunnel, conduit, well, discrete fissure, container, rolling stock, concentrated animal feeding operation or vessel or other floating craft from which pollutants may be discharged either into the waters of this state or into a publicly owned treatment works, except for a conveyance that conveys only storm water.

NR 200.02(14) (14) “Pollutant” means any dredged spoil, solid waste, incinerator residue, sewage, garbage, refuse, oil, sewage sludge, munitions, chemical wastes, biological materials, radioactive substance, heat, wrecked or discarded equipment, rock, sand, cellar dirt and industrial, municipal and agricultural waste discharged into water.

NR 200.02(15) (15) “Primary industry” means an industrial facility or activity that is encompassed by one of the industrial categories listed in 40 CFR 122, Appendix A.

NR 200.02(16) (16) “Results” includes measurements, determinations and information obtained or derived from tests.

NR 200.02(17) (17) “Secondary industry” means an industrial facility or activity that is not classified as a primary industry. 

NR 200.02(18) (18) “Surface waters” means waters of the state except wells and other groundwater. Cooling lakes, farm ponds and facilities constructed for the treatment of wastewaters are also excluded from this definition.

NR 200.02(19) (19) “Treatment works” means any devices and systems used in the storage, treatment, recycling, and reclamation of municipal sewage, sewage sludge or industrial waste of a liquid nature or necessary to recycle or reuse water at the most economical cost over the estimated life of the work, including intercepting sewers, outfall sewers, sewage collection systems, cooling towers and ponds, pumping, power and other equipment, and their appurtenances; extensions, improvements, remodeling, additions, and alterations thereof; elements essential to provide a reliable recycled supply such as standby treatment units and clear well facilities; and any works, including site acquisition of the land that will be an integral part of the treatment process or is used for ultimate disposal of residues resulting from such treatment. Additionally, “treatment work” means any other method or system for preventing, abating, reducing, storing, treating, separating or disposing of municipal waste, including storm water runoff, or industrial waste, including waste in combined storm water and sanitary sewer systems.

NR 200.02(20) (20) “Waters of the state” means those portions of Lake Michigan and Lake Superior within the boundaries of Wisconsin, all lakes, bays, rivers, streams, springs, ponds, wells, impounding reservoirs, marshes, water courses, drainage systems and other surface or groundwater, natural or artificial, public or private within the state or under its jurisdiction, except those waters which are entirely confined and retained completely upon the property of a person.

NR 200.02 History History: Cr. Register, May, 1985, No. 353, eff. 6-1-85; am. (3) and (9), Register, December, 1995, No. 480, eff. 1-1-96; am. (1), renum. (2) to (10) to be (3), (4), (9), (11), (12), (13), (14), (19) and (20) and am. (13), cr. (2), (5) to (8), (10) and (15) to (18), Register, November, 1999, No. 527, eff. 12-1-99.

NR 200.024 NR 200.024 Use of information.

NR 200.024(1) (1) Data submitted in the applications or as part of additional information submittals shall be used as a basis for issuing discharge permits or variances.

NR 200.024(2) (2) All information contained in an application other than that specified as confidential shall be available to the public for inspection and copying. All confidential information, so identified, shall be set forth in separate documents. Effluent data may not be deemed confidential information. Effluent data includes the name and address of the permittee, the permit, the permit application, and any effluent report or information in the department’s files, that identifies the amount, frequency and characteristics of the pollutants discharged. Confidential treatment will be considered only for that information identified as such in documents separate from nonconfidential information which meets the requirements of s. 283.55 (2) (c), Stats., and for which written application for confidentiality has been made pursuant to s. NR 2.19.