Chapter NR 809

NR 809.950   General public notification requirements.

NR 809.951   Tier 1 public notice — form, manner, and frequency of notice.

NR 809.952   Tier 2 public notice--form, manner, and frequency of notice.

NR 809.953   Tier 3 public notice--form, manner, and frequency of notice.

NR 809.954   Public notice content.

NR 809.955   Notice to new billing units or new customers.

NR 809.956   Special notice of the availability of unregulated contaminant monitoring results.

NR 809.957   Special notice for exceedance of the secondary maximum contaminant level for fluoride.

NR 809.958   Special notice for nitrate exceedances above MCL by non-community water systems, where granted permission by the department under s. NR 809.11 (3).

NR 809.959   Public notice by the department on behalf of the public water system.

NR 809.960   Special notice for significant deficiencies or source groundwater fecal contamination.

NR 809.970   Special notice for repeated failure to conduct monitoring of the source water for Cryptosporidium and for failure to determine bin classification or mean Cryptosporidium level.

Ch. NR 809 Note Note: Chapter NR 809 as it existed on November 30, 2010, was repealed and a new chapter NR 809 was created effective December 1, 2010.

NR 809.01 NR 809.01 Purpose. The purpose of this chapter is to establish minimum standards and procedures for the protection of the public health, safety and welfare in the obtaining of safe drinking water. This chapter is adopted under the authority granted in chs. 280 and 281, Stats.

NR 809.01 Note Note: See chs. NR 108, 114, 810, 811 and 812 for other requirements pertaining to public and private drinking water systems.

NR 809.01 History History: CR 09-073: cr. Register November 2010 No. 659, eff. 12-1-10.

NR 809.02 NR 809.02 Departmental justification.

NR 809.02(1) (1) Where the department exercises discretion allowed under this chapter to require a water supplier for a public water system to perform construction, repairs, monitoring or other activities which would necessitate expenditure of resources, the department shall explain in writing the reasons for the requirements.

NR 809.02(2) (2) A decision by the department to grant a waiver shall be made in writing and shall set forth the basis for the determination. The waiver determination may be initiated by the department or upon an application by the water supplier for a public water system.

NR 809.02 History History: CR 09-073: cr. Register November 2010 No. 659, eff. 12-1-10.

NR 809.03 NR 809.03 Applicability. The provisions of this chapter shall apply to all new and existing public water systems, water suppliers, and laboratories certified to analyze drinking water.

NR 809.03 History History: CR 09-073: cr. Register November 2010 No. 659, eff. 12-1-10; CR 15-049: am. Register March 2016 No. 723, ef. 4-1-16.

NR 809.04 NR 809.04 Definitions. In this chapter:

NR 809.04(1) (1) “Action level” is the concentration of lead or copper in water which determines, in some cases, the treatment requirements that a public water system is required to complete.

NR 809.04(2) (2) “Best available technology” or “BAT” means the best technology treatment techniques, or other means which the U.S. environmental protection agency finds, after examination for efficacy under field conditions and not solely under laboratory conditions, are available, taking cost into consideration.

NR 809.04(2g) (2g) “Circuit rider” means a roving technical expert employed by a state rural water association to provide training and assistance to rural and small water utilities within the state.

NR 809.04(2r) (2r) “Clean compliance history” means a record of no E. coli MCL violations under s. NR 809.31; no monitoring violations under s. NR 809.312; and no coliform treatment technique trigger exceedances or treatment technique violations under s. NR 809.313.

NR 809.04(3) (3) “Coagulation” means a process using coagulant chemicals and mixing by which colloidal and suspended materials are destabilized and agglomerated into flocs.

NR 809.04(4) (4) “Combined distribution system” means an interconnected distribution system consisting of the distribution systems of wholesale systems and of the consecutive systems that receive finished water.

NR 809.04(5) (5) “Community water system” or “CWS” means a public water system which serves at least 15 service connections used by year-round residents or regularly serves at least 25 year-round residents. Any public water system serving 7 or more homes, 10 or more mobile homes, 10 or more apartment units, or 10 or more condominium units is a community water system unless information is available to indicate that 25 year-round residents will not be served.

NR 809.04(6) (6) “Compliance cycle” means the 9-year calendar year cycle during which public water systems monitor. Each compliance cycle consists of 3, 3 year compliance periods. The first compliance cycle begins January 1, 1993 and ends December 31, 2001; the second begins January 1, 2002 and ends December 31, 2010; the third begins January 1, 2011 and ends December 31, 2019.

NR 809.04(7) (7) “Compliance period” means a 3-year calendar year period within a compliance cycle. Each compliance cycle has 3, 3-year compliance periods. Within the first compliance cycle, the first compliance period runs from January 1, 1993 to December 31, 1995; the second from January 1, 1996 to December 31, 1998; the third from January 1, 1999 to December 31, 2001.

NR 809.04(8) (8) “Comprehensive performance evaluation” or “CPE” means a thorough review and analysis of a treatment plant’s performance-based capabilities and associated administrative, operation and maintenance practices. It is conducted to identify factors that may be adversely impacting a plant’s capability to achieve compliance and emphasizes approaches that can be implemented without significant capital improvements. For purposes of compliance with this chapter, the comprehensive performance evaluation consists of at least the following components: Assessment of plant performance; evaluation of major unit processes; identification and prioritization of performance limiting factors; assessment of the applicability of comprehensive technical assistance; and preparation of a CPE report.

NR 809.04(9) (9) “Confirmed presence” means the presence of coliform bacteria in a water sample confirmed by a total coliform-positive repeat sample.

NR 809.04(10) (10) “Confluent growth” means a continuous bacterial growth covering the entire filtration area of a membrane filter, or a portion thereof, in which bacterial colonies are not discrete.

NR 809.04(11) (11) “Consecutive System” means a public water system that receives some or all of its finished water from one or more wholesale systems through a master metering system. This public water system may also be known as a wholesale purchaser or wholesale customer. Delivery may be through a direct connection or through the distribution system of one or more consecutive systems.

NR 809.04(12) (12) “Conventional filtration treatment” means a series of processes including coagulation, flocculation, sedimentation, and filtration resulting in substantial particulate removal.

NR 809.04(13) (13) “Contaminant” means any physical, chemical, biological, or radiological substance or matter in water.

NR 809.04(14) (14) “Corrosion inhibitor” means a substance capable of reducing the corrosivity of water toward metal plumbing materials, especially lead and copper, by forming a protective film on the interior surface of those materials.

NR 809.04(15) (15) “CT” or “CTcalc” is the product of the residual disinfectant concentration (C) in mg/l determined before or at the first customer, and the corresponding disinfectant contact time (T) in minutes, i.e., “C” x “T”. If a public water system applies disinfectants at more than one point prior to the first customer, it shall determine the CT of each disinfectant sequence before or at the first customer, to determine the total percent inactivation or “total inactivation ratio.” The inactivation ratio for a single disinfectant sequence is:

where “CTtable” is the CT value required for the target organism and the target level of inactivation as contained in ss. NR 810.47 to 810.61. The sum of the inactivation ratios, or total inactivation ratio for a series of disinfection sequences is:

and is calculated by adding together the inactivation ratio for each disinfection sequence. In determining the total inactivation ratio, the water supplier determines the residual disinfectant concentration of each sequence and corresponding contact time before any subsequent disinfection application points. A total inactivation ratio equal to or greater than 1.0 is assumed to provide the target level of disinfection of the target organism.

NR 809.04(16) (16) “Department” means the department of natural resources.

NR 809.04(17) (17) “Diatomaceous earth filtration” means a process resulting in substantial particulate removal in which:

NR 809.04(17)(a) (a) A pre-coat cake of diatomaceous earth filter media is deposited on a support membrane (septum); and

NR 809.04(17)(b) (b) While the water is filtered by passing through the cake on the septum, additional filter media known as body feed is continuously added to the feed water to maintain the permeability of the filter cake.

NR 809.04(18) (18) “Direct filtration” means a series of processes including coagulation and filtration, but excluding sedimentation, resulting in substantial particulate removal.

NR 809.04(19) (19) “Disinfectant contact time” (“T” in CT calculations) means the time in minutes that it takes for water to move from the point of disinfectant application or the previous point of disinfectant residual measurement to a point before or at the point where residual disinfectant concentration (“C”) is measured. Where only one “C” is measured, “T” is the time in minutes that it takes for water to move from the point of disinfectant application to a point before or where residual disinfectant concentration (“C”) is measured. Where more than one “C” is measured, “T” is:

NR 809.04(19)(a) (a) For the first measurement of “C”, the time in minutes that it takes for water to move from the first or only point of disinfectant application to a point before or at the point where the first “C” is measured; and

NR 809.04(19)(b) (b) For subsequent measurements of “C”, the time in minutes that it takes for water to move from the previous “C” measurement point to the “C” measurement point for which the particular “T” is being calculated. Disinfectant contact time in pipelines is calculated based on “plug flow” by dividing the internal volume of the pipe by the maximum hourly flow rate through the pipe. Disinfectant contact time within mixing basins and storage reservoirs shall be determined by tracer studies or other department approved equivalent demonstration.

NR 809.04(20) (20) “Disinfection” means a process which inactivates pathogenic organisms in water by chemical oxidants or equivalent agents.

NR 809.04(21) (21) “Disinfection profile” means a summary of daily Giardia lamblia inactivation through the treatment plant. The procedure for developing a disinfection profile is contained in s. NR 810.32.

NR 809.04(22) (22) “Distribution system” means all pipes or conduits by which water is delivered to consumers except piping and fixtures inside buildings served, water services and private water mains as defined in ch. SPS 381.

NR 809.04(23) (23) “Domestic or other non-distribution system plumbing problem” means a coliform contamination problem in a public water system with more than one service connection that is limited to the specific service connection from which the coliform-positive sample was taken.

NR 809.04(24) (24) “Dose equivalent” means the product of the absorbed dose for ionizing radiation and such factors as account for differences in biological effectiveness due to the type of radiation and its distribution in the body as specified by the international commission on radiological units and measurements (ICRUM).

NR 809.04(24m) (24m) “Dual purpose sample” means a repeat coliform sample collected at the groundwater source to meet requirements for both triggered source water monitoring, and repeat coliform monitoring following a routine positive distribution sample. It is only allowed at groundwater systems serving a population of less than 1,000 people.

NR 809.04(25) (25) “Dual sample set” means a set of two samples collected at the same time and same location, with one sample analyzed for total trihalomethanes (TTHM) and the other sample analyzed for Haloacetic acids five (HAA5).

NR 809.04(26) (26) “Enhanced coagulation” means the addition of sufficient coagulant for improved removal of disinfection byproduct precursors by conventional filtration treatment.

NR 809.04(27) (27) “Enhanced softening” means the improved removal of disinfection byproduct precursors by precipitative softening.

NR 809.04(28) (28) “Effective corrosion inhibitor residual” means a concentration sufficient to form a protective coating on the interior walls of a pipe.

NR 809.04(29) (29) “Entry point” means a location in the public water system after treatment or chemical addition, if any, but prior to the distribution system. A sample collected in the distribution system may be considered an entry point sample if the department has determined it is more representative of the water sources.

NR 809.04(30) (30) “Environmental protection agency” or “EPA” means the agency of the United States federal government ultimately responsible for establishing and enforcing national primary drinking water regulations.

NR 809.04(31) (31) “Filter profile” means a graphical representation of individual filter performance, based on continuous turbidity measurements or total particle counts versus time for an entire filter run, from startup to backwash inclusively, that includes an assessment of filter performance while another filter is being backwashed.

NR 809.04(32) (32) “Filtration” means a process for removing particulate matter from water by passage through porous media.

NR 809.04(33) (33) “Finished water” means water that is introduced into the distribution system of a public water system and is intended for distribution and consumption without further treatment, except as treatment necessary to maintain water quality in the distribution system, for example booster disinfection or addition of corrosion control chemicals.

NR 809.04(34) (34) “First draw sample” means a one-liter sample of tap water that has been standing in plumbing pipes at least 6 hours and is collected without flushing the tap.

NR 809.04(35) (35) “Flocculation” means a process to enhance agglomeration or collection of smaller floc particles into larger, more easily settleable particles through gentle stirring by hydraulic or mechanical means.

NR 809.04(36) (36) “4 log treatment of viruses” means a treatment process or a combination of treatment processes that provides inactivation or removal of 99.99% of viruses.

NR 809.04(37) (37) “GAC10” means granular activated carbon filter beds with an empty-bed contact time of 10 minutes based on average daily flow and a carbon reactivation frequency of every 180 days, except that the reactivation frequency of GAC10 used as a best available technology for compliance with MCLs at LRAA monitoring locations is every 120 days.

NR 809.04(37m) (37m) “GAC20” means granular activated carbon filter beds with an empty-bed contact time of 20 minutes based on average daily flow and a carbon reactivation frequency of every 240 days.

NR 809.04(38) (38) “Gross alpha particle activity” means the total radioactivity due to alpha particle emission as inferred from measurements on a dry sample.

NR 809.04(39) (39) “Gross beta particle activity” means the total radioactivity due to beta particle emission as inferred from measurements on a dry sample.

NR 809.04(40) (40) “Groundwater under the direct influence of surface water”(GWUDI) means any water beneath the surface of the ground with:

NR 809.04(40)(a) (a) Occurrence of insects or other macroorganisms, algae or large diameter pathogens such as Giardia lamblia or Cryptosporidium, in greater than or equal to 10% of representative source water samples collected over a period of 6 months, immediately prior to the first or only point of disinfectant application, or

NR 809.04(40)(b) (b) Evidence of relatively rapid shifts in water characteristics such as turbidity, temperature, conductivity, or pH which closely correlate to climatological or surface water conditions where the department determines that these shifts are indications of the potential for contamination of the groundwater by the organisms identified in par. (a).

NR 809.04(41) (41) “Haloacetic acids (five)” or “HAA5” means the sum of the concentrations in milligrams per liter of the haloacetic acid compounds (monochloroacetic acid, dichloroacetic acid, trichloroacetic acid, monobromoacetic acid and dibromoacetic acid), rounded to 2 significant figures after addition.

NR 809.04(42) (42) “Holding time” means the period from time of sampling to time of analysis.

NR 809.04(42m) (42m) “Human consumption” means drinking; bathing, including all personal hygiene needs in a home, business, or school setting; showering; hand washing; cooking; dishwashing; and maintaining oral hygiene.

NR 809.04(43) (43) “Initial compliance period” means the first full 3-year compliance period which begins at least 18 months after promulgation of the federal regulations. For monitoring contaminants in ss. NR 809.11 (2) and 809.20 (1), the initial compliance period means January 1993 — December 1995 for public water systems with 150 or more service connections and January 1996 — December 1998 for public water systems having fewer than 150 service connections.

NR 809.04(44) (44) “Initial Distribution System Evaluation or “IDSE” means an evaluation using monitoring to determine locations with representative high TTHM and HAA5 concentrations throughout the distribution system of a public water system.

NR 809.04(45) (45) “Large water system” means, for the purpose of monitoring lead and copper, a public water system that serves more than 50,000 persons.

NR 809.04(46) (46) “Lead service line” means a service line made of lead which connects the water main to the building inlet and any lead pigtail, gooseneck or other fitting which is connected to such lead line.

NR 809.04(46m) (46m) “Learns of the violation” for the purpose determining public notification timing requirements under subch. VII means any of the following:

NR 809.04(46m)(a) (a) The date that a laboratory notifies a water supplier of results demonstrating exceedances of MCLs, MRDLs, or action levels.

NR 809.04(46m)(b) (b) The day after a specified deadline in NR 809, for violation of deadlines that are not related to MCL, MRDL or action level exceedances.

NR 809.04(46m)(c) (c) The date on which the violation, incident, or condition occurred, for any other type of violation, incident, or condition requiring public notification.