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 If surface waters of the state are withdrawn for the purposes of replenishing losses to a closed-cycle recirculating system other than those due to blowdown, drift, and evaporation from the cooling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)3. 3. Waste heat may be diverted to other process operations.

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) (9) 

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(15) (15) “Existing facility” means a facility determined to be an existing facility under s. NR 111.02 (3).

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.