7 Del. Admin. Code § 7103-3.0
A general statement of purpose is to protect and improve environmental quality in Delaware by providing further treatment and recycling of wastes. The objectives are:
. To regulate and manage land treatment of wastewater and sludge.
. To assure long-term land productivity, such that no land is irreversibly removed from significant potential agricultural land use.
. To protect groundwater quality and assure that drinking water quality standards are met.
. To safeguard public health within reasonable standards.
. To improve the regulatory climate for land application ofwastes, public understanding, and implementation of current and evolving technology by municipalities and industries.
Specific objectives in using land treatment technology are:
. To establish criteria for the application of wastes to the plant-soil system at such rates or over such limited time span that no land is irreversibly removed from some other potential societal usage (agriculture, development, forestation, etc.).
. To establish a methodology for the intimate mixing or dispersion of wastes into the upper zone of the plant-soil system with the objective of microbial stabilization, immobilization, selective dispersion, or crop recovery leading to an environmentally acceptable assimilation of the waste.
. To promote effective regulation, public understanding, and implementation of current and evolving technologies by governmental units and industries in the State.
. To establish reasonable measures of protection for the environment and public health, safety, and welfare by providing for the proper design, operation, and management of land treatment systems; and the proper treatment, transport, handling, and beneficial use of wastes.
. To require the use of plant-soil and waste management practices and technology that will function according to the performance criteria without causing the State's groundwater resources to violate duly promulgated drinking water standards on an average annual basis.
. To dispose of non-hazardous sludges in landfills is an inefficient use of resources. Pretreatment programs and sludge management programs should be directed to provide adequate treatment for land application.
7 Del. Admin. Code § 7103-3.0