N.M. Admin. Code § 20.6.2.3109

Current through Register Vol. 35, No. 23, December 10, 2024

Section 20.6.2.3109 - SECRETARY APPROVAL, DISAPPROVAL, MODIFICATION OR TERMINATION OF DISCHARGE PERMITS, AND REQUIREMENT FOR ABATEMENT PLANS

A. The department shall evaluate the application for a discharge permit, modification or renewal based on information contained in the department's administrative record. The department may request from the discharger, either before or after the issuance of any public notice, additional information necessary for the evaluation of the application. The administrative record shall consist of the application, any additional information required by the department, any information submitted by the discharger or the general public, other information considered by the department, the proposed approval or disapproval of an application for a discharge permit, modification or renewal prepared pursuant to Subsection H of 20.6.2.3108 NMAC, and, if a public hearing is held, all of the documents filed with the hearing clerk, all exhibits offered into evidence at the hearing, the written transcript or tape recording of the hearing, any hearing officer report, and any post hearing submissions.

B. The secretary shall, within 30 days after the administrative record is complete and all required information is available, approve, approve with conditions or disapprove the proposed discharge permit, modification or renewal based on the administrative record. The Secretary shall issue a response to comments which shall specify which provisions, if any, in the draft permit were changed and the reasons for the change, and shall briefly describe and respond to all significant comments on the draft permit raised during the public comment period or at any hearing. The secretary shall notify the applicant or permittee by certified mail of the action taken and the reasons for such action and shall include a copy of the response to comments. Notice shall also be given by mail or email to persons who participated in the permitting action.

C. Provided that the other requirements of this part are met and the proposed discharge plan, modification or renewal demonstrates that neither a hazard to public health nor undue risk to property will result, the secretary shall approve the proposed discharge plan, modification or renewal if the following requirements are met:

(1) ground water that has a TDS concentration of 10,000 mg/l or less will not be affected by the discharge; or

(2) the person proposing to discharge demonstrates that approval of the proposed discharge plan, modification or renewal will not result in either concentrations in excess of the standards of 20.6.2.3103 NMAC at any place of withdrawal of water for present or reasonably foreseeable future use, except for contaminants in the water diverted as provided in Subsection E of 20.6.2.3109 NMAC; or

(3) the proposed discharge plan conforms to either Subparagraph (a) or (b) below and Subparagraph (c) below:

(a) municipal, other domestic discharges, and discharges from sewerage systems handling only animal wastes: the effluent is entirely domestic, is entirely from a sewerage system handling only animal wastes or is from a municipality and conforms to the following:

(i) the discharge is from an impoundment or a leach field existing on February 18, 1977 which receives less than 10,000 gallons per day and the secretary has not found that the discharge may cause a hazard to public health; or

(ii) the discharger has demonstrated that the total nitrogen in effluent that enters the subsurface from a leach field or surface impoundment will not exceed 200 pounds per acre per year and that the effluent will meet the standards of 20.6.2.3103 NMAC except for nitrates and except for contaminants in the water diverted as provided in Subsection E of 20.6.2.3109 NMAC; or

(iii) the total nitrogen in effluent that is applied to a crop which is harvested shall not exceed by more than 25 percent the maximum amount of nitrogen reasonably expected to be taken up by the crop and the effluent shall meet the standards of 20.6.2.3103 NMAC except for nitrates and except for contaminants in the water diverted as provided in Subsection E of 20.6.2.3109 NMAC;

(b) discharges from industrial, mining or manufacturing operations:

(i) the discharger has demonstrated that the amount of effluent that enters the subsurface from a surface impoundment will not exceed 0.5 acre-feet per acre per year; or

(ii) the discharger has demonstrated that the total nitrogen in effluent that enters the subsurface from a leach field or surface impoundment shall not exceed 200 pounds per acre per year and the effluent shall meet the standards of 20.6.2.3103 NMAC except for nitrate and contaminants in the water diverted as provided in Subsection E of 20.6.2.3109 NMAC; or

(iii) the total nitrogen in effluent that is applied to a crop that is harvested shall not exceed by more than 25 percent the maximum amount of nitrogen reasonably expected to be taken up by the crop and the effluent shall meet the standards of 20.6.2.3103 NMAC except for nitrate and contaminants in the water diverted as provided in Subsection D of 20.6.2.3109 NMAC;

(c) all discharges:

(i) the monitoring system proposed in the discharge plan includes adequate provision for sampling of effluent and adequate flow monitoring so that the amount being discharged onto or below the surface of the ground can be determined;

(ii) the monitoring data is reported to the secretary at a frequency determined by the secretary.

D. The secretary shall allow the following unless he determines that a hazard to public health may result:

(1) the weight of water contaminants in water diverted from any source may be discharged provided that the discharge is to the aquifer from which the water was diverted or to an aquifer containing a greater concentration of the contaminants than contained in the water diverted; and provided further that contaminants added as a result of the means of diversion shall not be considered to be part of the weight of water contaminants in the water diverted;

(2) the water contaminants leached from undisturbed natural materials may be discharged provided that:

(a) the contaminants were not leached as a product or incidentally pursuant to a solution mining operation; and

(b) the contaminants were not leached as a result of direct discharge into the vadose zone from municipal or industrial facilities used for the storage, disposal, or treatment of effluent;

(3) the water contaminants leached from undisturbed natural materials as a result of discharge into ground water from lakes used as a source of cooling water.

E. If data submitted pursuant to any monitoring requirements specified in the discharge permit or other information available to the secretary indicates that this part is being or may be violated or that the standards of 20.6.2.3103 NMAC are being or will be exceeded in ground water at any place of withdrawal for present or reasonably foreseeable future use, or that the water quality standards for interstate and intrastate streams in New Mexico are being or may be violated in surface water, due to the discharge, except as provided in Subsection D of 20.6.2.3109 NMAC.

(1) The secretary may require a discharge permit modification within the shortest reasonable time so as to achieve compliance with this part and to provide that any exceeding of standards in ground water at any place of withdrawal for present or reasonably foreseeable future use, or in surface water, due to the discharge except as provided in Subsection E of 20.6.2.3109 NMAC will be abated or prevented. If the secretary requires a discharge permit modification to abate water pollution:

(a) the abatement shall be consistent with the requirements and provisions of 20.6.2.4101, 20.6.2.4103, Subsections C and E of 20.6.2.4106, 20.6.2.4107, 20.6.2.4108 and 20.6.2.4112 NMAC; and

(b) the discharger may request of the secretary approval to carry out the abatement under 20.6.2.4000 through 20.6.2.4115 NMAC, in lieu of modifying the discharge permit; the discharger shall make the request in writing and shall include the reasons for the request.

(2) The secretary may terminate a discharge permit when a discharger fails to modify the permit in accordance with Paragraph (1) of Subsection E of 20.6.2.3109 NMAC.

(3) The secretary may require modification, or may terminate a discharge permit for a Class I well, a Class III well or other type of well specified in Subsection A of 20.6.2.5101 NMAC, pursuant to the requirements of Subsection I of 20.6.2.5101 NMAC.

(4) If a discharge permit is terminated, the secretary shall notify the permittee by certified mail of the action taken and the reasons for that action. Notice of the termination shall also be given by mail or electronic mail to persons who participated in the permitting action and to those persons on the facility-specific list maintained by the department.

F. If a discharge permit expires or is terminated for any reason and the standards of 20.6.2.3103 NMAC are being or will be exceeded in ground water, or that the water quality standards for interstate and intrastate streams in New Mexico are being or may be violated, the secretary may require the discharger to submit an abatement plan pursuant to 20.6.2.4104 and Subsection A of 20.6.2.4106 NMAC.

G. At the request of the discharger, a discharge permit may be modified in accordance with 20.6.2.3000 through 20.6.2.3114 NMAC.

H. The secretary shall not approve a proposed discharge plan, modification, or renewal for:

(1) any discharge for which the discharger has not provided a site and method for flow measurement and sampling;

(2) any discharge that will cause any stream standard to be violated;

(3) the discharge of any water contaminant which may result in a hazard to public health; or

(4) a period longer than five years, except that for new discharges, the term of the discharge permit approval shall commence on the date the discharge begins, but in no event shall the term of the approval exceed seven years from the date the permit was issued; for those permits expiring more than five years from the date of issuance, the discharger shall give prior written notification to the department of the date the discharge is to commence; the term of the permit shall not exceed five years from that date.

N.M. Admin. Code § 20.6.2.3109

2-18-77, 6-26-80, 9-20-82, 7-2-81, 3-3-86, 12-1-95, 11-15-96; 20.6.2.3109 NMAC - Rn, 20 NMAC 6.2.III.3109, 1-15-01; A, 12-1-01; A, 9-15-02; A, 7-16-06, Amended by New Mexico Register, Volume XXVI, Issue 15, August 14, 2015, eff. 8/31/2015, Amended by New Mexico Register, Volume XXIX, Issue 23, December 11, 2018, eff. 12/21/2018