N.Y. Comp. Codes R. & Regs. Tit. 6 §§ 361-2.5

Current through Register Vol. 46, No. 45, November 2, 2024

Section 361-2.5 - Design and operating requirements for land application facilities

A land application facility required to obtain a permit must, in addition to the requirements identified in Part 360 of this Title, design, construct, maintain, and operate the facility in compliance with the following criteria. For facilities permitted under this section, a closure plan and financial assurance are not required.

(a) Pollutant limits.

(1) Each waste destined for land application must not exceed the pollutant concentrations found in Table 6 in section 361-3.9 of this Part.

(i) If the waste contains pollutants at concentrations greater than those set forth in this subdivision, a permit for a land application facility will not be issued unless the generator has implemented an identification and abatement program and has remained in compliance with the requirements of this subdivision for a period of at least six continuous months. At least six analyses for total solids and the parameter(s) of concern must be provided to the department to demonstrate compliance.

(2) Wastewater and partially treated biosolids that are generated at one treatment plant and treated at another wastewater treatment facility before land application are not considered separate waste sources.

(b) Land application criteria.

(1) The minimum horizontal distance from the perimeter of the land application area must comply with the values found in the following table with respect to listed features that exist at the time the initial permit application is submitted to the department.

Feature	Minimum horizontal separation distance (in feet)
Property line...........	50
Residence, place of business, or public contact area when waste is not injected*.......	500
Residence, place of business, or public contact area when waste is injected*.......	200
Potable water well.........	200
Surface water and State regulated wetland when waste is not injected**........	200
Surface water and State regulated wetland when waste is injected.......	100
Drainage swale........	25

* Excludes owner's or operator's residence. The separation distance requirement applies at the time the permit application is submitted to the department. The facility is not required to comply with the separation requirement with respect to construction of nearby residences, places of business or public contact areas after the permit application has been submitted to the department.

** For food processing waste: 100 feet

(2) Land application is prohibited in areas where groundwater is within 24 inches of the ground surface at the time of application. Verification of depth to groundwater prior to application may be required by the department. If the field is tiled, the top of the tile must be at least 24 inches below the ground surface and the discharge of the tile must be at least 200 feet from a potable well, surface water, and State-regulated wetland. In areas where carbonate bedrock is present, a greater depth to groundwater may be required by the department.

(3) Land application is prohibited in areas where bedrock lies less than 24 inches below the ground surface.

(4) The hydraulic loading must not exceed 16,000 gallons per acre in any 24-hour period.

(5) Land application is prohibited on land with a slope exceeding 15 percent. Land application of waste with a total solids content of less than 15 percent is prohibited on land with a slope greater than eight percent, unless incorporated within one hour of application along paths parallel to contour lines.

(6) Land application is prohibited in special flood hazard areas, unless approved by the department.

(7) The land application rate must not exceed the lower of the agronomic rate or, for waste with neutralizing value, the application rate needed to achieve a soil pH value in an acceptable range for the crop grown. The department can restrict the application rate based on a nutrient other than nitrogen, such as phosphorus. The application rate must be sufficiently reduced to ensure appropriate application rates are not exceeded if supplemental fertilizer (including manure) will be applied to the site.

(8) The waste must be incorporated into the soil within 24 hours after application, unless a cover crop would be damaged by incorporation and concerns regarding odor and run-off can be mitigated by other means approved by the department. If incorporation is used for vector attraction reduction, the period before incorporation is limited to six hours or less.

(9) Land application is prohibited on water-saturated ground or during heavy rainfall. Land application is prohibited on snow-covered or frozen ground, except by direct injection below the land surface. Adequate storage or disposal facilities must be available for periods during the year when waste cannot be applied.

(10) Land application is permitted on all soil types that can support the robust growth of the crop grown. The use of active farmland is sufficient to demonstrate compliance with this requirement. Otherwise, sufficient information must be provided to demonstrate compliance.

(11) Proper soil conservation practices and agricultural management practices must be used to minimize run-off and soil loss through erosion.

(12) The temporary field stacking of biosolids prior to land application is allowed, provided the following criteria are met:

(i) the storage period is a maximum of 30 days;

(ii) the biosolids are stored on the field where they will be applied and the amount stored does not exceed the amount that will be land applied on the site;

(iii) the storage area must not be located on areas with a slope greater than three percent;

(iv) the biosolids must have sufficient solids content that it will retain its shape if stacked three feet high and must be formed so that precipitation is shed from the pile;

(v) any run-off from the stockpile must be contained within the land application site; and

(vi) after removal of the residuals, the storage area must be reseeded or returned to active cropland.

(13) Written permission from the landowner is required for use of the land for land application, unless the landowner is the applicant.

(c) Monitoring, recordkeeping, and reporting.

(1) Sufficient monitoring data and other information needed to demonstrate compliance with the requirements of this Subpart must be obtained. The frequency and type of monitoring necessary for pathogen and vector attraction reduction will be determined by the department on a case-specific basis and will depend on the monitoring methods employed.

(2) The annual report required by paragraph 360.19(k)(3) of this Title must include:

(i) the location of each field used for land application and the acreage used for land application on the field;

(ii) the crop(s) grown on each field;

(iii) the total quantity of waste applied on each field;

(iv) calculations showing the hydraulic loading and nutrient loading for the fields used for land application;

(v) all analytical results required by this Subpart, including copies of all laboratory reports;

(vi) monitoring data and information to demonstrate compliance with the pathogen and vector attraction reduction requirements of this Subpart, if required;

(vii) a description of any difficulties encountered during land application, any complaints arising because of the land application operation and the corrective measures taken; and

(viii) a revised management plan for land application for the next year based on previous application rates and crop planting patterns for the next year. The plan must include an identification of the crops to be grown, fields to be used, and revised nutrient and hydraulic loading rates. All calculations must be included.

(d) Biosolids application.

In addition to the requirements identified in subdivisions 361-2.5(a) through (c) of this Subpart, a land application facility including biosolids must comply with the following criteria.

(1) Land application criteria.

(i) Soil pH must be adjusted to 6.0 standard units or higher before land application unless lime-stabilized biosolids is used. If lime-stabilized biosolids is used, the soil pH must be 6.0 standard units or higher after biosolids application.

(ii) Land application must not adversely affect a threatened or endangered species or its designated critical habitat.

(2) Pathogen and vector attraction reduction.

(i) One of the following Class B pathogen reduction alternatives must be satisfied.

(a) Class B - Alternative 1. The biosolids must be treated by one of the following processes:

(1) Aerobic digestion. Biosolids is agitated with air or oxygen to maintain aerobic conditions for a mean cell residence time of at least 40 days at 20 degrees Celsius or greater or at least 60 days if the temperature is less than 20 degrees Celsius but greater than or equal to 15 degrees Celsius.

(2) Air drying. Biosolids is dried on sand beds or on paved or unpaved basins, at a maximum depth of nine inches. The biosolids must dry for a minimum of three months. During at least two of the three months, the ambient average daily temperature must be above zero degrees Celsius.

(3) Anaerobic digestion. Biosolids is treated in the absence of air for a mean cell residence time of at least 15 days at 35 degrees Celsius or greater or at least 60 days at less than 35 degrees Celsius but greater than or equal to 20 degrees Celsius.

(4) Composting. Using the within-vessel, aerated static pile or windrow composting methods, the temperature of the biosolids is raised to 40° C or higher and remains at 40° C or higher for five consecutive days. For at least four consecutive hours during the five days, the temperature in the compost pile must exceed 55° C;

(5) Lime stabilization. Sufficient lime must be added to the biosolids to raise the pH of the biosolids to 12 standard units and maintain this pH for a period of at least two hours.

(6) Other methods. Other methods or operating conditions may be acceptable if pathogens are reduced to an extent equivalent to the reduction achieved by any of the above methods and must be approved by the department; or

(b) Class B - Alternative 2. The geometric mean of the density of fecal coliform of seven analyses representative of the biosolids to be land-applied must be less than either 2,000,000 Most Probable Number per gram of total solids (dry weight basis) or 2,000,000 Colony Forming Units per gram of total solids (dry weight basis).

(ii) One of the following vector attraction reduction requirements must be satisfied:

(a) the mass of volatile solids in the biosolids is reduced by a minimum of 38 percent;

(b) if the volatile solids reduction requirement cannot be met for anaerobically digested biosolids, vector attraction reduction can be demonstrated by anaerobically digesting a portion of the previously digested waste in a laboratory bench-scale unit for 40 additional days at a temperature between 30 and 37 degrees Celsius. Vector attraction reduction is achieved if the bench-scale digestion produces less than a 17 percent reduction in volatile solids content;

(c) if the volatile solids reduction requirement cannot be met for aerobically digested biosolids, vector attraction reduction can be demonstrated by aerobically digesting a portion of the previously digested waste that has a percent solids of two percent or less in a laboratory bench-scale unit for an additional 30 days at 20 degrees Celsius. Vector attraction reduction is achieved if the bench scale digestion produces less than a 15 percent reduction in volatile solids content;

(d) the specific oxygen uptake rate (SOUR) for biosolids treated in an aerobic process must be equal to or less than 1.5 milligrams of oxygen per hour per gram of total solids (dry weight basis) at a temperature of 20 degrees Celsius;

(e) biosolids is treated by an aerobic process for a minimum of 14 consecutive days. Throughout that treatment time, the temperature of the waste must remain higher than 40 degrees Celsius and the average temperature of the waste must be higher than 45 degrees Celsius;

(f) the pH of the biosolids must be raised to 12 standard units or higher by alkali addition and, without the addition of more alkali, must remain at 12 standard units or higher for two hours and then remain at 11.5 standard units or higher for an additional 22 hours;

(g) for biosolids that does not contain untreated solids generated in a primary wastewater treatment process, the percent solids of the waste must be equal to or greater than 75 percent, before mixing with other materials, until land application;

(h) for biosolids that contains untreated solids generated in a primary wastewater treatment process, the percent solids of the waste must be equal to or greater than 90 percent, before mixing with other materials, until land application;

(i) biosolids must be injected below the surface of the land. No significant amount of waste can be present on the land surface within one hour after the waste is applied; or

(j) biosolids must be incorporated into the soil within six hours after application on the land.

(iii) Access and crop restrictions:

(a) public access to land must be restricted during land application and for at least one year after land application. Access must be controlled during that period using posted signs, fences, gates or other appropriate means;

(b) food crops with harvested parts that touch the biosolids/soil mixture and are totally above the land surface must not be grown for at least 14 months after land application. Food crops with harvested parts below the surface of the land must not be grown for at least 38 months after land application;

(c) feed crops, fiber crops, and food crops grown above the soil with harvested parts that do not touch the biosolids/soil mixture must not be grown for at least 30 days after land application;

(d) animals must not be grazed on the land for at least 30 days after land application; and

(e) turf grown on land where biosolids has been applied must not be grown for one year after land application when the harvested turf will be placed on either land with a high potential for public exposure or a lawn.

(3) Monitoring, recordkeeping and reporting.

(i) Each biosolids source must be analyzed annually in accordance with the following:

(a) the parameters for analysis are found in Table 1 in section 361-3.9 of this Part;

(b) the minimum number of analyses, for each biosolids source, is dependent upon the amount of waste that was land applied, as indicated in Table 3 in section 361-3.9 of this Part;

(c) with the exception of pH and total solids, all results must be reported on a dry weight basis. The analyses must comply with the criteria found in clauses 361-2.4(e)(1)(ii)('f'), ('g'), ('i') and ('j') of this Subpart. After the waste has been monitored for two years at the frequency outlined in this paragraph, the department may reduce the annual number of analyses required if the quality is consistently significantly below the quality standards; and

(d) wastewater and partially treated biosolids that are generated at one facility and treated at another wastewater treatment facility before land application are not considered separate sources subject to the criteria in this paragraph. The resultant biosolids generated for land application are subject to this paragraph.

(ii) Sufficient monitoring data and other information must be obtained and retained to demonstrate compliance with the requirements of this Subpart. The frequency and type of monitoring necessary to demonstrate compliance with pathogen and vector attraction reduction criteria will depend on the methods used, and will be determined by the department.

(iii) Annual soil sampling is required. Criteria applicable to annual soil sampling are found in paragraph 361-2.4(e)(5) of this Subpart. Only the fields used for biosolids land application in the previous year must be sampled.

(e) Land application of other waste. In addition to the requirements identified in subdivisions 361-2.5(a) -(c) of this section, land application of waste other than biosolids must comply with the following criteria:

(1) Domestic sewage or septage content. If there is any domestic sewage or septage contribution to the waste, the waste treatment process must satisfy the pathogen and vector attraction reduction requirements of this Subpart unless it can be demonstrated that the sanitary waste is a minor portion of the waste stream and that Salmonella sp. bacteria, enteric viruses, and viable helminth ova are below detectable levels.

(2) Nutrient or lime content. The waste must contain at least one percent total Kjeldahl nitrogen, contains at least 50 percent calcium carbonate equivalence, or provide sufficient documentation to demonstrate in some other manner that the waste is a benefit to the soil or plant grown.

(3) Monitoring, recordkeeping, and reporting. Annual waste monitoring is required, depending on the characteristics of the waste. The parameters for analysis and the frequency will be determined by the department depending on the quantity and quality of the waste.

N.Y. Comp. Codes R. & Regs. Tit. 6 §§ 361-2.5

Adopted New York State Register September 20, 2017/Volume XXXIX, Issue 38, eff. 11/4/2017

Amended New York State Register June 7, 2023/Volume XLV, Issue 23, eff. 7/22/2023

Amended New York State Register June 21, 2023/Volume XLV, Issue 25, eff. 7/23/2023