Wash. Admin. Code § 173-351-100
Unless otherwise noted, all terms contained in this part are defined by their plain meaning. This section contains definitions for terms that appear throughout this regulation; additional definitions appear in the specific sections to which they apply.
"Active area" means that part of a facility that includes the active portion and portions of a facility that recycle, store, treat, or dispose of solid (including liquid) wastes. The active area includes leachate treatment facilities and runoff ponds. It excludes run-on ponds and on-site roads which are used for any purpose; on-site roads are considered part of the buffer zone. See active portion and buffer zone definition below.
"Active life" means the period beginning with the initial receipt of solid waste and ending at completion of closure activities in accordance with WAC 173-351-500(1), Closure criteria.
"Active portion" means that part of a facility or MSWLF unit that has received or is receiving wastes and that has not been closed in accordance with WAC 173-351-500(1), Closure criteria.
"Airport" means public-use airport open to the public without prior permission and without restrictions within the physical capacities of available facilities. See WAC 173-351-130(2)(d)(i).
"Areas susceptible to mass movement" means those areas of influence (i.e., areas characterized as having an active or substantial possibility of mass movement) where the movement of earth material at, beneath, or adjacent to the MSWLF unit, because of natural or human-induced events, results in the downslope transport of soil and rock material by means of gravitational influence. Areas of mass movement include, but are not limited to, landslides, avalanches, debris slides and flows, soil fluction, block sliding, and rock fall. See WAC 173-351-130(7)(b)(iv).
"Biosolids" means municipal sewage sludge that is a primarily organic, semisolid product resulting from the wastewater treatment process, that can be beneficially recycled and meets all requirements under chapter 70.95J RCW. Biosolids includes septic tank sludge, also known as septage, that can be beneficially recycled and meets all requirements of chapter 70.95J RCW.
"Bird hazard" means an increase in the likelihood of bird/aircraft collisions that may cause damage to the aircraft or injury to its occupants. See WAC 173-351-130(2)(d)(ii).
"Buffer zone" means that part of a facility which lies between the active area and the property boundary.
"Channel migration zone" means the lateral extent of likely movement of a stream or river channel along a stream reach.
"Cleanup action plan" means the document that selects the cleanup action and specifies cleanup standards and other requirements for the cleanup action. These include:
. A final cleanup action plan issued by the department (or a record of decision prepared under the federal cleanup law) meeting the requirements of WAC 173-340-380;
. Cleanup action plans developed by the owner or operator of a MSWLF unit in accordance with the procedures in WAC 173-340-350 through 173-340-390 for independent remedial actions; and
. Plans developed for interim actions conducted under WAC 173-340-430.
"Closure" means those actions taken by the owner or operator of a MSWLF unit or facility to cease disposal operations and to ensure that a MSWLF unit or facility is closed in conformance with applicable regulations at the time of such closures and to prepare the site for the post-closure period. Closure is considered part of operation. See definition of operation.
"Commercial solid waste" means all types of solid waste generated by stores, offices, restaurants, warehouses, and other nonmanufacturing activities, excluding residential and industrial wastes.
"Composite layer." See WAC 173-351-500(1)(a)(i)(B).
"Composite liner." See WAC 173-351-300(3).
"Construction quality assurance" means a planned system of activities that provide assurance that a facility is constructed as specified in the design and that the materials used in construction are manufactured according to specifications. Construction quality assurance includes inspections, verifications, audits, and evaluations of materials and workmanship necessary to determine and document the quality of the constructed facility.
"Construction quality control" means a planned system of activities that is used to directly monitor and control the quality of a construction project. Construction quality controls are the measures under taken by the contractor or installer to determine compliance with requirements for workmanship and materials put forth in the plans and specification for the construction project.
"Contaminant" means any chemical, physical, biological, or radiological substance that does not occur naturally in the environment or that occurs at concentrations greater than natural background levels.
"Contaminated" or "contamination" means the alteration of the physical, chemical, biological, or radiological properties of soil or waters of the state such that the soil or water could pose a threat to human health or the environment or the alteration is a violation of any applicable environmental regulation.
"Demonstration" means a showing by the owner or operator that human health and the environment can be protected as equally as a given requirement in the regulation. A demonstration is made in the application for a permit under WAC 173-351-700 or through the permit modification process of WAC 173-351-720(6). A successful demonstration allows or authorizes an activity authorized for the life of the facility unless an alternative time period is approved by the jurisdictional health department.
"Department" means the department of ecology.
"Disease vectors" means any rodents, flies, mosquitoes, or other animals, including insects, capable of transmitting disease to humans. See WAC 173-351-200(3)(b).
"Displacement" means the relative movement of any two sides of a fault measured in any direction. See WAC 173-351-130(5)(b)(ii).
"Disposal" or "deposition" means the discharge, deposit, injection, dumping, leaking, or placing of any solid waste into or on any land or water.
"Establish" means to construct a new or laterally expanded MSWLF unit.
"Existing MSWLF unit" means any municipal solid waste landfill unit that is receiving solid waste as of the appropriate dates specified in WAC 173-351-010(3)(a). Waste placement in existing units must be consistent with past operating practices or modified practices to ensure good waste management practices, including operating plans approved under chapter 173-304 WAC.
"Fault" means a fracture or a zone of fractures in any material along which strata on one side have been displaced with respect to that on the other side. See WAC 173-351-130(5)(b)(i).
"Facility" means all contiguous land and structures, other appurtenances, and improvements on the land used for the disposal of solid waste.
"Flood plain" means the lowland and relatively flat areas adjoining inland and coastal waters, including flood-prone areas of offshore islands, that are inundated by the 100-year flood. See WAC 173-351-130(3)(b)(i).
"Free liquids" means any portion of material passing through and dropping from a filter as determined by Method 9095B (Paint Filter Liquids Test), in "Test Methods for Evaluating Solid Wastes, Physical/Chemical Methods," SW-846. See WAC 173-351-200(9).
"Gas condensate" means the liquid generated as a result of gas recovery processes at the MSWLF unit. See WAC 173-351-200(9)(c)(ii).
"Groundwater" means water below the land surface in a zone of saturation.
"Holocene" means the most recent epoch of the Quaternary period, extending from the end of the Pleistocene Epoch to the present. See WAC 173-351-130(5)(b)(iii).
"Household waste" means any solid waste (including garbage, trash, and sanitary waste in septic tanks) derived from households (including household hazardous waste) (including single and multiple residences, hotels and motels, bunkhouses, ranger stations, crew quarters, campgrounds, picnic grounds, and day-use recreation areas). This term does not include commercial, industrial, inert and demolition waste, or wood waste.
Note: | Sanitary waste in septic tanks that is not disposed of in a MSWLF unit is subject to other state and federal rules. |
"Hydrostratigraphic unit" means any water-bearing geologic unit or units hydraulically connected or grouped together on the basis of similar hydraulic conductivity which can be reasonably monitored; several geologic formations or part of a geologic formation may be grouped into a single hydrostratigraphic unit; perched sand lenses may be considered a hydrostratigraphic unit or part of a hydrostratigraphic unit, for example.
Note: | 'Hydraulically connected' denotes water-bearing units which can transmit water to other transmissive units. |
"Inert waste" means solid waste identified as inert waste in chapter 173-350 WAC, Solid waste handling standards.
"Industrial solid wastes" means solid waste or waste by-products generated by manufacturing or industrial processes such as scraps, trimmings, packing, pallets, and other discarded materials not otherwise designated as dangerous waste under chapter 173-303 WAC, the Dangerous waste regulations. This term does not include commercial, inert, demolition, construction, woodwaste, mining waste, or oil and gas waste but does include lunch room, office, or other similar waste generated by employees at the industrial facility.
"Jurisdictional health department" means city, county, city-county, or district public health department as defined in chapters 70.05, 70.08, and 70.46 RCW.
"Landfill." See "Facility."
"Lateral expansion" means a horizontal expansion of the waste boundaries of an existing MSWLF unit that is not an existing horizontal expansion. (See also definition of "existing MSWLF unit.")
"Leachate" means a liquid that has passed through or emerged from solid waste and contains soluble, suspended, or miscible materials removed from such waste.
"Lithified earth material" means all rock, including all naturally occurring and naturally formed aggregates or masses of minerals or small particles of older rock that formed by crystallization of magma or by induration of loose sediments. This term does not include man-made materials, such as fill, concrete, and asphalt, or unconsolidated earth materials, soil, or regolith lying at or near the earth surface. See WAC 173-351-200(6)(b)(iii).
"Liquid waste" means any waste material that is determined to contain "free liquids" as defined by Method 9095B (Paint Filter Liquids Test), as described in "Test Methods for Evaluating Solid Wastes, Physical/Chemical Methods," SW-846. See WAC 173-351-200(9)(c)(i).
"Lower explosive limit" means the lowest percent by volume of a mixture of explosive gases in air that will propagate a flame at twenty-five degrees C and atmospheric pressure. See WAC 173-351-200(4)(d).
"Maximum horizontal acceleration in lithified earth material" means the maximum expected horizontal acceleration depicted on a seismic hazard map, with a ninety percent or greater probability that the acceleration will not be exceeded in two hundred fifty years, or the maximum expected horizontal acceleration based on a site-specific seismic risk assessment. See WAC 173-351-200(6)(b)(ii).
"Modification" means a substantial change in the design or operational plans including removal of a design element of a MSWLF unit previously set forth in a permit application or a disposal or processing activity that is not approved in the permit. To be considered a substantial change, a modification must be reasonably related to a specific requirement of this rule. A substantial change includes any change in the design, operation, closure, post-closure, financial assurance, environmental monitoring or other aspect of an MSWLF unit that is reasonably related to a specific requirement of this rule and was not previously set forth in a permit application or approved in the permit. Lateral expansions, a fifty percent increase or greater in design volume capacity or changes resulting in significant adverse environmental impacts that have led a responsible official to issue a declaration of significance under WAC 197-11-736 are not considered a modification but require permit reissuance under these rules.
"Municipal sewage sludge" means a semisolid substance consisting of settled sewage solids combined with varying amounts of water and dissolved materials generated from a publicly owned wastewater treatment plant. For the purposes of this rule sewage sludge generated from publicly owned leachate waste treatment works that receive sewage from on-site sanitary facilities are not municipal sewage sludge.
"Municipal solid waste landfill unit (MSWLF unit)" means a discrete area of land or an excavation that receives household waste, and that is not a land application site, surface impoundment, injection well, or pile, as those terms are defined under chapter 173-350 WAC, Solid waste handling standards or chapter 173-218 WAC, Underground injection control program. A MSWLF unit also may receive other types of RCRA subtitle D wastes, such as commercial solid waste, nonhazardous sludge, conditionally-exempt small quantity generator waste, and industrial solid waste. Such a landfill may be publicly or privately owned. A MSWLF unit may be a new MSWLF unit, an existing MSWLF unit, or a lateral expansion.
"Natural background" means the concentration of chemical, physical, biological, or radiological substances consistently present in the environment that has not been influenced by regional or localized human activities. Metals at concentrations naturally occurring in bedrock, sediments and soils due solely to the geologic processes that formed the materials are natural background. In addition, low concentrations of other persistent substances due solely to the global use or formation of these substances are natural background.
"New MSWLF unit" means any municipal solid waste landfill unit that has not received waste prior to November 26, 1993.
"Nuisance" means unlawfully doing an act, or omitting to perform a duty, which act or omission either annoys, injures, or endangers the comfort, repose, health or safety of others, offends decency, or unlawfully interferes with, obstructs or tends to obstruct, any lake or navigable river, bay, stream, canal, or basin, or any public park, square, street or highway; or in any way renders other persons insecure in life, or in the use of property.
"100-year flood" or "base flood" means a flood that has a one percent or less chance of recurring in any given year or a flood of a magnitude equaled or exceeded once in one hundred years on the average over a significantly long period. See WAC 173-351-130(3)(b)(ii).
"Open burning" means the combustion of solid waste without:
Control of combustion air to maintain adequate temperature for efficient combustion;
Containment of the combustion reaction in an enclosed device so as to provide sufficient residence time and mixing for complete combustion; and
Control of the emission of the combustion products.
"Operator" means the person(s) responsible for the overall operation of a facility or part of a facility.
"Operation" means those actions taken by an owner or operator of a facility or MSWLF unit beginning with waste acceptance at a facility or MSWLF unit up to and including closure of the facility or MSWLF unit.
"Owner" means the person(s) who owns a facility or part of a facility.
"Point of compliance." See WAC 173-351-300(6).
"Poor foundation conditions" means those areas where features exist which indicate that a natural or man-induced event may result in inadequate foundation support for the structural components of a MSWLF unit. See WAC 173-351-130(7)(b)(ii).
"Post-closure" means those actions taken by an owner or operator of a facility or MSWLF unit after closure.
"Purchase" means execution of a long term lease, securing of options to purchase or execution of agreements to purchase.
"Random inspection." See WAC 173-351-200(1)(b)(ii).
"Regulated dangerous waste" means a solid waste that is a dangerous waste as defined in WAC 173-303-040 that is not excluded from regulation as a dangerous waste under WAC 173-303-071 or 173-303-073, or was not generated by an exempted small quantity generator as defined in WAC 173-303-070. See WAC 173-351-200(1)(b)(i).
"Runoff" means any rainwater, leachate, or other liquid that drains over land from any part of a facility.
"Run-on" means any rainwater, leachate, or other liquid that drains over land onto any part of a facility.
"Saturated zone" means that part of the earth's crust in which all voids are filled with water.
"Scavenging" means the removal of materials at a disposal facility, or intermediate solid waste-handling facility, without the approval of the owner or operator and the jurisdictional health department.
"Seismic impact zone" means an area with a ten percent or greater probability that the maximum horizontal acceleration in lithified earth material, expressed as a percentage of the earth's gravitational pull, will exceed 0.10g in two hundred fifty years. See WAC 173-351-130(6)(b)(i).
"Sewage sludge" means a semisolid substance consisting of settled sewage solids combined with varying amounts of water and dissolved materials generated from a wastewater treatment system, that does not meet the requirements of chapter 70.95J RCW.
"Sludge" means any solid, semisolid, or liquid waste generated from a municipal, commercial, or industrial wastewater treatment plant, water supply treatment plant, or air pollution control facility exclusive of the treated effluent from a wastewater treatment plant.
"Sole source aquifer" means an aquifer designated by the Environmental Protection Agency pursuant to Section 1424e of the Safe Drinking Water Act ( PL 93-523). See WAC 173-351-140(1)(b)(vii).
"Solid waste" means all putrescible and nonputrescible solid and semisolid wastes including, but not limited to garbage, rubbish, ashes, industrial wastes, commercial waste, swill, sewage sludge, demolition and construction wastes, abandoned vehicles or parts thereof, discarded commodities and recyclable materials.
"Structural components" means liners, leachate collection systems, final covers, run-on/runoff systems, and any other component used in the construction and operation of the MSWLF that is necessary for protection of human health and the environment. See WAC 173-351-130(7)(b)(ii).
"Unstable area" means a location that is susceptible to natural or human-induced events or forces capable of impairing the integrity of some or all of the landfill structural components responsible for preventing releases from a landfill. Unstable areas can include poor foundation conditions, and areas susceptible to mass movements. See WAC 173-351-130(7)(b)(i).
"Vadose zone" means that portion of a geologic formation in which soil pores contain some water, the pressure of that water is less than atmospheric, and the formation occurs above the zone of saturation.
"Vulnerability" means the propensity or likelihood of a sole source aquifer to become contaminated should the integrity of the engineering control (including liners) fail; it is a measure of the propensity to deteriorate the water quality of a sole source aquifer, and takes into account an assessment of the physical barriers, the physical movement of contaminants, the hydraulic properties of the subsurface lithology; the rate of a contaminant plume movement; the physical and chemical characteristics of contaminants; and it also includes an assessment of the likelihood and ease for contaminant removal or cleanup, or the arrest of contamination, so as to not impact any further portion of the designated sole source aquifer. See WAC 173-351-140(1)(b).
"Waste management unit" means a MSWLF unit.
"Waste management unit boundary" means a vertical surface located at the hydraulically down gradient limit of the unit. This vertical surface extends down into the hydrostratigraphic unit(s) identified in the hydrogeologic report.
"Waters of the state" means lakes, rivers, ponds, streams, inland waters, underground waters, salt water, and all other surface waters and watercourses within the jurisdiction of the state of Washington.
"Wetlands" means those areas that are defined in 40 C.F.R. 232.2(r): Areas that are inundated or saturated by surface or groundwater at a frequency and duration sufficient to support, and that under normal circumstances do support, a prevalence of vegetation typically adapted for life in saturated soil conditions. Wetlands include, but are not limited to, swamps, marshes, bogs, and similar areas. See WAC 173-351-130(4)(b).
Wash. Admin. Code § 173-351-100
Statutory Authority: RCW 70.95.020(3), 70.95.060(1), and 70.95.260(1), (6). 12-23-009 (Order 07-15), § 173-351-100, filed 11/8/12, effective 12/9/12. Statutory Authority: Chapter 70.95 RCW and 40 CFR 258 . 93-22-016, § 173-351-100, filed 10/26/93, effective 11/26/93.