Bill 628

                    Current Status

Bill Number:               628
Ratification Number:       340
Act Number                 319
Introducing Body:          Senate
Subject:                   Relating to the classification of public
                           water and wastewater treatment plants

(A319, R340, S628)

AN ACT TO AMEND SECTION 40-23-150, CODE OF LAWS OF SOUTH CAROLINA, 1976, RELATING TO THE CLASSIFICATION OF PUBLIC WATER AND WASTEWATER TREATMENT PLANTS, SO AS TO ALLOW THE BOARD OF CERTIFICATION OF ENVIRONMENTAL SYSTEMS OPERATORS TO ESTABLISH MINIMUM GRADES OF CERTIFICATIONS FOR WATER SUPPLY AND WASTEWATER TREATMENT PLANT OPERATORS; TO AMEND SECTION 44-55-20, AS AMENDED, RELATING TO CERTAIN DEFINITIONS USED IN THE SAFE DRINKING WATER ACT, SO AS TO ADD "GOVERNMENT AGENCY" TO THE DEFINITION OF "PERSON"; TO AMEND SECTION 44-55-40, AS AMENDED, RELATING TO THE APPLICATION FOR CONSTRUCTION PERMITS, SO AS TO ALLOW THE DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND ENVIRONMENTAL CONTROL TO CLASSIFY "WATER SUPPLY TREATMENT PLANTS"; TO AMEND SECTION 48-1-110, RELATING TO PERMITS FOR WASTEWATER TREATMENT PLANTS, SO AS TO ALLOW THE DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND ENVIRONMENTAL CONTROL TO CLASSIFY "WASTEWATER TREATMENT PLANTS"; AND TO REPEAL SECTION 40-23-160 RELATING TO THE REQUIREMENT THAT WATER AND WASTEWATER TREATMENT PLANTS HAVE OPERATORS WITH CERTIFICATES OF A PROPER GRADE.

Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of South Carolina:

Classification of public water and wastewater plants

Section 1. Section 4-23-150 of the 1976 Code is amended to read:

"Section 40-23-150. (a) The Board of Certification of Environmental Systems Operators shall establish, in its regulations, the grade of certification which shall be required of the operators-in-charge of public water and wastewater treatment plants falling within each classification established by the Commissioner of Health and Environmental Control.

(b) The Board of Certification of Environmental Systems Operators shall consider the 'operator-in-charge' of a public water or waste water treatment plant to be the certified operator under whose supervision the routine and actual operation of a treatment plant is conducted."

Definition

Section 2. Subsection (f) of Section 44-55-20 of the 1976 Code, as last amended by Act 658 of 1976, is further amended to read:

"(f) 'Person' means an individual, partnership, copartnership, cooperative, firm, company, public or private corporation, political subdivision, government agency, trust, estate, joint structure company or any other legal entity or their legal representative, agent or assigns."

Classification of public water treatment plants

Section 3. Section 44-55-40 of the 1976 Code, as last amended by Act 658 of 1976, is further amended by adding:

"(j) The Commissioner of Health and Environmental Control shall classify all public water treatment plants giving due regard to the size, type, complexity, physical condition, source of supply and treatment process employed by such public water treatment plant, and the skill, knowledge and experience necessary for the operation of such plants. The classification shall be based on the following groups:

Group I. All community water supplies which serve less than fifty taps and do not treat the water and all noncommunity water supplies which do not treat the water.

Group II. All community water supplies which serve fifty or more taps and do not treat the water. Included are well supplied systems which only distribute the water and other systems which buy water from a supplier and distribute it to the customers.

Group III. All public water supplies that treat water by simple addition of a chemical for the purpose of pH adjustment or disinfection, or which control taste and color by carbon absorption.

Group IV. All public water supplies employing conventional treatment techniques in the treatment of surface or ground water.

Group V. All public water supplies employing advanced treatment techniques, such as reverse osmosis or activated carbon filtration, or all water systems which serve a total population in excess of two hundred thousand.

(k) It shall be unlawful for any person or municipal corporation to operate a public water treatment plant unless the operator-in-charge holds a valid certificate of registration issued by the Board of Certification of Environmental Systems Operators in a grade corresponding to the classification of the public water treatment plant supervised by him."

Permits required for construction extension, etc.

Section 4. Section 48-1-110 of the 1976 Code is amended to read:

"Section 48-1-110. (a) It shall be unlawful for any person, until plans therefor have been submitted to and approved by the Department and a written permit therefor shall have been granted to:

(1) Construct or install a disposal system or source;

(2) Make any change in, addition to or extension of any existing disposal system or part thereof that would materially alter the method or the effect of treating or disposing of the sewage, industrial waste or other wastes;

(3) Operate such new disposal systems or new source, or any existing disposal system or source;

(4) Increase the load through existing outlets of sewage, industrial waste or other wastes into the waters of the State.

(b) The Commissioner of Health and Environmental Control shall classify all public wastewater treatment plants, giving due regard to size, types of work, character and volume of waste to be treated, and the use and nature of the water resources receiving the plant effluent. Plants may be classified in a group higher than indicated at the discretion of the classifying officer by reason of the incorporation in the plant of complex features which cause the plant to be more difficult to operate than usual or by reason of a waste unusually difficult to treat, or by reason of conditions of flow or use of the receiving waters requiring an unusually high degree of plant operation control or for combinations of such conditions or circumstances. The classification shall be based on the following groups:

Group I. All wastewater treatment plants which include one or more of the following units: primary settling, chlorination, sludge removal, imhoff tanks, sand filters, sludge drying beds, land spraying, grinding, screening, oxidation and stabilization ponds.

Group II. All wastewater treatment plants which! include one or more of the units listed in Group I and, in addition, one or more of the following units: sludge digestion, aerated lagoon and sludge thickeners.

Group III. All wastewater treatment plants which include one or more of the units listed in Groups I and II and, in addition, one or more of the following: trickling filters, secondary settling, chemical treatment, vacuum filters, sludge elutriation, sludge incinerator, wet oxidation process, contact aeration and activated sludge (either conventional, modified or high rate processes).

Group IV. All wastewater treatment plants which include one or more of the units listed in Groups I, II and III and, in addition, treat waste having a raw five-day biochemical oxygen demand of five thousand pounds per day or more.

(c) It shall be unlawful for any person or municipal corporation to operate a public wastewater treatment plant unless the operator-in-charge holds a valid certificate of registration issued by the Board of Certification of Environmental Systems Operators in a grade corresponding to the classification of the public wastewater treatment plant supervised by him, except as hereinafter provided.

(d) It shall be unlawful for any person to operate an approved waste disposal facility in violation of the conditions of the permit to construct or the permit to discharge.

(e) It shall be unlawful for any person, directly or indirectly, negligently or willfully, to discharge any air contaminant or other substance in the ambient air that shall cause an undesirable level."

Repeal

Section 5. Section 40-23-160 of the 1976 Code is repealed.

Time Effective

Section 6. This act shall take effect upon approval by the Governor.