As used in Chapters 901:10-1 to 901:10-6 of the Administrative Code, the definitions contained in Chapter 903. of the Revised Code and the following definitions are applicable:
(A) "Act" means the Federal Water Pollution Control Act set forth at 33 USC sections 1251 to 1387.
(B) "Administrator" means the administrator of the United States environmental protection agency.
(C) "Agricultural drainage well" means a class five underground injection control well that receives or has the potential to receive drainage from irrigation tail-waters, animal yards, feedlots or dairy runoff and any related agricultural field runoff. An injection well is any bored, drilled, or driven shaft or dug hole whose depth is greater than the largest surface dimension.
(D) "Agricultural stormwater discharge" means a precipitation-related discharge from land used for agriculture as defined in section 1.61 of the Revised Code that conveys manure to surface waters of the state, provided that the manure has been land applied in accordance with site specific nutrient management practices that ensure appropriate agricultural utilization of nutrients in manure and in compliance with the best management practices set forth in Chapter 901:10-2 of the Administrative Code.
(E) "Agronomic rate" means a rate of application of nutrients from any source to the land or an amount of nutrients removed by crop based on:
(1) Nutrient content of the manure to be applied;
(2) Nutrient needs of the current or planned crops; and
(3) Nutrient holding capacity of the soil.
(F) "Ammonia (as N)" means ammonia reported as nitrogen and is listed with approved methods of analysis in table 1B at 40 CFR 136.
(G) "Applicant" means a person applying for a permit, permit transfer, permit modification, certificate, or submitting a claim of trade secrecy to the director.
(H) "Appropriate design plan" means a construction plan for a manure storage or treatment facility that has been accepted by the department as meeting best management practices and recognized industry standards for construction. This includes pre-engineered design plans for the design and construction of manure storage or treatment facilities that have been shown by the engineer, manufacturer, or distributor to conform to the requirements of Chapter 903. of the Revised Code.
(I) "Appropriate examination" means an examination that has been approved by the department.
(J) "Appropriate training program" means a training program that has been approved by the department.
(K) "Aquifer" means an underground consolidated or unconsolidated geologic formation or series of formations that are hydraulically connected and that have the capability to receive, store, and yield usable quantities of water to wells. Aquifer does not include perched groundwater.
(L) "Application" means the form and supporting documents used by an applicant to apply for an Ohio permit under this chapter.
(M) ''Average precipitation'' means the precipitation over the length of a storage period.
(N) "Beneficial organisms" mean predators, parasites, or pathogens that, during their life cycle, are used to suppress pest organisms or are otherwise beneficial.
(O) "Best management practice (BMP)" means a practice or combination of practices that is determined to be the most effective and practicable including technological, economic, and institutional controls as a means of complying with the applicable standards of Chapter 903. of the Revised Code. BMPs may include structural and nonstructural practices, conservation practices, prohibition of practices, schedules of activities, operation and maintenance procedures, and other management practices to prevent or reduce the pollution of waters of the state. BMPs also include treatment requirements, operating procedures, and practices to control facility site runoff, spillage, or leaks, sludge or waste disposal or drainage from raw material storage.
(P) "Biosecurity" refers to the policies and measures taken for protecting food supply and agricultural resources from contamination. Biosecurity also refers to those measures taken to keep disease agents out of populations, herds or groups of animals where they do not already exist. Significant areas on a facility in biosecurity are sanitation, isolation of incoming or returning animals, cleaning and disinfection and traffic control to limit disease spread between all facilities in the production unit.
(Q) "BOD5" means five-day biochemical oxygen demand and is listed with approved methods of analysis in table 1B at 40 CFR 136.
(R) "Buffer strip" means setback of an area of permanent dense vegetation, often planted along the edge or the contour of a land application area or a slope of the field usually for management practices, including practices to slow the flow of water runoff or enhance water filtration, and minimize the risk of any potential nutrients or pollutants from leaving the field and reaching surface waters. Types of buffers include filter strips, field borders, contour grass strips, vegetated cover and riparian buffers. Types of buffers include those described in "Ohio Natural Resource Conservation Service, Conservation Practice Standards Section IV, Field Office Technical Guide" (efotg.sc.egov.usda.gov/#/state/OH/documents) which includes the following standards:
(1) "Filter Strips/Areas, No. 393," October 2017;
(2) "Riparian Forest Buffer, No. 391," October 2017;
(3) "Field Border, No. 386," October 2017; and
(4) "Contour Buffer Strips, No. 332," October 2017.
(S) "Certificate of coverage (COC)" means a certificate issued by the director based on receipt of a notice of intent to be covered by rule 901:10-4-03 of the Administrative Code. The certificate of coverage is to be kept in the site office.
(T) "Certified livestock manager" means a person that has been duly certified by the department and currently holds a valid livestock manager certification.
(U) "Cold water habitat" means waters designated as coldwater aquatic life habitat by the Ohio environmental protection agency as set forth in Chapter 3745-1 of the Administrative Code.
(V) "Construction, for the purposes of stormwater construction permits," means the initial disturbance of soils associated with clearing, grading or excavating activities.
(W) "Department" means the Ohio department of agriculture, the director, or the director's authorized representative.
(X) "Design capacity" means the ability to house or maintain the total number of animals confined or to be confined in open lots, housed lots, feedlots, confinement houses, stall barns, free stall barns, milkrooms, milking centers, cowyards, medication pens, animal walkways, and stables.
(Y) "Dikes" mean both dikes and embankments.
(Z) "Director" means the director of the Ohio department of agriculture or the director's duly authorized representative.
(AA) "Discharge" means to add any pollutant or combination of pollutants from a point source to waters of the state.
(BB) "Distribution and utilization methods" means any method of manure management not under the control of the facility and may include, but not be limited to, land application, composting, vermiculture, and alternative fuel source uses.
(CC) "Ditch" means an excavation, either dug or natural, for the purpose of drainage or irrigation.
(DD) "Diversion" means a channel constructed across the slope for the purpose of intercepting surface runoff.
(EE) "Draft action" means a written statement that gives the director's intention with respect to the issuance of any permit, including a NPDES permit or a general permit, concerning which persons authorized by regulation or by section 903.09 of the Revised Code may file comments or request a public meeting, but which will not be the subject of an adjudication hearing before the director.
(FF) "Drinking water source protection area for a public water system means":
(1) For a public water system using groundwater, the surface and subsurface area surrounding the well(s) of the public water system that will provide water from an aquifer to the well(s) and that is delineated or endorsed by the Ohio environmental protection agency under Ohio's wellhead protection and source water assessment and protection programs; or
(2) For a public water system using surface water, the drainage area contributing surface water runoff to the water intakes of the public water system that is delineated or endorsed by the Ohio environmental protection agency under Ohio's source water assessment and protection program.
(GG) "Effluent limitation" means any restriction imposed by the director on quantities, discharge rates, and concentrations of pollutants which are discharged from point sources into waters of the state.
(HH) "Fabricated structure" means a type of manure storage or treatment facility constructed of engineered, man-made materials such as cast-in-place reinforced concrete, pre-cast concrete, masonry, timber, steel, fiberglass or plastic but does not mean a manure storage pond, a manure treatment lagoon or any of the components of either a manure storage pond or manure treatment lagoon such as described in paragraph (A)(9)(c)(ii) of rule 901:10-2-06 of the Administrative Code. A fabricated structure may contain either solid or liquid manure.
(II) "Fact sheet" means the statement of facts provided for in paragraph (A) of rule 901:10-6-05 of the Administrative Code relative to issuance of a "NPDES" permit.
(JJ) "Field surface furrow" means an area of short-term low-gradient non-erosive concentrated surface water runoff which occurs during or shortly after precipitation events and is not a river, stream, ditch or grassed waterway. Field surface furrows are areas that are normally planted with crops each year.
(KK) "Fecal coliform" means fecal coliform bacteria and is listed with approved methods of analysis in table 1A at 40 CFR 136.3.
(LL) "Floodplain" means the area designated by the federal emergency management agency adjoining any river, stream, watercourse or lake that has been or may be covered by floodwater.
(MM) "Floodway" means the channel of a river or watercourse and the adjacent land areas that must be reserved in order to discharge the base flood without cumulatively increasing the water surface elevation more than the allowable rise as designated by the federal emergency management agency, not exceeding one foot.
(NN) "Grassed waterway" means a natural or constructed channel that is shaped or graded to required dimensions and established with suitable vegetation to filter and convey runoff from fields, terraces, diversions or other concentrated water runoff without causing erosion or flooding.
(OO) "Ground water" means any water below the surface of the earth in a zone of saturation, but does not include perched water.
(PP) "Injection" means the placement of manure beneath the surface of the soil in the crop root zone but not extending beyond the boundary of a land application area and using equipment specifically designed for this purpose.
(QQ) "Installation" means the permanent fabrication, erection or installation of a manure storage or treatment facility or manure control equipment at the location where the manure storage or treatment facility or manure control equipment is intended to be used. The term does not include the following:
(1) The dismantling of existing equipment and control devices;
(2) The ordering of equipment and control devices;
(3) Off-site fabrication; and
(4) Site preparation.
(RR) "Integrated pest management" means a sustainable approach to pest management that combines the use of prevention, avoidance, monitoring and suppression strategies that minimizes and reduces the activity and presence of insects and rodents and keeps such activity and presence below economically damaging levels, minimizing chemical use to reduce pest resistance and the harmful effects of pest control on human health and environmental resources. Integrated pest management includes management, biological controls and the judicious use of chemical controls.
(SS) "Karst terrain" means an area where karst topography, including the characteristic surface and subterranean features, has developed as the result of dissolution of limestone, dolomite or other soluble rock. Characteristic physiographic features present in karst terrains may include the following:
(1) Sinkholes;
(2) Sinking streams;
(3) Caves.
(TT) "Land application areas" means land under the control of a concentrated animal feeding facility, whether it is owned, rented, leased or otherwise under the control of the owner or operator, to which manure, or process wastewater from the production area is or may be applied.
(UU) "Liquid manure" means manure containing more than or equal to eighty percent liquid.
(VV) "Livestock manure broker" means a person who is in the business of buying, selling, or transporting manure.
(WW) "Livestock manure applicator" means a person who is in the business of land applying manure.
(XX) "Manure application" means the placement of manure within the boundaries of a land application area by:
(1) Spraying or spreading onto the land surface;
(2) Injection below the land surface in the crop root zone using equipment specifically designed for this purpose; or
(3) Incorporation into the soil by means of the mixing of manure with the surface soil using standard agricultural practices, such as tillage.
(YY) "Manure management plan (MMP)" means a written plan that adheres to the terms in paragraph (A)(1) of rule 901:10-2-07 of the Administrative Code.
(ZZ) "Manure residuals" means settled manure solids combined with varying amounts of water and dissolved materials that remain after some form of treatment.
(AAA) "Manure spill" means any unexpected, unintended, abnormal or unapproved dumping, leakage, drainage, seepage, release or other loss of manure. The term does not include releases to impermeable surfaces when the substance does not migrate off the surface or penetrate the surface and enter the soil.
(BBB) "Manure storage area" means area of an animal feeding operation used by the owner or operator for the storage of manure produced by the operation. Manure storage areas include, but are not limited to, manure storage or treatment facilities, lagoons, runoff ponds, storage sheds, stockpiles, stacking areas, under house or pit storages, liquid impoundments, and composting piles.
(CCC) "Manure storage or treatment facility" means any excavated, diked or walled structure or combination of structures designed for the biological stabilization or treatment, energy recovery, nutrient recovery, and holding or storage of manure. These facilities include manure storage ponds, manure treatment lagoons, fabricated structures, anaerobic digesters, manure storage sheds, under house or pit storages, and composting areas.
(DDD) "Manure storage pond" means a type of manure storage or treatment facility consisting of an earthen impoundment made by constructing an embankment and/or excavating a pit, the purpose of which is to store or settle manure. A manure storage pond contains liquid manure.
(EEE) "Manure treatment lagoon" means a type of manure storage or treatment facility consisting of an earthen impoundment made by constructing an embankment and/or excavating a pit, the purpose of which is to biologically treat manure. A manure treatment lagoon contains liquid manure.
(FFF) "Modification" means one or more of the following:
(1) For "NPDES" permits, permits to install, and permits to operate: a material and substantial alteration of the facility including an increase of the number of animals that exceed the design capacity of an existing facility by ten per cent or more in excess of the design capacity set forth in the current permit, provided that in no case during a five year period will the facility's or facility's capacity be modified to increase by more than ten per cent in the aggregate.
(2) For permits to install and permits to operate: any structural change to the facility that will alter compliance with siting criteria as set forth in rule 901:10-2-02 of the Administrative Code;
(3) For permits to operate: any changes to the insect and rodent control plan approved by the director except as set forth in paragraphs (E) and (F) in rule 901:10-2-19 of the Administrative Code;
(4) For "NPDES" permits, permits to install, and permits to operate: Changes described in rule 901:10-1-09 of the Administrative Code as being grounds for modification of the permit type; or
(5) For "NPDES" permits, permits to install, and permits to operate: Changes to the manure storage or treatment facility that result from an expansion of the existing facility by ten per cent or more in excess of treatment or storage capacity.
(GGG) "Multi-year phosphorus application" means phosphorus applied to a field in excess of the crop needs for that year in accordance with appendix (E) to rule 901:10-2-14 of the Administrative Code.
(HHH) "Neighboring residence" means any occupied permanent dwelling acquired by its current owner prior to the application for a permit to install a new animal feeding operation or prior to the initial construction of an animal feeding operation for which an application for a permit to install expansion or modification has been submitted. A neighboring residence does not include any dwelling owned by the owner or operator of the production area of the facility at the time the permit to install application is submitted.
(III) New discharger means any building, structure, facility, or installation:
(1) From which there is or may be a discharge of pollutants;
(2) That did not commence the discharge of pollutants at a particular site prior to August 13, 1979;
(3) Which is not a new source; and
(4) Which has never received a final effective "NPDES" permit for discharges at that site.
(JJJ) "New source" is defined at 40 CFR 122.2 and new source criteria are as defined at 40 CFR 122.29(b).
(KKK) "Nitrate (as N)" means nitrate reported as nitrogen and is listed with approved methods of analysis in table 1B at 40 CFR 136.
(LLL) "Nutrient" means, for purposes of Chapter 903. of the Revised Code, nitrogen or phosphorus.
(MMM) "Operating record" means the written record of a facility and other activities conducted under a permit to operate maintained by the owner or operator as found in rule 901:10-2-16 of the Administrative Code.
(NNN) "Owner or operator," for the purposes of sections 903.02, 903.03, and 903.05 of the Revised Code, means the person that owns or operates the manure storage or treatment facility or the concentrated animal feeding facility, concentrated animal feeding operation, or major concentrated animal feeding facility as defined in divisions (M), (N), (O), and (EE) of section 903.01 of the Revised Code.
(1) Owner means the person who has the right to control or in fact controls management of the facility or the selection of officers, directors, or managers of the facility or holds or is able to control, either directly or through a holding company or subsidiary, by means of any of the following:
(a) The person holds at least twenty-five per cent of the equity of the facility which is a business concern that is a publicly traded corporation; or
(b) The person is any other business concern not covered in paragraph (NNN)(1)(a) of this rule and holds at least fifty per cent of the equity of the facility; or
(c) The person has provided a loan to the facility with provisions for the right to control management of the facility or actual control of the facility or the selection of officers, directors, or managers of the facility.
(2) Types of ownership may include the any of the following:
(a) "Business concern" means any corporation, association, firm, partnership, trust, or other form of commercial organization.
(i) "Sole proprietorship" means a form of business concern, other than a partnership or corporation, in which one person owns all the assets and is solely liable for all the debts of the business. Sole proprietor includes any individual or entity in which an individual is an applicant or permittee or prospective owner.
(ii) "Partner" means a business concern where any person holding a position as, or similar to, a general partner, as defined in division (E) of section 1782.01 of the Revised Code, or a limited partner, as defined in division (F) of section 1782.01 of the Revised Code, or persons who share profits and liability and have management powers of a partnership, as partnership is defined in section 1775.05 of the Revised Code.
(iii) "Publicly traded corporation" means a business concern that is a corporation:
(a) Whose shares are listed on a national securities exchange; or
(b) Whose shares are regularly quoted in an over-the-counter market by one or more members of a national; or affiliated securities association; or
(c) With fifty or more shareholders.
(b) "Equity" means any ownership interest in a business concern, including sole proprietorship, the shares of a partner, and stock in a corporation.
(c) "Loans" means notes, mortgages, or financial loans of any kind, secured or unsecured, unless held by a chartered lending institution.
(3) "Operator" means the person responsible for the direct control or overall operations of a facility, and whose duties or responsibilities involve, in whole or part, the management of the facility and the exercise of independent or discretionary judgment. An operator may include the person who has the right to control or in fact controls management of the facility or the selection of officers, directors, or managers of the facility.
(OOO) "Overflow" means the spillage of manure resulting from the filling of manure storage or treatment facilities beyond the point at which no more manure or stormwater can be contained by the facilities.
(PPP) "Past violations" for purposes of rule 901:10-5-04 of the Administrative Code means violations of Chapter 903. of the Revised Code and rules promulgated thereunder that have occurred on more than one occasion in the past five years.
(QQQ) "Pests" means detrimental insects and rodents.
(RRR) "Phosphorus (as P)" means the same as phosphate in this chapter.
(SSS) "Point source" means any discernible, confined, or discrete conveyance, including but not limited to, any pipe, ditch, channel, tunnel, conduit, well, discrete fissure, container, rolling stock, large concentrated animal feeding operation, medium concentrated animal feeding operation, small concentrated animal feeding operation, landfill leachate collection system, vessel or other flooding craft from which pollutants are or may be discharged. This term does not include return flows from irrigated agriculture or agricultural stormwater discharges.
(TTT) "Pollutant" means dredged spoil, solid waste, incinerator residue, filter backwash, sewage, garbage, sewage sludge, munitions, chemical wastes, biological materials, radioactive materials (except those regulated under the Atomic Energy Act of 1954, as amended (42 U.S.C. 2011 et. seq.), heat, wrecked or discarded equipment, rock, sand, cellar dirt and industrial, municipal, and agricultural waste discharged into water. It does not mean:
(1) Sewage from vessels; or
(2) Water, gas, or other material which is injected into a well to facilitate production of oil or gas, or water derived in association with oil and gas production and disposed of in a well, if the well used either to facilitate production or for disposal purposes is approved by authority of the state in which the well is located, and if the state determines that the injection or disposal will not result in the degradation of ground or surface water resources.
(UUU) "Professional engineer" means a person qualified to practice engineering according to the provisions of Chapter 4733. of the Revised Code and is presently registered by Ohio's board of registration for professional engineers and land surveyors.
(VVV) "Professional geologist" means a person qualified to practice geology and is presently registered by a state licensing or certification board as recognized by the american institute of professional geologists.
(WWW) "Precipitation event" means:
(1) A ten year, twenty-four hour rainfall event with a probable recurrence interval of once in ten years, or
(2) A twenty-five year, twenty-four hour rainfall event with a probable recurrence interval of once in twenty-five years; or
(3) A one-hundred year, twenty-four hour rainfall event.
(4) The terms ten year, twenty-four hour precipitation event, twenty-five year, twenty-four hour precipitation event, and one-hundred year, twenty-four hour precipitation event shall mean a precipitation event with a probable recurrence interval of once in ten years or twenty-five years or one hundred years, respectively, as defined by the national weather service in technical paper number forty, rainfall frequency atlas of the United States, May 1961, and subsequent amendments or equivalent regional or state precipitation probability information.
(XXX) "Public water system, or PWS," means a system which provides water for human consumption through pipes or other constructed conveyances for the provision to the public of piped water for human consumption, if such system has at least fifteen service connections or regularly serves an average of at least twenty-five individuals daily at least sixty days out of the year. Such term includes any collection, treatment, storage and distribution facilities under the control of the operator of such system and used primarily in connection with such system, any collection or pretreatment storage facilities not under such control which are used primarily in connection with such system and any water supply system serving an agriculture labor camp, as defined in section 3733.41 of the Revised Code. A public water system is either a "community water system" or a "non-community water system".
(1) "Community water system or CWS" means a public water system which serves at least fifteen service connections used by year-round residents or regularly serves at least twenty-five year-round residents.
(2) "Non-community water system or NCWS" means a public water system that is not a community water system.
(a) "Non-transient non-community water system or NTNCWS" means a public water system that is not a community water system and that regularly serves at least twenty-five of the same persons over six months per year.
(b) "Transient non-community water system or TNCWS" means a non-community public water system that does not regularly serve at least twenty-five of the same persons over six months of the year.
(YYY) "Reasonably available" means a person that is within a two hour drive of the facility and is available by telephone or by electronic communication.
(ZZZ) "Seasonal salmonid habitat" means rivers, streams and embankments designated a seasonal salmonid aquatic life habitat by the Ohio environmental protection agency as set forth in Chapter 3745-1 of the Administrative Code.
(AAAA) "Setback" means a specified distance from surface waters, wells, neighboring residences, or potential conduits to surface waters where manure, and process wastewater may not be land applied. Examples of conduits to surface waters include but are not limited to: Open tile line intake structures, sinkholes, and agricultural well heads.
(BBBB) "Solid manure" means manure containing greater than twenty per cent total solids.
(CCCC) "Sole source aquifer" means an aquifer designated by the United States environmental protection agency as the sole or principal source of drinking water for a given aquifer service area.
(DDDD) "Soil" means unconsolidated, erodible earth material consisting of minerals or organics.
(EEEE) "Soil horizon" means a layer of soil, approximately parallel to the soil surface, with characteristics produced by soil-forming processes.
(FFFF) "Staging or staging area" means the land application area used for placement of manure at the time of delivery in such a manner as to facilitate land application within fifteen days at that site. Staging includes the transfer of liquid manure from transport vehicles to land application equipment.
(GGGG) "Stockpile or stockpile area" means field placement of the amount of manure to be land applied to the next planned crop or crop rotation at a land application area.
(HHHH) "Storage or storage period" means the length of time anticipated between manure clean-out events provided that manure storage does not mean any form of manure containment for a period of fourteen days or less.
(IIII) "Substantial compliance when referring to compliance with the provisions of a permit," means following the effluent limitations and best management practices set forth in the permit.
(JJJJ) "Surface waters of the state" means all streams, lakes, ponds, marshes, watercourses, wetlands, springs, drainage systems, and other bodies or accumulations of surface water, natural or artificial, that are situated wholly or partly within, or border upon, this state, or are within its jurisdiction, except those private waters that do not combine or effect a junction with natural surface or underground waters.
(KKKK) "Total coliform" means all coliform bacteria and is listed with approved methods of analysis in table 1A at 40 CFR 136.3.
(LLLL) "Total dissolved solids" means nonfilterable residue and is listed with approved methods of analysis in table 1B at 40 CFR 136.
(MMMM) "Trade secrets" means information, including the whole or any portion or phase of any scientific or technical information, design, process, procedure, formula, pattern, compilation, program, device, method, technique, improvement, business information or plans, financial information, listing of names, addresses, or telephone numbers that satisfies both of the following:
(1) It derives independent economic value, actual or potential, from not being generally known to and not being readily ascertainable through proper means by other persons who can obtain economic value from its disclosure or use.
(2) The person claiming the secrets has taken reasonable efforts under the circumstances to maintain secrecy.
(NNNN) "Uncovered" means any manure storage or treatment facility that allows exposure of manure to precipitation events or to the run-on or run-off from precipitation events.
(OOOO) "Variance" means a type of permit modification that applies to "NPDES" permits.
(PPPP) "Zoonotic diseases" means illnesses that can be transmitted between humans and animals.
(QQQQ) "40 C.F.R." means Title 40 of the Code of Federal Regulations effective July 1, 2010.
Last updated January 2, 2025 at 8:16 AM