Arizona § 49-244 - Point of compliance

§ 49-244. Point of compliance

The director shall designate a point or points of compliance for each facility receiving a permit under this article.  For the purposes of this chapter, the point of compliance is the point at which compliance must be determined for either the aquifer water quality standards or, if an aquifer water quality standard is exceeded at the time the aquifer protection permit is issued, the requirement that there be no further degradation of the aquifer as provided in section 49-243, subsection B, paragraph 3.  The point of compliance shall be a vertical plane downgradient of the facility that extends through the uppermost aquifers underlying that facility.  For an aquifer that has no existing or reasonably foreseeable drinking water beneficial use, the director may establish monitoring for compliance in another aquifer in lieu of monitoring in the uppermost aquifer.  The point of compliance shall be determined as follows:

1. Except as provided in paragraph 2 of this section, for a pollutant that is a hazardous substance the point of compliance is the limit of the pollutant management area. The pollutant management area is the limit projected in the horizontal plane of the area on which pollutants are or will be placed.  The pollutant management area includes horizontal space taken up by any liner, dike or other barrier designed to contain pollutants in the facility.  If the facility contains more than one discharging activity, the pollutant management area is described by an imaginary line circumscribing the several discharging activities.

2. A point of compliance for hazardous substances other than that identified in paragraph 1 of this section may be approved by the director if the facility owner or operator can demonstrate either:

(a) That it is technically impracticable or inappropriate considering the likely fate or transport of a pollutant in an aquifer to monitor at the boundary specified in paragraph 1 of this section.

(b) The alternative point of compliance will allow installation and operation of the monitoring facilities that are substantially less costly. Such a request by a facility owner or operator under this paragraph must be supported by an analysis of the volume and characteristics of the pollutants that may be discharged and the ability of the vadose zone to attenuate the particular pollutants that may be discharged, including such factors as climate, hydrology, geology and soil chemistry. In no event shall an alternative point of compliance be further from the boundary specified in paragraph 1 of this section than is necessary for purposes of this paragraph, subdivisions (a) and (b) of this paragraph, and in no event shall it be so located as to result in an increased threat to an existing or reasonably foreseeable drinking water source.  In addition an alternate compliance point for a hazardous substance pursuant to this subdivision shall never be further downgradient than any of the following:

(i) The property boundary.

(ii) Any point of an existing or reasonably foreseeable future drinking water source.

(iii) Seven hundred fifty feet from the edge of the pollutant management area.

3. For pollutants that are not hazardous substances the director, in identifying a point of compliance, shall take into account the volume and characteristics of the pollutants, the practical difficulties associated with implementation of applicable water pollution control requirements, whether the facility is a new facility or an existing facility, water conservation and augmentation and the site-specific characteristics of the facility, including, but not limited to, climate, hydrology, geology, soil chemistry and pollutant levels in the aquifer.  The point of compliance must be so located as to ensure protection of all current and reasonably foreseeable future uses of the aquifer.