AUTHORITY: Implementing Section 17.4 and authorized by Section 27 of the Environmental Protection Act [415 ILCS 5/17.4 and 27].
SOURCE: Adopted in R89-5 at 16 Ill. Reg. 1639, effective January 10, 1992, amended in R96-18 at 21 Ill. Reg. 6569, effective May 8, 1997, amended in R00-17 at 25 Ill. Reg. 10350, effective September 1, 2001; amended in R18-26 at 47 Ill. Reg. 7681, effective May 16, 2023.
SUBPART A: GENERAL
Section 617.101 Purpose
This Part establishes the general requirements and standards for regulated recharge areas as delineated and adopted by the Illinois Pollution Control Board under Section 17.4 of the Illinois Environmental Protection Act (Act) [415 ILCS 5/17.4].
(Source: Amended at 47 Ill. Reg. 7681, effective May 16, 2023)
Section 617.102 Definitions
Unless a different meaning of a word or term is clear from the context, the definitions of words or terms in this Part are the same as those used in 35 Ill. Adm. Code 615.102, 35 Ill. Adm. Code 616.102, the Act, or the Illinois Groundwater Protection Act [415 ILCS 55].
"Agency" means the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency.
"Agrichemical facility" means a site used for commercial purposes, where bulk pesticides are stored in a single container in excess of 300 gallons of liquid pesticide or 300 pounds of dry pesticide for more than 30 days per year or where more than 300 gallons of liquid pesticide or 300 pounds of dry pesticide are being mixed, repackaged or transferred from one container to another within a 30-day period or a site where bulk fertilizers are stored, mixed, repackaged or transferred from one container to another. [415 ILCS 5/3.110]
"Board" means the Illinois Pollution Control Board.
"Chemical substance" means any "extremely hazardous substance" listed in Appendix A of 40 CFR 355 that is present at a facility in an amount in excess of its threshold planning quantity, any "hazardous substance" listed in 40 CFR 302.4 that is present at a facility in an amount in excess of its reportable quantity or in excess of its threshold planning quantity if it is also an "extremely hazardous substance", and any petroleum including crude oil or any fraction thereof that is present at a facility in an amount exceeding 100 pounds unless it is specifically listed as a "hazardous substance" or an "extremely hazardous substance". "Chemical substance" does not mean any substance to the extent it is used for personal, family, or household purposes or to the extent it is present in the same form as a product packaged for distribution to and use by the general public. [430 ILCS 45/3]
"Class V injection well" means injection wells not included in Class I, II, III, or IV. Class V wells include:
air conditioning return flow wells used to return to the supply aquifer the water used for heating or cooling in a heat pump;
cesspools, including multiple dwelling, community, or regional cesspools, or other devices that receive wastes that have an open bottom and sometimes have perforated sides. The Underground Injection Control (UIC) requirements do not apply to single-family residential cesspools nor to non-residential cesspools that receive solely sanitary wastes and have the capacity to serve fewer than 20 persons a day;
cooling water return flow wells used to inject water previously used for cooling;
drainage wells used to drain surface fluid, primarily storm runoff, into a subsurface formation;
dry wells used for the injection of wastes into a subsurface
formation;
recharge wells used to replenish the water in an aquifer;
salt water intrusion barrier wells used to inject water into a fresh water aquifer to prevent the intrusion of salt water into the fresh water;
sand backfill and other backfill wells used to inject a mixture of water and sand, mill tailings, or other solids into mined-out portions of subsurface mines whether or not what is injected is a radioactive waste;
septic system wells used to inject the waste or effluent from a multiple dwelling, business establishment, community, or regional business establishment septic tank. The UIC requirements do not apply to single-family residential septic system wells that are used solely for the disposal of sanitary waste and have the capacity to serve fewer than 20 persons a day;
subsidence control wells (not used for oil or natural gas production) used to inject fluids into a non-oil- or non-gas-producing zone to reduce or eliminate subsidence associated with the overdraft of fresh water;
radioactive waste disposal wells other than Class IV;
injection wells associated with the recovery of geothermal energy for heating, aquaculture, and production of electric power;
wells used for solution mining of conventional mines such as stopes leaching;
wells used to inject spent brine into the same formation from which it was withdrawn after extraction of halogens or their salts;
injection wells used in experimental technologies; and
injection wells used for in-situ recovery of lignite, coal, tar sands, and oil shale. (40 CFR 146.5)
"Container" means any portable device (including 55-gallon drums) in which material is stored, treated, disposed of, or otherwise handled. The term "container" does not include a vehicle used to transport material.
"Existing Potential Tertiary Source of Groundwater Contamination" means a potential tertiary source of groundwater contamination that is not new.
"Facility" means the buildings and all real property contiguous thereto, and the equipment at a single location used for the conduct of business. [430 ILCS 45/3]
"Generator (RCRA)" means any person, by site location, whose act or process produces "hazardous waste" identified or listed in 35 Ill. Adm. Code 721 (see 35 Ill. Adm. Code 702.110 and 35 Ill. Adm. Code 730.103).
"Household waste" means any waste material (including garbage and trash) derived from households (including single and multiple residences, hotels and motels, bunkhouses, ranger stations, crew quarters, campgrounds, picnic grounds, and day-use recreation areas).
"IEMA" means the Illinois Emergency Management Agency.
"Low-level radioactive waste" means radioactive waste not classified as high-level radioactive waste, transuranic waste, spent nuclear fuel, or byproduct material as defined in Section 11e(2) of the Atomic Energy Act of 1954 (42 U.S.C. 2014) [420 ILCS 20/3].
"Major Potential Source" means any unit at a facility or site not currently subject to a removal or remedial action that stores, accumulates, landfills, or land treats waste, other than household waste, that could cause contamination of groundwater and is generated on the site.
"Municipal solid waste landfill unit" or "MSWLF Unit" means a contiguous area of land or an excavation that receives household waste, and is not a land application unit, surface impoundment, injection well, or any pile of noncontainerized accumulations of solid, nonflowing waste that is used for treatment or storage. An MSWLF unit may also receive other types of RCRA Subtitle D wastes, such as commercial solid waste, nonhazardous sludge, small quantity generator waste, and industrial solid waste. Such a landfill may be publicly or privately owned. An MSWLF unit may be a new MSWLF unit, an existing MSWLF unit, or a lateral expansion. A sanitary landfill is subject to regulation as an MSWLF unit if it receives household waste. [415 ILCS 5/3.285]
"New Major Potential Source" means:
a major potential source that is not in existence or for which construction has not commenced at its location as of September 1, 2001; or
a major potential source that expands laterally beyond the currently permitted boundary or, if the potential source is not permitted, the boundary in existence as of September 1, 2001; or
a major potential source that is part of a facility that undergoes major reconstruction. Reconstruction is considered to have taken place if the fixed capital cost of the new components, constructed within a 2-year period, exceeds 50% of the fixed capital cost of a comparable entirely new facility as of September 1, 2001.
"New Potential Tertiary Source of Groundwater Contamination" means:
a Potential Tertiary Source that is not in existence or for which construction has not commenced at its location as of September 1, 2001; or
a Potential Tertiary Source that expands laterally beyond the currently permitted boundary or, if the tertiary source is not permitted, the boundary in existence as of September 1, 2001; or
a Potential Tertiary Source that is part of a facility that undergoes major reconstruction after September 1, 2001. Reconstruction is considered to have taken place if the fixed capital cost of the new components, constructed within a 2-year period, exceeds 50% of the fixed capital cost of a comparable entirely new facility.
"Potential Tertiary Source of Groundwater Contamination" means any unit at a facility or site not currently subject to a removal or remedial action that stores or accumulates any chemical substance during any calendar year and that is not a potential primary or secondary source of groundwater contamination.
"Regulated recharge area" means a compact geographic area, as determined by the Board, the geology of which renders a potable resource groundwater particularly susceptible to contamination. [415 ILCS 5/3.390]
"Setback zone" means a geographic area, designated pursuant to (the) Act, containing a potable water supply well or a potential source or potential route, having a continuous boundary, and within which certain prohibitions or regulations are applicable in order to protect groundwaters. [415 ILCS 5/3.450]
"Sinkhole" means any natural depression formed as a result of subsurface removal of soil or rock materials and causing the formation of a collapse feature that exhibits internal drainage. The existence of a sinkhole must be indicated by the uppermost closed depression contour lines on the United States Geological Survey 7.5-minute topographic quadrangle maps or as determined by field investigation.
"Site" means any location, place, tract of land, and facilities, including buildings, and improvements used for purposes subject to regulation or control by (the) Act or regulations thereunder. [415 ILCS 5/3.460]
"Unit" means any device, mechanism, equipment, or area (exclusive of land utilized only for agricultural production). This term includes secondary containment structures and their contents at agrichemical facilities. [415 ILCS 5/3.515]
"Unit boundary" means a line at the land's surface circumscribing the area on which, above which, or below which, waste, pesticides, fertilizers, road oils, or de-icing agents will be placed during the active life of the facility. The space taken up by any liner, dike, or other barrier designed to contain waste, pesticides, fertilizers, road oils, or de-icing agents falls within the unit boundary.
"Waste" means any garbage, sludge from a waste treatment plant, water supply treatment plant, or air pollution control facility or other discarded material, including solid, liquid, semi-solid, or contained gaseous material resulting from industrial, commercial, mining and agricultural operations, and from community activities, but does not include solid or dissolved material in domestic sewage, or solid or dissolved material in irrigation return flows, or coal combustion by-products as defined in Section 3.135 of the Act, or in industrial discharges which are point sources subject to permits under section 402 of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act, as now or hereafter amended, or source, special nuclear, or by-product materials as defined by the Atomic Energy Act of 1954 as amended (68 Stat. 921) (42 U.S.C. 2011 et seq.) or any solid or dissolved material from any facility subject to the Federal Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act of 1977 (P.L. 95-87) or the rules and regulations thereunder or any law or rule or regulation adopted by the State of Illinois pursuant thereto. [415 ILCS 5/3.535]
(Source: Amended at 47 Ill. Reg. 7681, effective May 16, 2023)