Section 724.199  Compliance Monitoring Program

An owner or operator required to establish a compliance monitoring program under this Subpart F must, at a minimum, discharge the following responsibilities:

a)         The owner or operator must monitor the groundwater to determine whether regulated units are in compliance with the groundwater protection standard under Section 724.192.  The Agency must specify the groundwater protection standard in the facility permit, including the following:

1)         A list of the hazardous constituents identified under Section 724.193;

2)         Concentration limits under Section 724.194 for each of those hazardous constituents;

3)         The compliance point under Section 724.195; and

4)         The compliance period under Section 724.196.

b)         The owner or operator must install a groundwater monitoring system at the compliance point as specified under Section 724.195.  The groundwater monitoring system must comply with Section 724.197(a)(2), 724.197(b), and 724.197(c).

c)         The Agency must specify the sampling procedures and statistical methods appropriate for the constituents and facility, consistent with Section 724.197(g) and (h).

1)         The owner or operator must conduct a sampling program for each chemical parameter or hazardous constituent in accordance with Section 724.197(g).

2)         The owner or operator must record groundwater analytical data as measured and in a form necessary for the determination of statistical significance under Section 724.197(h) for the compliance period of the facility.

d)         The owner or operator must determine whether there is statistically significant evidence of increased contamination for any chemical parameter or hazardous constituent specified in the permit, pursuant to subsection (a), at a frequency specified under subsection (f).

1)         In determining whether statistically significant evidence of increased contamination exists, the owner or operator must use the methods specified in the permit under Section 724.197(h).  The methods must compare data collected at the compliance points to a concentration limit developed in accordance with Section 724.194.

2)         The owner or operator must determine whether there is statistically significant evidence of increased contamination at each monitoring well at the compliance point within a reasonable time period after completion of the sampling.  The Agency must specify that time period in the facility permit, after considering the complexity of the statistical test and the availability of laboratory facilities to perform the analysis of groundwater samples.

e)         The owner or operator must determine the groundwater flow rate and direction in the uppermost aquifer at least annually.

f)         The Agency must specify the frequencies for collecting samples and conducting statistical tests to determine statistically significant evidence of increased contamination in accordance with Section 724.197(g).

g)         The owner or operator must annually determine whether additional hazardous constituents from Appendix I, which could possibly be present but are not on the detection monitoring list in the permit, are actually present in the uppermost aquifer and, if so, at what concentration, pursuant to procedures in Section 724.198(f).  To accomplish this, the owner or operator must consult with the Agency to determine the following on a case-by-case basis:  which sample collection event during the year will involve enhanced sampling; the number of monitoring wells at the compliance point to undergo enhanced sampling; the number of samples to be collected from each of these monitoring wells; and, the specific constituents from Appendix I for which these samples must be analyzed.  If the enhanced sampling event indicates that Appendix I constituents are present in the ground water that are not already identified in the permit as monitoring constituents, the owner or operator may resample within one month or at an alternative site-specific schedule approved by the Agency, and repeat the analysis.  If the second analysis confirms the presence of new constituents, the owner or operator must report the concentration of these additional constituents to the Agency within seven days after the completion of the second analysis and add them to the monitoring list.  If the owner or operator chooses not to resample, then it must report the concentrations of these additional constituents to the Agency within seven days after completion of the initial analysis, and add them to the monitoring list.

h)         If the owner or operator determines, pursuant to subsection (d) that any concentration limits under Section 724.194 are being exceeded at any monitoring well at the point of compliance, the owner or operator must do the following:

1)         Notify the Agency of this finding in writing within seven days.  The notification must indicate what concentration limits have been exceeded.

2)         Submit to the Agency an application for a permit modification to establish a corrective action program meeting the requirements of Section 724.200 within 180 days, or within 90 days if an engineering feasibility study has been previously submitted to the Agency under Section 724.198(g)(5).  The application must at a minimum include the following information:

A)        A detailed description of corrective actions that will achieve compliance with the groundwater protection standard specified in the permit under subsection (a); and

B)        A plan for a groundwater monitoring program that will demonstrate the effectiveness of the corrective action.  Such a groundwater monitoring program may be based on a compliance monitoring program developed to meet the requirements of this Section.

i)          If the owner or operator determines, pursuant to subsection (d), that the groundwater concentration limits under this Section are being exceeded at any monitoring well at the point of compliance, the owner or operator may demonstrate that a source other than a regulated unit caused the contamination or that the detection is an artifact caused by an error in sampling, analysis, or statistical evaluation, or natural variation in groundwater.  In making a demonstration under this subsection (i), the owner or operator must do the following:

1)         Notify the Agency in writing within seven days that it intends to make a demonstration under this subsection (i);

2)         Within 90 days, submit a report to the Agency that demonstrates that a source other than a regulated unit caused the standard to be exceeded or that the apparent noncompliance with the standards resulted from error in sampling, analysis, or evaluation;

3)         Within 90 days, submit to the Agency an application for a permit modification to make any appropriate changes to the compliance monitoring program at the facility; and

4)         Continue to monitor in accord with the compliance monitoring program established under this Section.

j)          If the owner or operator determines that the compliance monitoring program no longer satisfies the requirements of this Section, the owner or operator must, within 90 days, submit an application for a permit modification to make any appropriate changes to the program.

(Source:  Amended at 42 Ill. Reg. 22614, effective November 19, 2018)