(1)
No person shall discharge any pollutant into any state water from a point source
without first having obtained a permit from the division for such discharge, and no
person shall discharge into a ditch or man-made conveyance for the purpose of
evading the requirement to obtain a permit under this article. No person covered by
this article shall use or dispose of biosolids, except as authorized by regulations
that shall not be more restrictive than the requirements adopted for solid wastes
disposal sites and facilities pursuant to part 1 of article 20 of title 30, C.R.S., except
as necessary to be consistent with section 405 of the federal act. Existing
authorization for the use or disposal of biosolids shall continue until permits are
issued in accordance with this part 5. Each application for a permit duly filed under
the federal act shall be deemed to be a permit application filed under this article,
and each permit issued pursuant to the federal act shall be deemed to be a
temporary permit issued under this article which shall expire upon expiration of the
federal permit.
(2) (a) The division shall examine applications for and may issue, suspend,
revoke, modify, deny, and otherwise administer permits for the discharge of
pollutants into state waters and for the use and disposal of biosolids. The
administration shall be in accordance with this article 8 and rules adopted by the
commission. Until modified pursuant to this article 8, final permits shall be
governed by their existing limitations.
(b) Upon receipt of an application to modify a permit, the division shall limit
its review and, as appropriate, its approval or denial of the application, to the scope
of the specific requests contained in the application.
(3) The commission shall promulgate such regulations as may be necessary
and proper for the orderly and effective administration of permits for the discharge
of pollutants, which regulations shall include, but not be limited to, procedures for
the issuance of a variance pursuant to section 25-8-503 (4), and shall also require
that, in appropriate circumstances, the effluent limitations contained in a permit
shall be adjusted to account for the pollutants contained in the discharger's intake
water. Such regulations shall be consistent with the provisions of this article and
with federal requirements and shall be in furtherance of the policy contained in
section 25-8-102. Such regulations shall establish a permit process that allows
permit conditions to remain in effect as long as circumstances dictate those
conditions. In order to comply with federal requirements, but not to lessen
compliance with federal standards, such permit process may require periodic
renewal of permits even where minimal or no changes in the permit conditions are
necessary. Renewal shall be required where more than minimal changes in permit
conditions are necessary. The regulations may pertain to and implement, among
other matters, permit and permit application contents, procedures, requirements,
and restrictions with respect to the following:
(a) Identification and address of the owner and operator of the activity,
facility, or process from which the discharge is to be permitted;
(b) Location and quantity and quality characteristics of the permitted
discharge;
(c) Effluent limitations and conditions for treatment prior to discharge to a
publicly owned treatment works;
(d) Monitoring as well as record-keeping and reporting requirements
consistent with standard procedures and methods established by the division;
(e) Schedules of compliance;
(f) Procedures to be followed by division personnel for entering and
inspecting premises;
(g) Submission of pertinent plans and specifications for the facility, process,
or activity which is the source of a waste discharge;
(h) Restrictions on transfers of the permit;
(i) Procedures to be followed in the event of expansion or modification of the
process, facility, or activity from which the discharge occurs or the quality, quantity,
or frequency of the discharge;
(j) Duration of the permit and renewal procedures using a risk-based
approach that limits the amount of work required to renew permits that have
minimal or no changes in the permit conditions to streamline the renewal process;
(k) Authority of the division to require changes in plans and specifications for
control facilities as a condition for the issuance of a permit;
(l) Identification of control regulations over which the permit takes
precedence and identification of control regulations over which a permit may never
take precedence;
(m) Notice requirements of any intent to construct, install, or alter any
process, facility, or activity that is likely to result in a new or altered discharge;
(n) Effectiveness under this article of permit applications submitted to and
permits issued by the federal government under the federal act.
(4) Nothing in any permit shall ever be construed to prevent or limit the
application of any emergency power of the division.
(5) Every permit issued for a domestic wastewater treatment works shall
contain such terms and conditions as the division determines to be necessary or
desirable to assure continuing compliance with applicable control regulations. Such
terms and conditions may require that whenever deemed necessary by the division
to assure such compliance the permittee shall:
(a) Require pretreatment of effluent from industrial, governmental, or
commercial facilities, processes, and activities before such effluent is received into
the gathering and collection system of the permittee;
(b) Prohibit any connection to any municipal permittee's interceptors and
collection system that would result in receipt by such municipal permittee of any
effluent other than sewage required by law to be received by such permittee;
(c) Include specified terms and conditions of its permit in all contracts for
receipt by the permittee of any effluent not required to be received by a municipal
permittee;
(d) Initiate engineering and financial planning for expansion of the domestic
wastewater treatment works whenever throughput and treatment reaches eighty
percent of design capacity;
(e) Commence construction of such domestic wastewater treatment works
expansion whenever throughput and treatment reaches ninety-five percent of
design capacity or, in the case of a municipality, either commence such
construction or cease issuance of building permits within such municipality until
such construction is commenced; except that building permits may continue to be
issued for any construction which would not have the effect of increasing the input
of domestic wastewater to the sewage treatment works of the municipality
involved. The term commence construction, as used in this paragraph (e), includes
execution of, and commencement of work under, contracts for engineering design,
plans, and specifications for erection, building, alteration, remodeling,
improvement, or extension of treatment works and commitment to the completion
of construction of such treatment works prior to exceeding permit effluent
limitations based upon facility design and capacity or execution of a contract for
the construction thereof.
(6) Inclusion of the requirements authorized by paragraph (d) of subsection
(5) of this section shall be presumed unnecessary to assure compliance upon a
showing that the area served by a domestic wastewater treatment works has a
stable or declining population; but this provision shall not be construed as
preventing periodic review by the division should it be felt that growth is occurring
or will occur in the area.