When sewage sludge (often called biosolids) from a treatment works is spread on land, more than one party is usually involved: the plant or company that prepares it, the person who applies it, and the person who owns or leases the field. For Wastewater Operator Certification study, a practical question is who has to tell whom what. EPA's land application rule answers it in 40 CFR 503.12, General requirements, paragraphs (d) to (j). This explainer reads those paragraphs, with the definitions and the applicability section they depend on, as they stand in the eCFR. It does not describe a rule change. Under 40 CFR 503.5, a State may set more stringent or additional requirements and the permitting authority may impose added requirements case by case, so check them too.
Who counts as the "person who prepares" and the "person who applies"?
503.9(r) defines a person who prepares sewage sludge as "either the person who generates sewage sludge during the treatment of domestic sewage in a treatment works or the person who derives a material from sewage sludge." A "person" in 503.9(q) is broad: "an individual, association, partnership, corporation, municipality, State or Federal agency, or an agent or employee thereof."
Most of the notices below are about bulk sewage sludge. 503.11(e) defines it as "sewage sludge that is not sold or given away in a bag or other container for application to the land."
What must the preparer tell the applier?
Two things. First, 503.12(f): when a preparer provides bulk sewage sludge to a person who applies it to the land, the preparer "shall provide the person who applies the sewage sludge notice and necessary information to comply with the requirements in this subpart."
Second, 503.12(d) adds a written notice about nitrogen when the bulk sewage sludge is applied to "agricultural land, forest, a public contact site, or a reclamation site": the preparer "shall provide the person who applies the bulk sewage sludge written notification of the concentration of total nitrogen (as N on a dry weight basis) in the bulk sewage sludge."
On the applier's side, 503.12(e)(1) says the person who applies sewage sludge to the land "shall obtain information needed to comply with the requirements in this subpart."
What if one preparer hands sludge to another preparer?
503.12(g) covers that chain: "When a person who prepares sewage sludge provides the sewage sludge to another person who prepares the sewage sludge, the person who provides the sewage sludge shall provide the person who receives the sewage sludge notice and necessary information to comply with the requirements in this subpart."
What must the applier tell the land owner?
503.12(h): "The person who applies bulk sewage sludge to the land shall provide the owner or lease holder of the land on which the bulk sewage sludge is applied notice and necessary information to comply with the requirements in this subpart."
When does the permitting authority get a written notice?
In two cases, each "prior to the initial application" of bulk sewage sludge to the site by the applier. 503.9(p) defines the permitting authority as "either EPA or a State with an EPA-approved sludge management program."
Sludge applied in another State (503.12(i)). Any person who prepares bulk sewage sludge "that is applied to land in a State other than the State in which the bulk sewage sludge is prepared" must give written notice to the permitting authority for the State where it is proposed to be applied. The notice must include:
- the location of each land application site, "by either street address or latitude and longitude";
- "The approximate time period bulk sewage sludge will be applied to the site";
- the name, address, telephone number and National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System permit number (if appropriate) for the person who prepares the bulk sewage sludge; and
- the same items for the person who will apply it.
Sludge subject to the cumulative pollutant loading rates (503.12(j)). Any person who applies bulk sewage sludge subject to the cumulative pollutant loading rates in 503.13(b)(2) must give written notice to the permitting authority for the State where it will be applied, and "the permitting authority shall retain and provide access to the notice." This notice must include the location of the site (street address or latitude and longitude) and the name, address, telephone number and NPDES permit number (if appropriate) of the person who will apply the bulk sewage sludge.
For the same kind of sludge, 503.12(e)(2)(i) also requires the person who proposes to apply it to contact the permitting authority for the State in which it will be applied first "to determine whether bulk sewage sludge subject to the cumulative pollutant loading rates in § 503.13(b)(2) has been applied to the site since July 20, 1993."
Do these notices apply to every biosolids product?
No. 503.10 lists cases where "the general requirements in § 503.12" (and the management practices in 503.14) do not apply. For bulk sewage sludge, 503.10(b)(1) gives the conditions: the sludge meets "the ceiling concentrations in Table 1 of § 503.13 and the pollutant concentrations in Table 3 of § 503.13; the Class A pathogen requirements in § 503.32(a); and one of the vector attraction reduction requirements in § 503.33(b)(1) through (b)(8)." Paragraphs (c) and (e) to (f) set the same conditions for bulk material derived from sewage sludge and for sludge or derived material sold or given away in a bag or other container, and paragraphs (d) and (g) exclude derived material from the whole subpart when the sewage sludge it came from meets those conditions.
That exemption is not absolute. Under 503.10(b)(2), "The Regional Administrator of EPA or, in the case of a State with an approved sludge management program, the State Director, may apply any or all of the general requirements in § 503.12 and the management practices in § 503.14" to that bulk sewage sludge "on a case-by-case basis" after determining that they are needed to protect public health and the environment; 503.10(c)(2) says the same for derived bulk material.
Where to practice
The rest of Subpart B, including the pollutant limits, management practices, monitoring, records and reports, is quoted in our biosolids use and disposal study guide and its practice test. The Class A pathogen requirements and the vector attraction reduction options named above are in the pathogens and vector attraction study guide. goraedu does not certify wastewater operators, and our questions are not a state operator certification exam.