NJ DEPARTMENT of ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION
DIVISION OF WATER QUALITY

Notice of Substantial Changes on Adoption to Proposed Amendments
New Jersey Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NJPDES) rules; Treatment Works Approvals, Capacity Assurance Program, Sewer Ban Program – N.J.A.C. 7:14A-22

PUBLIC NOTICE
Take notice that the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (Department) is proposing substantial changes on adoption to the proposed amendments, published October 19, 2015 (see 47 N.J.R. 2582(a)), to the Capacity Assurance Program within the NJPDES rules at N.J.A.C. 7:14A-22.16.

A statement of the substance of the proposed changes on adoption follows: The Department is proposing to require the permittee of the treatment plant, in coordination with participating municipalities and sewage authorities, to conduct the capacity analysis and submit the capacity analysis report to the Department when the average actual flow reaches or exceeds 95 percent of the permitted flow of the treatment plant (the CAP threshold). This is a reduction from the 100 percent CAP threshold originally proposed.

Because the Department is lowering the CAP threshold to 95 percent of permitted flow, the Department proposes to amend N.J.A.C. 7:14A-22.16(a)1 and (c)2 on adoption.  A facility with flow above 95 percent of permitted flow must show how it will maintain flow below permitted flow.  A facility with flow above 100 percent of permitted flow must show how it will reduce (and thereafter maintain) flow below permitted flow.

A facility that triggers a CAP is subject to quarterly reporting, as set forth at proposed N.J.A.C. 7:14A-22.16(a)3.  The rule as originally proposed does not require the permittee to demonstrate that it implemented any of the selected alternative measures in the approved plan as part of its request for relief from the reporting obligations.  In this notice of substantial change, the Department is amending N.J.A.C. 7:14A-22.16(h) to conform it to the proposed 95 percent CAP threshold, and to require a permittee to demonstrate that it implemented the selected alternative measures in the approved plan.

The public notice of substantial changes on adoption is scheduled to be published in the New Jersey Register dated November 7, 2016.  A copy of the public notice of substantial changes on adoption is available at: t https://dep.nj.gov/wp-content/uploads/rules/proposals/20161107a.pdf and from LexisNexis free public access to the New Jersey Register, https://www.lexisnexis.com/hottopics/njoal/.

A public hearing concerning the public notice of substantial changes on adoption is scheduled as follows:

Friday, December 9, 2016 at 9:00 A.M.
New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection
3rd Floor Large Conference Room
401 East State Street, Trenton, New Jersey 08625

Submit written comments by January 6, 2017 electronically at https://nj.gov/dep/rules/comments/.  The Department encourages electronic submittal of comments.  In the alternative, comments may be submitted in hard copy to:

Alice A. Previte, Esq.
ATTN: DEP Docket No. 08-15-09
NJ Department of Environmental Protection
Office of Legal Affairs
Mail Code 401-04L; PO Box 402
401 East State Street, 7th Floor
Trenton, NJ 08625-0402