H.B. 14 Enrolled

UNDERGROUND WASTEWATER DISPOSAL SYSTEMS
2001 GENERAL SESSION
STATE OF UTAH
Sponsor: Thomas V. Hatch
This act modifies the Water Quality Act to require certification for individuals who design,
inspect, maintain, or conduct percolation tests or soils tests for underground wastewater
disposal systems. This act directs the Water Quality Board to make rules to implement the
certification program. A fee is imposed on new underground wastewater disposal systems,
and the Underground Wastewater Disposal System Restricted Account is created. This act
takes effect on July 1, 2001.
This act affects sections of Utah Code Annotated 1953 as follows:
AMENDS:
19-5-102, as last amended by Chapter 114, Laws of Utah 1995
19-5-104, as last amended by Chapter 282, Laws of Utah 2000
ENACTS:
19-5-121, Utah Code Annotated 1953
19-5-122, Utah Code Annotated 1953
19-5-123, Utah Code Annotated 1953
Be it enacted by the Legislature of the state of Utah:
Section 1. Section 19-5-102 is amended to read:
19-5-102. Definitions.
As used in this chapter:
(1) "Board" means the Water Quality Board created in Section 19-1-106 .
(2) "Contaminant" means any physical, chemical, biological, or radiological substance or
matter in water.
(3) "Discharge" means the addition of any pollutant to any waters of the state.
(4) "Discharge permit" means a permit issued to a person who:
(a) discharges or whose activities would probably result in a discharge of pollutants into
the waters of the state; or

(b) generates or manages sewage sludge.
(5) "Disposal system" means a system for disposing of wastes, and includes sewerage
systems and treatment works.
(6) "Effluent limitations" means any restrictions, requirements, or prohibitions, including
schedules of compliance established under this chapter which apply to discharges.
(7) "Executive secretary" means the executive secretary of the board.
[(9)] (8) "Point source":
(a) means any discernible, confined, and discrete conveyance, including but not limited to
any pipe, ditch, channel, tunnel, conduit, well, discrete fissure, container, rolling stock, concentrated
animal feeding operation, or vessel or other floating craft, from which pollutants are or may be
discharged; and
(b) does not include return flows from irrigated agriculture.
[(10)] (9) "Pollution" means any man-made or man-induced alteration of the chemical,
physical, biological, or radiological integrity of any waters of the state, unless the alteration is
necessary for the public health and safety.
[(11)] (10) "Publicly owned treatment works" means any facility for the treatment of
pollutants owned by the state, its political subdivisions, or other public entity.
[(12)] (11) "Schedule of compliance" means a schedule of remedial measures, including an
enforceable sequence of actions or operations leading to compliance with this chapter.
[(13)] (12) "Sewage sludge" means any solid, semisolid, or liquid residue removed during
the treatment of municipal wastewater or domestic sewage.
[(14)] (13) "Sewerage system" means pipelines or conduits, pumping stations, and all other
constructions, devices, appurtenances, and facilities used for collecting or conducting wastes to a
point of ultimate disposal.
[(15)] (14) "Treatment works" means any plant, disposal field, lagoon, dam, pumping
station, incinerator, or other works used for the purpose of treating, stabilizing, or holding wastes.
[(16)] (15) "Underground injection" means the subsurface emplacement of fluids by well
injection.

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[(8)] (16) "[Individual] Underground wastewater disposal system" means a system for
disposing of domestic wastewater discharges as defined by the board and the executive director.
(17) "Waste" or "pollutant" means dredged spoil, solid waste, incinerator residue, sewage,
garbage, sewage sludge, munitions, chemical wastes, biological materials, radioactive materials,
heat, wrecked or discarded equipment, rock, sand, cellar dirt, and industrial, municipal, and
agricultural waste discharged into water.
(18) "Waters of the state":
(a) means all streams, lakes, ponds, marshes, watercourses, waterways, wells, springs,
irrigation systems, drainage systems, and all other bodies or accumulations of water, surface and
underground, natural or artificial, public or private, which are contained within, flow through, or
border upon this state or any portion of the state; and
(b) does not include bodies of water confined to and retained within the limits of private
property, and which do not develop into or constitute a nuisance, a public health hazard, or a menace
to fish or wildlife.
Section 2. Section 19-5-104 is amended to read:
19-5-104. Powers and duties of board.
(1) The board has the following powers and duties, but the board shall give priority to
pollution that results in hazards to the public health:
(a) develop programs for the prevention, control, and abatement of new or existing pollution
of the waters of the state;
(b) advise, consult, and cooperate with other agencies of the state, the federal government,
other states, and interstate agencies, and with affected groups, political subdivisions, and industries
to further the purposes of this chapter;
(c) encourage, participate in, or conduct studies, investigations, research, and demonstrations
relating to water pollution and causes of water pollution as the board finds necessary to discharge
its duties;
(d) collect and disseminate information relating to water pollution and the prevention,
control, and abatement of water pollution;

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(e) adopt, modify, or repeal standards of quality of the waters of the state and classify those
waters according to their reasonable uses in the interest of the public under conditions the board may
prescribe for the prevention, control, and abatement of pollution;
(f) make rules in accordance with Title 63, Chapter 46a, Utah Administrative Rulemaking
Act, taking into account Subsection (2), to:
(i) implement the awarding of construction loans to political subdivisions and municipal
authorities under Section 11-8-2 , including:
(A) requirements pertaining to applications for loans;
(B) requirements for determination of eligible projects;
(C) requirements for determination of the costs upon which loans are based, which costs may
include engineering, financial, legal, and administrative expenses necessary for the construction,
reconstruction, and improvement of sewage treatment plants, including major interceptors, collection
systems, and other facilities appurtenant to the plant;
(D) a priority schedule for awarding loans, in which the board may consider in addition to
water pollution control needs any financial needs relevant, including per capita cost, in making a
determination of priority; and
(E) requirements for determination of the amount of the loan;
(ii) implement the awarding of loans for nonpoint source projects pursuant to Section
73-10c-4.5 ;
(iii) set effluent limitations and standards subject to Section 19-5-116 ;
(iv) implement or effectuate the powers and duties of the board; and
(v) protect the public health for the design, construction, operation, and maintenance of
[individual] underground wastewater disposal systems, liquid scavenger operations, and vault and
earthen pit privies;
(g) issue, modify, or revoke orders:
(i) prohibiting or abating discharges;
(ii) requiring the construction of new treatment works or any parts of them, or requiring the
modification, extension, or alteration of existing treatment works as specified by board rule or any

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parts of them, or the adoption of other remedial measures to prevent, control, or abate pollution;
(iii) setting standards of water quality, classifying waters or evidencing any other
determination by the board under this chapter; and
(iv) requiring compliance with this chapter and with rules made under this chapter;
(h) review plans, specifications, or other data relative to disposal systems or any part of
disposal systems, and issue construction permits for the installation or modification of treatment
works or any parts of them;
(i) after public notice and opportunity for a public hearing, issue, continue in effect, revoke,
modify, or deny discharge permits under reasonable conditions the board may prescribe to control
the management of sewage sludge or to prevent or control the discharge of pollutants, including
effluent limitations for the discharge of wastes into the waters of the state;
(j) give reasonable consideration in the exercise of its powers and duties to the economic
impact of water pollution control on industry and agriculture;
(k) exercise all incidental powers necessary to carry out the purposes of this chapter,
including delegation to the department of its duties as appropriate to improve administrative
efficiency;
(l) meet the requirements of federal law related to water pollution;
(m) establish and conduct a continuing planning process for control of water pollution
including the specification and implementation of maximum daily loads of pollutants;
(n) make rules governing inspection, monitoring, recordkeeping, and reporting requirements
for underground injections and require permits for them, to protect drinking water sources, except
for wells, pits, and ponds covered by Section 40-6-5 regarding gas and oil, recognizing that
underground injection endangers drinking water sources if:
(i) injection may result in the presence of any contaminant in underground water which
supplies or can reasonably be expected to supply any public water system, as defined in Section
19-4-102 ; and
(ii) the presence of the contaminant may result in the public water system not complying
with any national primary drinking water standards or may otherwise adversely affect the health of

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persons;
(o) make rules governing sewage sludge management, including permitting, inspecting,
monitoring, recordkeeping, and reporting requirements;
(p) adopt and enforce rules and establish fees to cover the costs of testing for certification
of operators of treatment works and sewerage systems operated by political subdivisions; and
(q) notwithstanding the provisions of Section 19-4-112 , make rules governing design and
construction of irrigation systems which convey sewage treatment facility effluent of human origin
in pipelines under pressure, unless contained in surface pipes wholly on private property and for
agricultural purposes, and which are constructed after May 4, 1998.
(2) In determining eligible project costs and in establishing priorities pursuant to Subsection
(1)(f)(i), the board shall take into consideration the availability of federal grants.
(3) In establishing certification rules under Subsection (1)(p), the board shall:
(a) base the requirements for certification on the size, treatment process type, and complexity
of the treatment works and sewerage systems operated by political subdivisions;
(b) allow operators until three years after the date of adoption of the rules to obtain initial
certification;
(c) allow new operators one year from the date they are hired by a treatment plant or
sewerage system or three years after the date of adoption of the rules, whichever occurs later, to
obtain certification;
(d) issue certification upon application and without testing, at a grade level comparable to
the grade of current certification to operators who are currently certified under the voluntary
certification plan for wastewater works operators as recognized by the board; and
(e) issue a certification upon application and without testing that is valid only at the
treatment works or sewerage system where that operator is currently employed if the operator:
(i) is in charge of and responsible for the treatment works or sewerage system on March 16,
1991;
(ii) has been employed at least ten years in the operation of that treatment works or sewerage
system prior to March 16, 1991; and

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(iii) demonstrates to the board his capability to operate the treatment works or sewerage
system at which he is currently employed by providing employment history and references as
required by the board.
Section 3. Section 19-5-121 is enacted to read:
19-5-121. Underground wastewater disposal systems -- Certification required to design,
inspect, maintain, or conduct percolation or soil tests -- Exemptions -- Rules -- Fees.
(1) As used in this section, "maintain" does not include the pumping of an underground
wastewater disposal system.
(2) (a) Except as provided in Subsections (2)(b) and (2)(c), beginning January 1, 2002, a
person may not design, inspect, maintain, or conduct percolation or soil tests for an underground
wastewater disposal system, without first obtaining certification from the board.
(b) An individual is not required to obtain certification from the board to maintain an
underground wastewater disposal system that serves a noncommercial, private residence owned by
the individual or a member of the individual's family and in which the individual or a member of the
individual's family resides or an employee of the individual resides without payment of rent.
(c) The board shall make rules allowing an uncertified individual to conduct percolation or
soil tests for an underground wastewater disposal system that serves a noncommercial, private
residence owned by the individual and in which the individual resides or intends to reside, or which
is intended for use by an employee of the individual without payment of rent, if the individual:
(i) has the capability of properly conducting the tests; and
(ii) is supervised by a certified individual when conducting the tests.
(3) (a) The board shall adopt and enforce rules for the certification and recertification of
individuals who design, inspect, maintain, or conduct percolation or soil tests for underground
wastewater disposal systems.
(b) (i) The rules shall specify requirements for education and training and the type and
duration of experience necessary to obtain certification.
(ii) The rules shall recognize the following in meeting the requirements for certification:
(A) the experience of a contractor licensed under Title 58, Chapter 55, Utah Construction

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Trades Licensing Act, who has five or more years of experience installing underground wastewater
disposal systems;
(B) the experience of an environmental health scientist licensed under Title 58, Chapter 20a,
Environmental Health Scientist Act; or
(C) the educational background of a professional engineer licensed under Title 58, Chapter
22, Professional Engineers and Professional Land Surveyors Licensing Act.
(iii) If eligibility for certification is based on experience, the applicant for certification must
show proof of experience.
(4) The department may establish fees in accordance with Section 63-38-3.2 for the testing
and certification of individuals who design, inspect, maintain, or conduct percolation or soil tests for
underground wastewater disposal systems.
Section 4. Section 19-5-122 is enacted to read:
19-5-122. Underground wastewater disposal systems -- Fee imposed on new systems.
(1) Beginning July 1, 2001, a one-time fee is imposed on each new underground wastewater
disposal system installed.
(2) (a) From July 1, 2001 through June 30, 2002, the fee shall be $25.
(b) Beginning July 1, 2002, the fee shall be established by the department in accordance with
Section 63-38-3.2 .
(3) (a) The fee shall be paid when plans and specifications for the construction of a new
underground wastewater disposal system are approved by the local health department or the
Department of Environmental Quality.
(b) A local health department shall remit the fee revenue to the Division of Finance
quarterly.
(4) The fee revenue shall be:
(a) deposited into the Underground Wastewater Disposal Restricted Account created in
Section 19-5-123 ; and
(b) used to pay for costs of underground wastewater disposal system training programs.
Section 5. Section 19-5-123 is enacted to read:

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19-5-123. Underground Wastewater Disposal System Restricted Account created --
Contents -- Use of account monies.
(1) The Underground Wastewater Disposal System Restricted Account is created within the
General Fund.
(2) The contents of the account shall consist of:
(a) revenue from fees collected under Sections 19-5-121 and 19-5-122 ; and
(b) interest and earnings on account monies.
(3) Monies in the account shall be appropriated by the Legislature to the department for costs
of training, testing, and certifying individuals who design, inspect, maintain, or conduct percolation
or soils tests for underground wastewater disposal systems.
Section 6. Effective date.
This act takes effect on July 1, 2001.

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