Nitrogen Aggregation Loading Plan Review

1. Nitrogen Aggregation Loading Plan Review MassDEP/ MHOA Winter Seminars 2014

2. SESSION OBJECTIVES & STRUCTURE • Regulatory requirements • Permitting process by the BOH • Technical • Legal • Tools for the job: • 310 CMR 15.000 • MassDEP’s Guidelines for Title 5 Aggregation of Flows and Nitrogen Loading, dated 7/01/98

3. REGULATORY REQUIREMENTS • 310 CMR 15.214: • No system serving new construction in Nitrogen Sensitive Areas … shall be designed to receive or shall receive more than 440 gallons of design flow per day per acre. • No system served by both a well and septic system shall receive more than 440 gallons of design flow per day per acre. (a.k.a. “private well areas”). • 310 CMR 15.215, defines NSAs: • Interim Wellhead Protection Areas (IWPAs) • Zone IIs • Nitrogen Sensitive Embayments

4. IWPA A protective radius around the public water supply well, typically based upon the pumping rate of the well.

5. Zone II An area of an aquifer which contributes water to a well under the most severe pumping and recharge conditions. Based on soils and geology.

6. Meaning of 440 gpd/acre • Design flow/acreage of facility • Acre = 40,000 sf (310 CMR 15.002) • Easy rules of thumb for residential projects: • 1 bedroom needs 10,000 sf • 2 bedrooms need 20,000 sf • Etc. • More complicated for non-residential projects

7. TECHNICAL REVIEW • If IWPA/Zone II or private well area, • Does the lot meet 440 gpd/acre? 3-bedroom house 43,000 sf lot = 1.08 ac 330 gpd/1.08 ac = 305 gpd/ac < 440 gpd/ac

8. Scenario #1: IWPA or Zone II Somewhere else in that same IWPA/Zone II… 3-bedroom house 20,000 sf lot 330 gpd/0.5 ac = 660 gpd/ac > 440 gpd/ac Vacant 10,000 sf parcel Options: use an I/A rated for 660 gpd/acre; or acquire credit land.

9. Scenario #2: Private Well Area On land adjacent to this facility *… 3-bedroom house 20,000 sf lot 330 gpd/0.5 ac = 660 gpd/ac > 440 gpd/ac Vacant 10,000 sf parcel Options: use an I/A rated for 660 gpd/acre; or acquire credit land. * If ≥ 2,000 pgd, land must also be downgradient of impacted area of the discharge.

10. Credit land criteria: • Restricted to prohibit: • man-made sources of nitrogen; and • artificial impervious areas • Not located within Velocity Zone or Regulatory Floodway identified by FEMA • Not under surface water, but wetlands are acceptable • Not already being used as Nitrogen Credit Land

11. Credit land requirements: • In Zone II or IWPA, located within same NSA as the facility land • In private well areas: • Within the subdivision site for a residential subdivision • Adjacent to facility land when < 2,000 gpd • Downgradient of and adjacent to facility land

12. LEGAL REVIEW Land use restrictions must be recorded in appropriate Registry of deeds to ensure that the 400 gpd/acre equivalency is met across: 1) facility land; and 2) nitrogen credit land 310 CMR 15.216 (5) (b)

13. Restriction Documents • Substantially identical to those contained in MassDEP’s Guidelines for Title 5 Aggregation of Flows and Nitrogen Loading, 310 CMR 15.216, with revision date of 6/03/2009; • Perpetual; and • Running to the benefit of the municipality acting through its BOH and to the facility land

14. Grant of Title 5 Nitrogen Loading Restriction and Easement on Facility Land • Mandatory for all Nitrogen Aggregation Plans; • Recorded at the Registry of Deeds; • Restricts the wastewater design flow on the facility land; and • For residential, limits the number of bedrooms.

15. Grant of Title 5 Nitrogen Loading Restriction and Easement on Nitrogen Credit Land • Must be recorded when the owner of the facility does not own the credit land; • Sets aside an easement with restrictions (discussed later); and • Essentially no wastewater or nitrogen may be loaded on the credit land.

16. Grant of Title 5 Nitrogen Loading Restriction and Easement • Must be recorded when the owner of the facility owns both the facility and the credit land; • Creates an easement with land use restrictions; • Essentially no wastewater or nitrogen may be loaded on the credit land.

17. Conservation Restriction Option • May be recorded in place of: • Grant of Title 5 Nitrogen Loading Restriction and Easement on Nitrogen Credit Land; or • Grant of Title 5 Nitrogen Loading Restriction and Easement.

18. Conservation Restriction • Must be granted to municipality acting though its BOH • Must be approved by Secretary of EEA • Must comply with other applicable requirements set forth in M.G.L. c. 184, sections 31, 32 and 33. • BOH must provide notice and hold a public hearing to release restriction • EEA Secretary must also approved release of restriction

19. Credit Land Requirements • No man-made sources of nitrogen • No artificially created impervious surfaces • Not located within a velocity zone or regulatory floodway identified by FEMA. • Not be located under a surface water body such as a river, pond, stream, lakes, or the ocean (credit land can include bordering vegetated wetland areas). • Cannot also serve as credit land for another Facility Aggregation Plan.

20. TOOLS • 310 CMR 15.000 • 310 CMR 15.214 – Nitrogen Limitations • 310 CMR 15.215 - NSA Definition • 310 CMR 15.216 – Aggregate Determinations • (4) Community Aggregation Plans • (5) Facility Aggregation Plans • MassDEP’s Guidelines for Title 5 Aggregation of Flows and Nitrogen Loading, dated 7/01/98 http://www.mass.gov/eea/docs/dep/water/wastewater/a-thru-n/nagg95p.pdf

22. CONTACT INFORMATION - ?ERO Contact #1 Name Telephone No. E-mail Deirdre Desmond, MassDEP/OGC/Boston 617-556-1028 deirdre.desmond@state.ma.us

23. Thank you!