Sec.22a-430-8. Underground injection control

(a) Definitions. "Aquifer" means a geological formation, group of formations, or part of a formation that is capable of yielding a significant amount of water to a well or spring.

"Average Daily Flow" means the average total daily flow during an operating day computed over a minimum of twenty (20) consecutive operating days.

"Commercial Subsurface Sewage Disposal System" means a subsurface sewage disposal system receiving domestic sewage from any non-residential building or buildings on the same lot or within the same project as the building or buildings served.

"Contaminant" means any physical, chemical, biological, or radiological substance or matter in water.

"Domestic Sewage" means sewage that consists of water and human excretions or other waterborne wastes incidental to the occupancy of a residential building or a non-residential building but not including manufacturing process water, cooling water, wastewater from water softening equipment, commercial laundry wastewater, blowdown from heating or cooling equipment, water from cellar or floor drains or surface water from roofs, paved surface or yard drains.

"Fluid" means any material or substance which is capable of movement, whether in a semisolid, liquid, sludge, gas, or any other physical state.

"Formation" means any body of rock characterized by a degree of lithologic homogeneity which is prevailingly, but not necessarily, tabular and is mappable on the earth's surface or traceable in the subsurface.

"Hazardous Waste" means any waste material which may pose a present or potential hazard to human health or the environment when improperly treated, stored, transported, or disposed of or otherwise managed including hazardous waste identified in accordance with Section 3001 of the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act of 1976 (42 U.S.C. 6901, et seq.), as amended.

"Household Subsurface Sewage Disposal System" means a subsurface sewage disposal system receiving domestic sewage from a single residential building and/or associated outbuildings where such a system is located on the same lot as the building served or on an easement available for the installation, operation and maintenance of the system and which is recorded on the land records.

"Injection" means the subsurface emplacement of fluids by gravity or greater pressure through a well.

"Operator" means the person or municipality responsible for operating and maintaining a well.

"Subsurface Sewage Disposal System" means a system receiving domestic sewage consisting of a house sewer, a septic tank followed by a leaching system, any necessary pumps or siphons, and any groundwater control system on which the operation of the leaching system is dependent.

"Underground Source of Drinking Water (USDW)" means an aquifer or a portion of an aquifer which supplies any public water supply system; or which contains a sufficient quantity of groundwater to supply a public water supply system and either currently supplies drinking water for human consumption, or contains fewer than 10,000 milligrams/litre total dissolved solids; and which is not an exempt aquifer under 146 CFR 146.04.

"Well" means a bored, drilled, or driven shaft, or a dug hole, the depth of which is greater than its largest surface dimension or a commercial subsurface sewage disposal system, household subsurface sewage disposal system, or other subsurface sewage disposal system.

(b) The injection of fluids through the following classes of wells is prohibited, and no person or municipality shall construct, install or maintain such wells:

(1) Class I

(A) Wells used by generators of hazardous wastes or owners or operators of hazardous waste management facilities or other industrial, commercial, institutional, or municipal facilities, to inject fluids beneath the lowermost formation containing an underground source of drinking water.

(2) Class II

Wells which inject fluids:

(A) Which are brought to the surface in connection with conventional oil or natural gas production and may be commingled with wastewaters from gas plants which are an integral part of production operations, unless those wastewaters are classified as hazardous waste at the time of the injection.

(B) For enhanced recovery of oil or natural gas; and

(C) For storage of hydrocarbons which are liquid at standard temperature and pressure.

(3) Class III

Wells which inject fluids for extraction of minerals including:

(A) Mining of sulfur by the Frasch process;

(B) Solution mining of minerals;

(C) In-situ combustion of fossil fuel; and

(D) In-situ production of uranium or other metals, this category includes only in-situ production from ore bodies which have not been conventionally mined. Solution mining of conventional mines (such as stopes leaching) is included in Class V.

(4) Class IV

(A) Wells used by generators of hazardous wastes or of radioactive wastes, by owners or operators of hazardous waste management facilities, or by owners or operators of radioactive waste disposal sites to dispose of hazardous wastes or radioactive wastes into or above an aquifer.

(c) Wells other than those specified in subsection 22a-430-8 (c) shall be designated as Class V wells, and include but are not limited to: commercial subsurface sewage disposal systems, household subsurface sewage disposal systems, or other subsurface sewage disposal systems and wells associated with air conditioning and heat pumps. A person or municipality may inject fluids through Class V wells unless such injection may cause, allow or result in the movement of fluids which contain contaminants into underground sources of drinking water and the presence of the contaminants may adversely affect the public health or cause a violation of the Standards for Quality of Public Drinking Water, Section 19-13-B102 of the Regulations of Connecticut State Agencies, as amended.

(d) The owner or operator of any existing Class V well shall register the well with the Commissioner within one year of the effective date of these regulations. Such registration shall be on a form prescribed by the Commissioner and shall include information which he deems necessary.

The following shall be exempt from registration:

(1) Commercial subsurface sewage disposal systems, household subsurface sewage disposal systems, and other subsurface sewage disposal systems provided they have average daily flows of less than 5,000 gallons per day.

(2) Wells being operated pursuant to an unexpired discharge permit issued under Section 22a-430 of the Connecticut General Statutes, as amended.

(3) A well whose owner or operator has filed with the Commissioner OMB Form No. 158-R0170 published by the United States Environmental Protection Agency.

(e) If as a result of injection activity there is any movement of formation or injection fluids into underground sources of drinking water, the Commissioner may require the owner or operator to prevent such movement or to abandon or close the well by methods approved or prescribed by the commissioner.

(Effective February 23, 1984)