TITLE 9. ENVIRONMENT
REGISTRAR'S NOTICE: The State Water Control Board is claiming an exemption from Article 2 of the Administrative Process Act in accordance with § 2.2-4006 A 4 a of the Code of Virginia, which excludes regulations that are necessary to conform to changes in Virginia statutory law or the appropriation act where no agency discretion is involved. The board will receive, consider, and respond to petitions by any interested person at any time with respect to reconsideration or revision.
Title of Regulation: 9VAC25-31. Virginia Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (VPDES) Permit Regulation (adding 9VAC25-31-805).
Statutory Authority: § 62.1-44.15 of the Code of Virginia; § 402 of the federal Clean Water Act; 40 CFR Parts 122, 123, 124, 403, and 503.
Effective Date: November 8, 2023.
Agency Contact: Rebeccah W. Rochet, Deputy Director, Division of Water Permitting, Department of Environmental Quality, 1111 East Main Street, Suite 1400, P.O. Box 1105, Richmond, VA 23218, telephone (804) 801-2950, or email rebeccah.rochet@deq.virginia.gov.
Summary:
Pursuant to Chapter 276 of the 2023 Acts of Assembly, the amendments (i) define perfluorinated and polyfluorinated substances (PFAS) and (ii) require pretreatment standards for any industrial user of a publicly owned treatment works (POTW) that receives and cleans, repairs, refurbishes, or processes any equipment, parts, or media used to treat any water or wastewater from any off-site manufacturing process that the industrial user knows or reasonably should know uses PFAS chemicals to test its wastestream for PFAS chemicals prior to and after cleaning, repairing, refurbishing, or processing such items.
9VAC25-31-805. Pretreatment requirements for testing for PFAS chemicals.
A. As used in this section, "PFAS chemical" means (i) perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), (ii) perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS), (iii) hexafluoropropylene oxide dimer acid (HFPO-DA), (iv) perfluorobutane sulfonate (PFBS), or (v) any substance in a class of fluorinated organic chemicals containing at least two adjacent fluorinated carbon atoms, where one carbon atom is fully fluorinated and the other atom is at least partially fluorinated, excluding gases and volatile liquids, also referred to as perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), identified by a publicly owned treatment works in its pretreatment program for which there is a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency approved testing method.
B. Any publicly owned treatment works receiving a wastestream from an industrial user that receives and cleans, repairs, refurbishes, or processes any equipment, parts, or media used to treat any water or wastewater from any off-site manufacturing process that the industrial user knows or reasonably should know uses PFAS chemicals shall require such industrial user to test its wastestream for PFAS chemicals prior to and after cleaning, repairing, refurbishing, or processing such items. The results of such tests shall be transmitted to the receiving POTW within three days of receipt of the test results by the industrial user of the POTW.
VA.R. Doc. No. R24-7567; Filed September 20, 2023