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Groundwater Protection Regulations

Pursuant to M.G.L. c. 111, §§ 31 and 122, the Board of Health of the Town of East Bridgewater hereby issues this regulation related to groundwater protection.  The reasons necessitating the issuance of the regulation are as follows:  

Certain land uses have the potential to release hazardous waste, petroleum products, or other contaminants which significantly increases the risk of contamination.  Poor management practices, accidental discharges, and improper maintenance of these facilities may lead to the release of pollutants which can threaten surface and ground water quality.  Surface and ground water resources in the Town of East Bridgewater contribute to the town's drinking water supplies.  

This regulation is, therefore, being adopted in order to preserve and protect the Town of East Bridgewater's drinking water resources from discharges of pollutants and to minimize the risk to public health and the environment of the Town due to such discharges.  The regulation shall apply, as specified herein, to all applicable facilities within the Zone IIs.  This regulation is effective this __17th__ day of July, 2007.  

Definitions

For the purposes of this regulation, the following words and phrases shall have the following meanings:

Commercial fertilizers: Any substance containing one or more recognized plant nutrients which is used for its plant nutrient content and which is designed for use, or claimed by its manufacturer to have value in promoting plant growth.  Commercial fertilizers do not include un-manipulated animal and vegetable manures, marl, lime, limestone, wood ashes, and gypsum.

Department: The Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection

Discharge: The accidental or intentional disposal, deposit, injection, dumping, spilling, leaking, incineration, or placing of toxic or hazardous material or waste upon or into any land or water so that such hazardous waste or any constituent thereof may enter the land or waters of the Commonwealth.  Discharge includes, without limitation, leakage of such materials from failed or discarded containers or storage systems and disposal of such materials into any on-site leaching structure or sewage disposal system.

Hazardous Material: A product, waste or combination of substances which because of its  quantity, concentration, or physical, chemical, toxic, radioactive, or infectious characteristics may reasonably pose a significant, actual, or potential hazard to human health, safety, welfare, or the environment when improperly treated, stored, transported, used, disposed of, or otherwise managed.  Hazardous materials include, without limitation, synthetic organic chemicals, petroleum products, heavy metals, radioactive or infectious materials, and all substances defined as "toxic" or "hazardous" under M.G.L. c. 21C and 21E, using the Massachusetts Oil and Hazardous Substance List found at 310 C.M.R. 40.0000).  The definition may also include acids and alkalis, solvents, thinners, and pesticides.

Historical High Groundwater Table Elevation: A groundwater elevation determined from monitoring wells and historical water table fluctuation data compiled by the United States Geological Survey.

Landfill: A facility established in accordance with a valid site assignment for the purposes of disposing solid waste into or on the land, pursuant to 310 CMR 19.006.

Non-sanitary wastewater: Wastewater discharges from industrial and commercial facilities containing wastes from any activity other than collection of sanitary sewage, including, but not limited to, activities specified in the Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) Codes set forth in 310 CMR 15.004(6).

Open Dump: A facility which is operated or maintained in violation of the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (42 U.S.C. 4004(a)(b)), or the regulations and criteria for solid waste disposal.

Septage: The liquid, solid, and semi-solid contents of privies, chemical toilets, cesspools, holding tanks, or other sewage waste receptacles.  Septage does not include any material which is a hazardous waste, pursuant to 310 CMR 30.000.

Sludge: The solid, semi-solid, and liquid residue that results from a process of wastewater treatment or drinking water treatment.  Sludge does not include grit, screening, or grease and oil which are removed at the headworks of a facility.

Treatment Works: Any and all devices, processes and properties, real or personal, used in the collection, pumping, transmission, storage, treatment, disposal, recycling, reclamation, or reuse of waterborne pollutants, but not including any works receiving a hazardous waste from off the site of the works for the purpose of treatment, storage, or disposal.

Very Small Quantity Generator: Any public or private entity, other than residential, which produces less than 27 gallons (100 kilograms) a month of hazardous waste or waste oil, but not including any acutely hazardous waste as defined in 310 CMR 30.136.

Waste Oil Retention Facility: A waste oil collection facility for automobile service stations, retail outlets, and marinas which is sheltered and has adequate protection to contain a spill, seepage, or discharge of petroleum waste products in accordance with M.G.L. c. 21. s. 52A.

Zone II: The area of an aquifer which contributes water to a well under the most severe pumping and recharge conditions that can be realistically anticipated (180 days of pumping at safe yield with no recharge from precipitation), as defined in 310 CMR 22.00.

Prohibitions

Notwithstanding any land uses which are otherwise permitted by local, state, and/or other federal laws, the siting of any of the following is prohibited in the Zone II:

  1. Landfills and  open dumps;
  2. Automobile graveyards and junkyards;
  3. Sludge and septage monofils;
  4. Disposal or stockpiling of chemically treated snow and ice that have been removed from highways and roadways from outside the Zone II;
  5. Petroleum, fuel oil and heating oil bulk stations and terminals, including, but not limited to, those listed under Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) Codes 5983 and 5171, not including liquefied petroleum gas.  SIC Codes are established by the U.S. Office of Management and Budget and may be determined by referring to the publication, Standard Industrial Classification Manual and any subsequent amendments .
  6. Facilities for the treatment or disposal of non-sanitary wastewater, except:
    1. Replacement or repair of an existing system is exempt if the existing design capacity is not exceeded; and
    2. Treatment works approved by the Department and designed for the treatment of contaminated ground or surface waters and operated in compliance with 314 C.M.R. 5.05(3) or 5.05(13); and
    3. Publicly owned treatment works.
  7. Facilities that generate, treat, store, or dispose of hazardous waste, except:
    1. Very small quantity generators (VSQGs)
    2. Household hazardous waste collection centers or collection events,     
    3. Waste oil retention facilities, and
    4. Treatment works for the restoration of contaminated ground or surface waters in compliance with M.G.L. c. 21E and 310 C.M.R. 40.000.
  8. Removal of soil, loam, sand, gravel, or any other mineral substances within four feet of the historical high groundwater table elevation, except:
    1. Substances which are removed and re-deposited within 45 days of removal on site to achieve a final grade greater than four feet above the historical high water mark; and
    2. Excavations for the construction of building foundations or  the installation of utilities.
  9. Land uses that result in impervious cover, of any lot or parcel, more than 15% or 2,500 feet (whichever is greater), unless a system of artificial recharge of precipitation is provided that will not result in the degradation of groundwater quality.

Conditional Prohibitions

The storage of certain waste materials, chemicals, and petroleum products is prohibited except if contained in accordance with the following requirements.

  1. Storage of sludge and septage unless such storage is in compliance with 310 C.M.R. 32.00.
  2. Storage of roadway de-icing chemicals (sodium chloride, chemically treated abrasives, or other chemicals), chemical fertilizers and animal manure;  unless such storage is within a structure designed to prevent the generation and release of contaminated leachate or runoff.  
  3. Storage of liquid hazardous materials, as defined in M.G.L. c. 21E, and/or liquid petroleum products, unless materials are stored:
    1. Above ground level  and on an impervious surface, and
    2. In containers (or above ground tanks) within a building, or, outdoors in covered containers (or above ground tanks) designed and operated to hold either 10% of the total possible storage capacity of all containers, or 110% of the largest container’s storage capacity, whichever is greater.

These storage requirements shall not apply to the replacement of existing tanks or systems for the keeping, dispensing or storing of gasoline provided the replacement is performed in a manner consistent with state and local requirements.

Compliance with all provisions of this regulation must be accomplished in a manner consistent with Massachusetts Plumbing, Building, and Fire Code requirements.

Effective Dates For All Facilities

The effective date of this regulation is the date posted on the front page of the regulation, which shall be identical to the date of adoption of the regulation.

  1. As of the effective date of the regulation, all new construction and/or applicable change of use within theTown of East Bridgewater shall comply with the provisions of this regulation.
  2. Certification of conformance with the provisions of this regulation by the Board of Health shall be required prior to issuance of construction and occupancy permits.

Penalties

Penalties may be used as a means to achieve compliance with the BOH regulations.  Effective 1992, maximum fines for health violations increased.  M.G.L. c. 111, §§ 31 and 122 provide for maximum penalties of $1000.  Failure to comply with provisions of this regulation will result in the levy of fines of not less than $ 200 but no more than $1000.  Each day's failure to comply with the provisions of this regulation shall constitute a separate violation.

Severability

Each provision of this regulation shall be construed as separate to the end that, if any provision, or sentence, clause or phrase thereof, shall be held invalid for any reason, the remainder of that section and all other sections shall continue in full force and effect.

Eeast Bridgewater Board of Health

*Adopted by the BOH 7/17/07 and filed with the Town Clerk’s Office