2007 California Health and Safety Code Article 9.6. Land Treatment Units

CA Codes (hsc:25209-25209.7)

25209.  The Legislature finds and declares as follows:
   (a) Hazardous waste discharged into land treatment units may
migrate beyond the treatment zone of the land treatment unit and
thereby threaten the public health and the environment and pose a
serious threat to the quality of the waters of this state.
   (b) With the exception of land treatment units, all major forms of
land disposal units are required by law to be equipped with liner
and leachate collection and removal systems to ensure sufficient
protection of the public health and safety and the environment and to
protect the quality of the waters of this state.  It is in the
public interest to extend these requirements to include land
treatment units.
   (c) It is the intent of the Legislature to establish a uniform and
workable procedure for implementing requirements for liner and
leachate collection and removal systems in all existing land
treatment units, and replacements and lateral expansions of existing
and new land treatment units, and to  ensure that the vadose zone and
groundwater beneath all land treatment units is adequately monitored
to detect the presence of any contamination.  Land treatment units
in operation in this state must be made safe, or closed if necessary,
to protect public health and safety and the environment, including
the waters of the state.


25209.1.  For purposes of this article, the following definitions
apply:
   (a) "Discharge" means to place or dispose hazardous wastes in a
land treatment unit.
   (b) "Facility" has the meaning specified in Section 25117.1.
   (c) "Hazardous constituent" has the meaning specified in
regulations adopted by the department.
   (d) "Hazardous waste" means a hazardous waste, as defined in
Section 25117 and "non-RCRA hazardous waste" has the same meaning as
defined in Section 25117.  9.
   (e) "Land treatment unit" means a facility or part of a facility
at which hazardous waste is applied onto or incorporated into the
soil surface so that hazardous constituents are degraded,
transformed, or immobilized within the treatment zone.  A land
treatment unit is a disposal unit if the waste will remain after
closure.
   (f) "Potential source of drinking water" has the meaning specified
in subdivision (s) of Section 25208.2.
   (g) "Treatment zone" means the portion of a land treatment unit
including the soil surface, within which hazardous constituents are
degraded, transformed, or immobilized.  A treatment zone may not
extend more than five feet from the initial soil surface and  the
base of the treatment zone shall be a minimum of five feet above the
highest anticipated elevation of the water table.
   (h) "Vadose zone" means the unsaturated zone outside the treatment
zone and between the land surface and the water table.
   (i) "Waste management unit" has the meaning specified in the
regulations adopted by the department.



25209.2.  (a) Except as provided in Section 25209.5, unless granted
a variance pursuant to subdivision (b), or exempted pursuant to
Section 25209.6, no person shall discharge hazardous waste into a new
land treatment unit at a new or existing facility, any land
treatment unit which replaces an existing land treatment unit, or any
laterally expanded portion of an existing land treatment unit that
has not been equipped with liners, a leachate collection and removal
system, a  groundwater monitoring system, and a vadose zone
monitoring system which satisfy the requirements of Section 25209.5.

   (b) The department may grant a variance from the requirements of
subdivision (a) and Section 25209.3, concerning equipping the land
treatment unit with liners and a leachate collection and removal
system, if the owner or operator demonstrates to the department and
the department finds all of the following:
   (1) If the land treatment unit is an existing land treatment unit,
no hazardous constituents have migrated from the treatment zone of
the land treatment unit  into the vadose zone or into the waters of
the state.  In making this demonstration the owner or operator shall
take a sufficient number of core samples in, beneath, and surrounding
the treatment zone of the land treatment unit to characterize the
chemical constituents in the treatment zone, in the immediate area of
the vadose zone surrounding the treatment zone, and in the area of
the vadose zone beneath the treatment zone and shall submit
groundwater monitoring data sufficient in scope to demonstrate that
there has been no migration of hazardous constituents into  the
vadose zone or into the waters of the state.  The owner or operator,
as an alternative to taking these core samples, may use the data
obtained from any land treatment demonstration required by the
department before issuing a hazardous waste facilities permit
pursuant to Section 25200, if the data were obtained not more than
two years prior to the application for the variance and is sufficient
in scope to demonstrate that there has been no migration of
hazardous constituents into the vadose zone or into the waters of the
state.
   (2) Notwithstanding the date that the land treatment unit
commences operations, the design and operating practices will prevent
the migration of hazardous constituents from the treatment zone of
the land treatment unit into the vadose zone or into the waters of
the state.
   (3) Notwithstanding the date that the land treatment unit
commences operations, the design and operating practices provide for
rapid detection and removal or remediation of any hazardous
constituents that migrate from the treatment zone of the land
treatment unit into the vadose zone or into the waters of the state.

   (c) (1) The department may renew a variance only in those cases
where an owner or operator can demonstrate, and the department finds,
both of the following:
   (A) No hazardous constituents have migrated from the treatment
zone of the land treatment unit into the vadose zone or into the
waters of the state.
   (B) Continuing the operation of the land treatment unit does not
pose a significant potential of hazardous constituents migrating from
the land treatment unit into the vadose zone or into the waters of
the state.
   (2) In making the demonstration for the renewal of a variance
pursuant to this subdivision, the owner or operator may use field
tests, laboratory analyses, or, operating data.
   (d) A variance, or a renewal of a variance, may be issued for a
period not to  exceed three years.
   (e) Except for the exemption from vadose zone monitoring
requirements specified in Section 25209.5, neither the requirements
of this article nor the variance provisions of subdivision (b) shall
relieve the owner or operator from responsibility to comply with all
other existing laws and regulations pertinent to land  treatment
units.



25209.3.  Except as provided in Section 25209.5, after January 1,
1990, unless granted a variance pursuant to subdivision (b) of
Section 25209.2, or exempted pursuant to Section 25209.6, no person
shall discharge hazardous waste into a land treatment unit which has
not been equipped with liners, a leachate collection and removal
system, a groundwater monitoring system, and a vadose zone monitoring
system which satisfy the requirements of Section 25209.5.



25209.4.  (a) Except as provided in Section 25209.6, no person shall
place or dispose of hazardous waste in a land treatment unit if any
of the following conditions exist:
   (1) Hazardous constituents have migrated from the land treatment
unit into the vadose zone beneath or surrounding the treatment zone
or into the waters beneath or surrounding the treatment zone.
   (2) There is evidence that a hazardous constituent in the waste
discharged to  the land treatment unit has not been or will not be
completely degraded, transformed, or immobilized in the treatment
zone.
   (3) There is a significant potential for hazardous constituents to
migrate from the land treatment unit into a potential source of
drinking water.
   (b) The owner or operator of a land treatment unit shall do all of
the following:
   (1) Periodically, at the request of the department, and at least
annually, submit information the department may require in order to
evaluate whether the conditions set forth in paragraph (1) or (2) of
subdivision (a) are not present.  The information to be submitted to
the department shall include, but is not limited to, a sufficient
number of soil core samples in, beneath, and surrounding the
treatment zone of the land treatment unit to detect any hazardous
constituents which may have migrated from the treatment zone.  The
department may adopt regulations requiring additional or more
frequent testing.
   (2) Within 72 hours of detecting and confirming the existence of
either of the conditions identified in paragraph (1) or (2) of
subdivision (a), or the presence of factors that render the owner or
operator unable to continue satisfying the variance requirements of
subdivision (b) of Section 25209.2, report to the department
describing the full extent of the owner's or operator's findings.
   (c) Upon receiving notice pursuant to paragraph (2) of subdivision
(b), or upon the independent confirmation by the department, the
department shall order the owner or operator to cease operating the
land treatment unit.  The owner or operator shall not resume
operating the land treatment unit and shall close the land treatment
unit unless one of the following actions is taken:
   (1) The owner or operator completes appropriate removal or
remedial actions to the satisfaction of the department and the owner
or operator submits to the department, and the department approves,
an application for a permit or variance modification to modify the
operating practices at the facility to maximize the success of
degradation, immobilization, or transformation processes in the
treatment zone, if the owner or operator has not previously submitted
an application for a permit or variance modification pursuant to
this paragraph.
   (2) The owner or operator completes appropriate removal or
remedial actions and equips the land treatment unit with liners,
leachate collection and removal systems, a groundwater monitoring
system, and a vadose zone monitoring system that satisfy the
requirements of Section 25209.5, if the land treatment unit has not
already been equipped with these systems.
   (d) All actions taken by an owner or operator pursuant to
paragraph (1) or (2) of subdivision (c) shall be completed within a
time period specified by the department, which shall not exceed 18
months after the department receives notice pursuant to subdivision
(c).  If the actions are not completed within this time period, the
land treatment unit shall be closed, unless granted an extension by
the department due to exceptional circumstances beyond the control of
the owner and operator.



25209.5.  The liner, leachate collection and removal, groundwater
monitoring, and vadose zone monitoring systems required by Sections
25209.2, 25209.3, and 25209.4 shall be designed, constructed, and
operated according to regulations adopted by the department and State
Water Resources Control Board regulations and standards for liner,
leachate collection and removal, groundwater monitoring, and vadose
zone monitoring systems for class I hazardous waste landfills, to the
extent those regulations and standards are not less stringent than
the regulations and standards of the department.  Owners or operators
of land treatment units which have treated and will treat solely
non-RCRA hazardous waste and which are equipped with liners,
leachate collection and removal systems, and a groundwater monitoring
system that satisfy the requirements of this section shall not be
required to perform vadose zone monitoring.



25209.6.  Land treatment of soil contaminated only with non-RCRA
hazardous waste which has been excavated as part of a removal or
remedial action at any hazardous substance release site is exempt
from the requirements of Sections 25209.2, 25209.3, and 25209.4, if
all of the following apply:
   (a) The department determines that the land treatment does not
pose a threat to public health or safety or the environment.
   (b) The land treatment is conducted pursuant to a plan approved by
the department or a cleanup and abatement order issued by a regional
water quality control board.
   (c) The land treatment is not conducted at an offsite commercial
hazardous waste facility.
   (d) The land treatment is used only for purposes of removal or
remedial action and, upon completion of the land treatment portion of
the removal or remedial action, the land treatment unit is closed.




25209.7.  (a) Every owner or operator of a land treatment unit
subject to this article shall pay an annual fee to the department
which shall be equivalent to 2 percent of the land disposal fee due
under Section 25205.4.  This fee shall be in addition to the annual
hazardous waste facility fee and shall be due at the same time as the
facility fee.
   (b) The department may, by regulation, increase or decrease the
amount of the fees specified in subdivision (a) if the department
finds that the amounts charged do not reflect the cost of providing
services under this article.