As used in this part:

1. (1) “Alternate system” means a nonstandard individual onsite wastewater treatment or collection system approved by the Department of Health in instances where a standard system is not suitable;

2. (2)

   1. (A) “Approved system” means an onsite wastewater system:

      1. (i) Constructed and installed in accordance with the standards and requirements of this part; and
      2. (ii) For which a permit for operation has been issued.
   2. (B) "Approved system" does not imply that the system will perform satisfactorily for a specific period of time, only that the system has met the minimum requirements of this part;
3. (3) “Authorized agent” means the Environmental Health Specialist assigned to the county or business unit by the Department of Health;

4. (4)

   1. (A) “Bedrock” means consolidated rocks that are sufficiently coherent when moist to make hand digging with a spade impractical, although it may be chipped or scraped.
   2. (B) The bedrock may contain cracks that generally are too few and too small to allow roots to penetrate at intervals of less than ten centimeters (10 cm).
   3. (C) The cracks may be coated or filled with clay or other material;
5. (5) “Bedroom” means any room inside a residence intended for the purposes of sleeping quarters;

6. (6) “Benchmark” means a mark:

   1. (A) Made on a stationary object of a determined position and elevation; and
   2. (B) Used as a reference point;
7. (7) “Community wastewater system” means any system, whether public or privately owned, serving two (2) or more individual lots for the collection, treatment, and disposal of wastewater or industrial wastes of a liquid nature, including various devices for the treatment of such wastewater or industrial wastes;
8. (8) “Department” means the Department of Health;

9. (9)

   1. (A) “Designated representative (DR)” means a person certified by the Department of Health to make percolation tests, system designs, and inspections subject to the authorized agent’s final approval.

   2. (B) Designated representatives shall:

      1. (i) Be registered professional engineers, registered land surveyors, licensed master plumbers, registered sanitarians, or other similarly qualified individuals holding current certificates from the State of Arkansas; and

      2. (ii) Demonstrate to the satisfaction of the authorized agent prior to their designation as a designated representative their competency to make percolation tests, designs, and final inspections for onsite wastewater systems:

         1. (a) (a) In accordance with this part; and
         2. (b) (b) When authorized by the authorized agent;

10. (10)

    1. (A) "Soil-qualified designated representative” means a designated representative who has successfully passed the soils portion of the designated representative testing procedure, as set forth by the Department of Health.
    2. (B) These individuals are certified to size absorption areas based on depth to seasonal water tables;

11. (11) “Distribution box” means a watertight box that:

    1. (A) Receives the discharge of effluent from the septic tank; and
    2. (B) Distributes the flow of wastewater equally to each absorption trench;
12. (12) “Distribution device” means a device, approved by the Department of Health, used to distribute or alternate the effluent load between two (2) or more locations;
13. (13) "Domestic wastewater” means all wastes discharging from sanitary conveniences and plumbing fixtures of a domestic nature, exclusive of industrial and commercial wastes;
14. (14) “Dosing tank” means a tank constructed of concrete, plastic, fiberglass, or other authorized material that contains one (1) or more pumps or automatic siphons designed to deliver a specified volume of wastewater effluent to the distribution system;

15. (15)

    1. (A) “Dwelling unit” means a structure intended to be used as a residence.
    2. (B) A single structure may contain more than one (1) dwelling unit, e.g., a duplex contains two (2) dwelling units;
16. (16) “Emergency repair” means the repair and/or replacement of any part of a malfunctioning onsite wastewater system, excluding the alteration of existing absorption trenches and/or the installation of additional absorption area that poses an immediate health hazard;
17. (17) “Engineering” means the Engineering Section of the Department of Health;

18. (18)

    1. (A) “Experimental system” means a sewage treatment system that is not classified as a standard or an alternate onsite wastewater system.

    2. (B) Experimental systems may be:

       1. (i) Approved on a case-by-case basis; and
       2. (ii) Evaluated under the direction of the Department of Health to determine the effectiveness of the system;

19. (19) “High-strength wastewater” means wastewater which exceeds the following parameters:

    1. (A) Biochemical oxygen demand (BOD5) of three hundred milligrams per liter (300 mg/L);
    2. (B) Total suspended solids (TSS) of three hundred milligrams per liter (300 mg/L); and
    3. (C) Fats, oils, and grease content of twenty-five milligrams per liter (25 mg/L);

20. (20) “High-use area” means any site accessible to the public for the purposes of:

    1. (A) Entertainment;
    2. (B) Recreation; or
    3. (C) Gathering;

21. (21) “High-water mark” means:

    1. (A) The established maximum flood elevation of lakes with constructed dams; or
    2. (B) When not available, the line which the water impresses on the soil by covering it for sufficient periods of time to deprive it of nonaquatic vegetation;
22. (22) “Homeowner” means a person who owns and occupies a building as his or her home;

23. (23) “Hydraulic conductivity” means the proportionality factor in Darcy’s law, as applied to the viscous flow of water in soil, that:

    1. (A) Represents the ability of soil to conduct water; and
    2. (B) Is equivalent to the flux of water per unit gradient of hydraulic potential;
24. (24) “Industrial wastes” means liquid wastes resulting from the processes employed in industrial and commercial establishments;
25. (25) “Installer” means any person, firm, corporation, association, municipality, or governmental agency licensed by the Department of Health, which constructs, installs, alters, or repairs onsite wastewater systems for others;

26. (26)

    1. (A) “Interceptor drain” means a subsurface drain line, usually constructed upgrade five to ten feet (5’ – 10’) from the absorption area to divert seasonal groundwater.
    2. (B) A minimum of a four (4) mil plastic barrier shall be placed the entire depth on the field line side of the trench.
    3. (C) Interceptor drains shall be located between the absorption area and any upslope direction where subsurface flow could influence the drain field;

27. (27) “Lake” means a considerable body of inland water or an expanded portion of a river:

    1. (A) Generally of appreciable size; and
    2. (B) Too deep to permit vegetation, excluding subaqueous vegetation, to take root completely across the expanse of water;

28. (28) “Licensees” means an encompassing term used to refer to persons licensed by the state to perform on-site related services to include:

    1. (A) Installers;
    2. (B) Designated representatives;
    3. (C) Certified monitoring personnel; and
    4. (D) Septic tank manufacturers;
29. (29) “Monitoring person” means an individual certified by the Department of Health to conduct assessments under the Onsite Wastewater Systems Monitoring Program;
30. (30) “Municipality” means a city, town, county, district, or other public body created by or pursuant to state law, or any combination thereof, acting cooperatively or jointly;

31. (31) “Onsite wastewater system” means a single system of treatment tanks and/or renovation facilities used for the treatment of domestic wastewater, exclusive of industrial wastes, serving only:

    1. (A) A single building;
    2. (B) A commercial facility such as an office building; or
    3. (C) An industrial plant or institution;

32. (32)

    1. (A) “Pedon” means the smallest volume for which one should describe and sample the soil to represent the nature and arrangement of its horizons and variability in the properties that are preserved in samples.
    2. (B) In the usual situation, where all horizons are continuous and of nearly uniform thickness and composition, the pedon has a horizontal area of about one square meter (1 m²);
33. (33) “Perched water table” means a saturated zone, generally above the natural water table, as identified by redoximorphic features caused by a restrictive horizon;

34. (34) “Person” means any:

    1. (A) Institution;
    2. (B) Public or private corporation;
    3. (C) Individual;
    4. (D) Partnership; or
    5. (E) Other entity;

35. (35)

    1. (A) “Piezometer” means a pipe placed in the soil, which gives the water pressure at depth.
    2. (B) The reading is used to estimate the elevation of a water table;
36. (36) “Pond” means a body of water smaller than a lake, often artificially formed;
37. (37) “Potable water” means water free from impurities in amounts sufficient to cause disease or harmful physiological effects with the bacteriological and chemical quality conforming to applicable standards of the State Board of Health;
38. (38) “Primary absorption area” means the area approved by the Department of Health or its authorized agent for the installation of an onsite wastewater system for a specified tract of land;

39. (39) “Professional soil classifier (P.S.C.)” means a person who:

    1. (A) By reason of their special knowledge of the physical, chemical, and biological sciences applicable to soils as natural bodies and of the methods and principles of soil classification as acquired by soils education and soil classification experience in the formation, morphology, description, and mapping of soils, is qualified to practice soil classifying; and
    2. (B) Has been registered by the State Board of Registration for Professional Soil Classifiers;
40. (40) “Property owner” means a person who owns and may or may not occupy the property;

41. (41) “Property owners association” means an association:

    1. (A) Created by and pursuant to state law; and
    2. (B) Organized for the purpose of maintaining common facilities including onsite wastewater facilities in unincorporated subdivisions;

42. (42) “Redoximorphic features” means:

    1. (A) Color patterns in a soil caused by loss (depletion) or gain (concentration) of pigment compared to the matrix color, formed by oxidation/reduction of iron (Fe) and/or manganese (Mn) coupled with their:

       1. (i) Removal;
       2. (ii) Translocation; or
       3. (iii) Accrual; or
    2. (B) A soil matrix color controlled by the presence of ferrous iron (Fe2+);

43. (43)

    1. (A) “Relic redoximorphic features” means soil morphological features that reflect past hydrologic conditions of saturation and anaerobiosis rather than contemporary hydrology.
    2. (B) Redoximorphic features may not be considered relict unless they have been evaluated by a monitoring process as specified in 14 CAR § 21-604(d);

44. (44) “Residential strength effluent” means effluent that does not exceed the following parameters:

    1. (A) Biochemical oxygen demand (BOD5) of three hundred milligrams per liter (300 mg/L);
    2. (B) Total suspended solids (TSS) of three hundred milligrams per liter (300 mg/L); and
    3. (C) Fats, oils, and grease content of twenty-five milligrams per liter (25 mg/L);

45. (45)

    1. (A) “Restrictive soil layer” means a soil layer that impedes the movement of:

       1. (i) Water;
       2. (ii) Air; or
       3. (iii) Growth of plant roots.

    2. (B) Examples of such layers or conditions are:

       1. (i) Claypans;
       2. (ii) Fragipans;
       3. (iii) Pressure or induced pans; and
       4. (iv) Bedrock.

    3. (C) “Claypan” means a natural subsurface horizon with:

       1. (i) Low hydraulic conductivity; and
       2. (ii) At least twenty percent (20%) more clay than the overlying horizon.

    4. (D)

       1. (i) “Fragipan” means a natural subsurface horizon with:

          1. (a) (a) Very low organic matter;
          2. (b) (b) High bulk density; and/or
       2. (c) (c) High mechanical strength relative to overlying and underlying horizons.
       3. (ii) It has hard or very hard consistence when dry but showing a moderate to weak brittleness when moist.

       4. (iii) The layer:

          1. (a) (a) Typically has redoximorphic features;
          2. (b) (b) Is slowly or very slowly permeable to water;
       5. (c) (c) Is considered to be root restricting; and
       6. (d) (d) Usually has few to many bleached, roughly vertical planes which are faces of coarse or very coarse polyhedrons or prisms.

    5. (E)

       1. (i) “Pressure” or “induced pan” means a subsurface horizon or soil layer having a higher bulk density and a lower total porosity than the soil directly above or below it, as a result of pressure that has been applied by normal tillage operations or by other artificial means.
       2. (ii) This term is frequently referred to as a plow pan, plow sole, or traffic pan;
46. (46) “Scum” means the accumulated floating material, including grease, oils, and other low-density solids in a septic tank;
47. (47) “Secondary absorption area” means a location indicated on a lot or plot plan showing where the absorption area is to be placed in the event of failure or necessary replacement of the system located on the primary absorption area;

48. (48)

    1. (A) “Seasonal water table (SWT)” means a zone of soil that becomes saturated for periods long enough to undergo reducing conditions during periods of climatic stress due to an underlying restrictive layer.
    2. (B) The seasonal water table may be classified as brief, moderate, or long and may also be known as a perched water table;

49. (49)

    1. (A) “Septic tank” means a single tank or series of tanks that:

       1. (i) Receive raw domestic wastewater; and
       2. (ii) Serve as the primary treatment unit in an onsite wastewater system.

    2. (B) The septic tank provides:

       1. (i) Skimming and storage of scum, settling, and storage of the wastewater solids; and
       2. (ii) The partial digestion of accumulated solids by anaerobic action.
    3. (C) Clarified effluent then flows from the septic tank to the absorption area or for further treatment;
50. (50) “Septic tank manufacturer” means a person, firm, corporation, or association who manufactures septic tanks, package treatment units, or other components for onsite wastewater systems;

51. (51) “Similarly qualified individual” means an individual:

    1. (A) With a bachelor’s degree with thirty (30) hours of natural science, engineering, and/or math;
    2. (B) With three (3) years’ experience verified by the Department of Health in the design of onsite wastewater systems; or
    3. (C) Who has completed a twenty-four-month training plan approved by the Department of Health with a licensed designated representative and obtained a wastewater operator license class I and II with the Division of Environmental Quality;
52. (52) “Sludge” means the accumulated solids that have settled to the bottom of a septic tank;

53. (53) “Soil” means a natural body comprised of solids (minerals and organic matter), liquid, and gases that:

    1. (A) Occurs on the land surface;
    2. (B) Occupies space; and

    3. (C) Is characterized by one (1) or both of the following:

       1. (i) Horizons, or layers, that are distinguishable from the initial material as a result of additions, losses, transfers, and transformations of energy and matter; or
       2. (ii) The ability to support rooted plants in a natural environment;

54. (54) “Soil absorption system” means:

    1. (A) The system for the final renovation of the septic tank effluent; and

    2. (B) Return of the renovated wastewater to the hydrologic cycle, including the:

       1. (i) Lateral lines;
       2. (ii) Perforated pipes;
       3. (iii) Rock or other authorized conventional trench media products; and
       4. (iv) Soil absorption trenches;
55. (55) “Soil horizon” means a layer approximately parallel to the surface of the soil distinguishable from adjacent layers by a distinctive set of properties produced by the soil forming process;

56. (56)

    1. (A) “Soil pit” means an onsite excavation.

    2. (B) The excavation shall be of adequate size to observe depth to:

       1. (i) Seasonal water tables;
       2. (ii) Bedrock; or
       3. (iii) Impervious layers.

    3. (C) The soil pit is:

       1. (i) A minimum of two feet (2’) in width; and
       2. (ii) Dug to provide ease of access such as steps or a moderate slope.

    4. (D) The excavation shall:

       1. (i) Be four feet (4’) in depth, unless an impervious layer is encountered; and
       2. (ii) Provide an exposed sidewall area of at least three feet (3’) in length.
    5. (E) It is used to observe those soil characteristics relevant in determining soil suitability for wastewater absorption and renovation;

57. (57)

    1. (A) “Soil qualified designated representative” means a designated representative who has successfully passed the soils portion of the designated representative testing procedure as set forth by the Department of Health.
    2. (B) These individuals are certified to size absorption areas based on depth to seasonal water tables;

58. (58)

    1. (A) “Soil textural class” means the relative proportions by weight of the three (3) mineral fractions sand, silt, and clay as defined by the United States Department of Agriculture soil texture classifications.
    2. (B) See Page 76 Soil Texture Triangle;

59. (59) “Standard systems” means a standard onsite wastewater system:

    1. (A) Consisting of a field of perforated pipe surrounded by gravel or other conventional trench media product authorized by the Department of Health; and
    2. (B) Installed in such a manner that the clarified effluent from the septic tank or pretreatment unit will be distributed with reasonable uniformity into the natural soil using loading rates found in Table 1;
60. (60) “Stream” means a year-round flowing stream as designated by the United States Geological Survey;

61. (61)

    1. (A) “Subdivision” means land divided or proposed to be divided for predominantly residential purposes into such parcels as required by local ordinances.
    2. (B) In the absence of local ordinances, subdivision means any land which is divided or proposed to be divided by a common owner or owners for predominantly residential purposes into three (3) or more lots or parcels, platted or unplatted units, any of which contains less than three (3) acres, as a part of a uniform plan of development;
62. (62) “Surface discharging system” means a system that applies secondary treated effluent directly to the soil surface from a single point of discharge;
63. (63) “True water table” means the upper surface of a saturated zone within the soil that is directly connected to a regional aquifer;

64. (64)

    1. (A) “Undisturbed soil” means soil which has:

       1. (i) Developed by the actions of the soil forming processes; and
       2. (ii) Not been disturbed or altered by the human activities.
    2. (B) Exception. Plow layers less than seven inches (7”) from the soil surface;

65. (65)

    1. (A) “Valid permit” means a permit for construction that is valid for a period of one (1) year from the date of approval.

    2. (B) A permit may be deemed invalid by the authorized agent before construction if the:

       1. (i) Site and/or soil conditions have changed after approval; or
       2. (ii) Information on the permit is inaccurate.
    3. (C) A permit may be revalidated; and

66. (66) “Wet season” means the period within one (1) year when:

    1. (A) Rainfall normally exceeds evapotranspiration; and
    2. (B) A seasonal water table can be expected to be at its highest level in the soil.