b) Sites which have a lifetime of sludge application less than 5 years due to metal loading rates in Subsection c below shall be identified in a permit application. The Agency shall not issue a permit for sludge application on such sites unless the following items are considered in the application:

1. 1) Groundwater monitoring;
2. 2) Soil monitoring;
3. 3) Plant tissue sampling and analyses;
4. 4) Additional operational controls.

c) Soil cation exchange capacity (CEC) plays a major role in enabling the soil to retain the heavy metals contained in the sludge. Soils having a CEC in the range from 5 to 15 meq/100gm are acceptable for sludge utilization providing sludge application rates do not result in heavy metals being applied to land in excess of those amounts listed in Table II below.

f) The Agency may request an applicant to analyze a sludge for elements other than those in Table II and to limit sludge application based on other elements due to potential for groundwater or surface water pollution, phytotoxicity, mammalian toxicity or other environmental concerns. If the Agency determines that metals other than those in Table II should restrict the proposed application rate, the following loading rates shall be utilized for the land application project:

h) The Agency will consider allowing loading rates greater than those specified in this Section provided the generator or user addresses the following items:

1. 1) Soil testing results with particular attention to plant available metals and phosphorus;
2. 2) Groundwater monitoring results and adjacent groundwater use;
3. 3) Plant tissue sampling and analyses and the ultimate use of the crop;
4. 4) Availability of additional application sites;
5. 5) Hydrogeology of the application site;
6. 6) Operational constraints of the application site;
7. 7) Ultimate use of the application site.