The operation of the facility shall comply with all of the following operational requirements.

1. (1) Protection of surface water. The facility shall be constructed, maintained and operated to manage run-on and run-off during a 25-year, 24-hour rainfall event and shall prevent discharge into waters in the state of feedstock material, including but not limited to, in-process and/or processed materials. Any waters coming into contact with feedstock, in-process, and processed materials shall be considered leachate. Leachate shall be contained in retention facilities until reapplied on piles of feedstock, in-process, or unprocessed materials. The retention facilities shall be lined and the liner shall be constructed in compliance with paragraph (2) of this section. Leachate may be treated and processed at an authorized facility or as authorized by an NPDES permit. The use of leachate in any processing shall be conducted in a manner that does not contaminate the final product.

2. (2) Protection of groundwater. The facility shall be designed, constructed, maintained and operated to protect groundwater. Facilities that compost municipal sewage sludge, grease trap waste, disposable diapers, and/or the sludge byproduct of paper mill production shall install and maintain a liner system complying with the provisions of subparagraph (A), (B), or (C) of this paragraph. The liner system shall be provided where receiving, mixing, composting, post-processing, screening and storage areas would be in contact with the ground or in areas where leachate, contaminated materials, contaminated product or contaminated water is stored or retained. The application shall demonstrate the facility is designed so as not to contaminate the groundwater and so as to protect the existing groundwater quality from degradation. For the purposes of these sections, protection of the groundwater includes the protection of perched water or shallow surface infiltration. The lined surface shall be covered with a material designed to withstand normal traffic from the composting operations. At a minimum the lined surface shall consist of soil, synthetic, or an alternative material that is equivalent to two feet of compacted clay with a hydraulic conductivity of 1 x 10[sup]-7[/sup] centimeters per second or less.

   1. (A) Soil liners shall have more than 30% passing a number 200 sieve, have a liquid limit greater than 30% and a plasticity index greater than 15.
   2. (B) Synthetic liners shall be a membrane with a minimum thickness of 20 mils.
   3. (C) An alternative design that utilizes an impermeable liner (such as concrete).
3. (3) Unauthorized and prohibited materials. The operator shall operate the facility in a manner that will preclude the entry of any unauthorized or prohibited materials from entering the composting process.
4. (4) Access. Access to the facility shall be controlled to prevent unauthorized disposal of unauthorized or prohibited material and scavenging. The facility shall be completely fenced with a gate that is locked when the facility is closed.
5. (5) Nuisance conditions. The facility shall be sited and operated in such a manner as to prevent the potential of nuisance conditions and fire hazards. Where nuisance conditions or fire hazards exist, the operator will immediately take action to abate such nuisances.
6. (6) Aerobic composting required. The facility shall utilize functionally aerobic composting methods, although an anaerobic composting phase may be utilized in the early stages of processing, if it is followed by a period of functionally aerobic composting.
7. (7) Site sign. The facility shall have a sign at the entrance indicating the type of facility, the registration number, hours of operation and the allowable feedstocks.
8. (8) Access road. The facility access road shall be an all-weather road.
9. (9) Authorization required for significant changes. The operator shall obtain written permission from the commission before changing the processing method or other significant changes to the original registration application.
10. (10) Prohibited substances. Fungicides, herbicides, insecticides or other pesticides that contain constituents listed in 40 CFR Part 261, Appendix VIII-Hazardous Constituents or on the Hazardous Substance List as defined in the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980 (CERCLA) shall not be applied to or incorporated into feedstocks, in-process materials or processed materials.

11. (11) End-product standards.

    1. (A) Facilities that compost municipal sewage sludge. For facilities that compost only municipal sewage sludge or compost municipal sewage sludge with any source-separated materials, the operator shall comply with the provisions of Chapter 312 of this title (relating to Sludge Use, Disposal, and Transportation) and shall not exceed the foreign matter criteria contained §332.72(d)(2)(A) and (D) of this title (relating to Final Product Grades).
    2. (B) All other registered facilities. The operator shall meet compost testing requirements set forth in §332.71 of this title (relating to Sampling and Analysis Requirements for Final Product), final product grades set forth in §332.72 of this title (relating to Final Product Grades), and label all materials which are sold or distributed as set forth in §332.74 of this title (relating to Final Product Labelling Requirements).
12. (12) The operator shall employ at least one TNRCC-certified compost operator within six months from the adoption of this title, the initiation of operations at the compost facility, or the establishment of the compost certification program which ever occurs later and a TNRCC-certified compost operator shall routinely be available on site during the hours of operation.

Source Note:The provisions of this §332.37 adopted to be effective November 29, 1995, 20 TexReg 9717.