"Agricultural animal " means an animal confined in an agricultural facility.
" Agricultural facility " means a lot, building, or structure, which is used for the commercial production of animals in an animal facility.
" Agronomic rate " is the animal manure and other animal by-products application rate designed: (1) to provide the amount of nitrogen needed by the food crop, feed crop, fiber crop, cover crop, or vegetation grown on the land and (2) to minimize the amount of nitrogen in the animal manure that passes below the root zone of the crop or vegetation grown on the land to the groundwater and (3) to provide the amount of other organic and inorganic plant nutrients which promote crop or vegetative growth, such as calcium-carbonate equivalency and (4) to provide the amount of phosphorus needed by the crop or vegetation grown on the land without causing an excessive build up of phosphorus in the soil.
" Animal " means any domesticated animal.
" Animal by-product " means a secondary or incidental product of animal production that may include bedding, spilled feed, water or soil, milking center washwater, contaminated milk, hair, feathers, dead animals or other debris. This definition may also refer to dead animal or animal manure compost.
" Animal facility " means an agricultural facility where animals are confined and fed or maintained for a total of forty-five days or more in a twelve‑month period and crops, vegetative, forage growth, or post harvest residues are not sustained in the normal growing season over any portion of the lot or facility. Structures used for the storage of animal manure and other animal by-products from animals in the operation also are part of the animal facility. Two or more animal facilities under common ownership or management are considered to be a single animal facility if they are adjacent or utilize a common system for animal manure storage.
" Animal Facility Management Plan " means a plan prepared by the United States Department of Agriculture's Natural Resources Conservation Service or a professional engineer detailing the management, handling, treatment, storage, or utilization of manure generated in an animal facility. This plan shall include facility management details and a detailed map of each manure utilization area showing all buffer zones and setbacks, a description of the land use, the crops grown on the site, the timing for application of swine manure to the land and a land use agreement if the site is not owned by the permittee.
" Animal manure " means animal excreta or other commonly associated organic animal manures including, but not limited to, bedding, litter, feed losses, or water mixed with the manure.
" Annual animal manure application rate " is the maximum amount of animal manure that can be agronomically applied to a unit area of land during any 365-day period.
" Annual constituent loading rate " means the maximum amount of a constituent that can be applied to a unit area of a manure utilization area during any 365-day period.
Average animal live weight " means the sum of the average exit weight of the animal from the facility and the average entry weight divided by two, as shown by the following formula:
Average animal live weight = (Average Exit Weight + Average Entry Weight)/2
" Broker " means a person who accepts or purchases dry animal manure from agricultural facilities and transfers this product to a third party for land application.
" Closed facility " means an animal facility that has ceased operations (no confined animals at the facility) and is no longer in production.
" Commercial Facility " means an animal facility that produces animals or animal by-products for commercial sale, boards animals, rents animals, or provides a service utilizing the animals for a fee. The facility is considered commercial if the owner earned at least one thousand dollars gross farm income in at least three of the first five years.
" Compost " is an organic soil conditioner that has been stabilized to a humus-like product, is free of viable human and plant pathogens and plant seeds, does not attract insects or vectors, can be handled and stored without nuisance, and is beneficial to the growth of plants.
" Composting " is the biological decomposition and stabilization of organic substrates, under conditions that allow development of thermophilic temperatures as a result of biologically produced heat, to produce a final product that is stable, free of pathogens and plant seeds, and can be beneficially applied to land. Composting requires special conditions of moisture and aeration to produce thermophilic temperatures.
" Constituent limit " is a numerical value that describes the amount of a constituent allowed per unit amount of animal manure (e. g., milligrams per kilogram of total solids); the amount of a constituent that can be applied to a unit area of land (e. g., pounds per acre); or the volume of a material that can be applied to a unit area of land (e.g., gallons per acre).
" Cover crop " is a small grain crop, including, but not limited to, oats, wheat, or barley; grasses; or other crop grown for agronomic use or to maintain topsoil and prevent soil erosion.
" Cumulative constituent loading rate " means the maximum amount of a constituent that can be applied to an area of land.
" Cumulative impacts " means an increase or enlarging of impact to the environment or community by the successive addition or accumulation of animal facilities in an area.
" CWA " means the Clean Water Act (formerly referred to as the Federal Water Pollution Control Act or Federal Water Pollution Control Act Amendments of 1972) Pub. L. 92-500, as amended by Pub. L. 95-217, Pub. L. 95-576, Pub. L. 96-483, and Pub. L. 97-117, 33 U.S.C. 1251 et seq. Specific references to sections within the CWA shall be according to Pub. L. 92-500 notation.
" Deemed Permitted Facility " means an agricultural animal facility that held a valid permit from the Department for their swine facility prior to July 1, 1996, or for their animal facility prior to June 26, 1998.
" Disposal system " means a system for disposing of sewage, industrial waste or other wastes, including sewerage systems and treatment works.
" Department " means the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control.
" Dry manure " means manure, bedding, litter, feed losses, or composted animal material (animal manure or dead animals) that is not in a liquid form. Dry animal manure can normally be easily handled with a shovel or other similar equipment and it can be placed in piles without liquid manure or leachate drainage occurring.
" Dry weight basis " means calculated on the basis of having been dried at 105 degrees Celsius until reaching a constant mass (i.e., essentially 100 percent solids content).
" Effluent limitation " means any restriction imposed by the Department on quantities, discharge rates, and concentrations of pollutants which are discharged from point sources into waters of the State, the waters of the contiguous zone, or the ocean.
" Effluent limitations guidelines " means: A regulation published by the Administrator under section 304(b) of CWA to adopt or revise effluent limitations.
" EPA " means the United States Environmental Protection Agency.
" Ephemeral stream " means a stream that flows only in direct response to rainfall or snowmelt in which discrete periods of flow persist no more than twenty‑nine consecutive days per event.
" Excessive Mortality " means total animal mortality in any one 24-hour period that exceeds the design capacity of the normal method of dead animal disposal.
" Expansion " means an increase in the permitted number of animals or normal production live weight at the facility that will result in physical construction at the facility. For facilities with a lagoon, treatment system or manure storage pond, expansion means an increase due to construction in the maximum capacity of the existing lagoon, treatment system or manure storage pond as determined using the appropriate design standards of the United States Department of Agriculture's Natural Resource Conservation Service. An Animal manure treatment lagoon that is converted to animal manure storage pond is considered an expansion of the facility. For facilities permitted prior to 1998, where the treatment/storage design function was not clearly specified, the Department shall review the facility's operation records and compliance history to determine the current function and condition of the manure handling structures. If the existing structure can handle additional animals, without physical alteration, significant changes in the original function of the structure, or any significant increase in odor, the Department may allow this increase in animals without classifying the change as an expansion.
" FEMA " means the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
" Feed crops " are crops produced primarily for consumption by animals. These include, but are not limited to: corn, grains, and grasses.
" Fiber crops " are crops including, but not limited to, flax and cotton.
" Floodplain " means land adjacent to water bodies that periodically becomes temporarily inundated with water during or after rainfall events. The land inundated from a flood whose peak magnitude would be experienced on an average of once every 100 years is the 100-year floodplain. The 100-year flood has a 1% probability of occurring in one given year.
" Food crops " are crops produced primarily for human consumption. These include, but are not limited to, fruits, vegetables, and tobacco.
" Groundwater " is water below the land surface in the saturated zone.
" Integrator " or "Integrating company" means any entity or person(s) who contracts with agricultural animal producers to grow animals to be supplied to this person(s) at the time of removal from the animal growing houses or facilities and exercises substantial operational control over an animal facility along with the owner/operator of the facility. Substantial operational control includes, but is not limited to, the following: directs the activities of persons working at the animal facility either through a contract, direct supervision, or on-site participation; owns the animals; or specifies how the animals are grown, fed, or medicated. This definition does not include independent producers that contract with other independent producers to accomplish a portion of the animal growing process under contract.
" Intermittent stream " means a stream that generally has a defined natural watercourse, which does not flow year-round but flows beyond periods of rainfall or snowmelt.
" Lagoon " means an impoundment used in conjunction with an animal facility, the primary function of which is to store or stabilize, or both, manure, organic wastes, wastewater, and contaminated runoff.
" Land application " is the spraying or spreading of manure onto the land surface; the injection of manure below the land surface into the root zone; or the incorporation of manure into the soil so that the manure can either condition the soil or fertilize crops or vegetation grown in the soil.
" Large Animal Facility " means an animal facility (excluding swine facilities) that has a capacity for more than 500,000 pounds of normal production animal live weight at any one time.
" Large Swine Facility " means a swine facility with a capacity for greater than 500,000 pounds of normal production animal live weight at any one time.
" Liquid manure " means manure that by its nature, or after being diluted with water, can be pumped easily and which is removed either intermittently or continuously from an animal lagoon, manure storage pond or treated effluent from other types of animal manure treatment systems.
" Manure " means the fecal and urinary excretion of livestock and poultry. This material may also contain bedding, spilled feed, water or soil. It may also include wastes not associated with livestock excreta, such as milking center washwater, contaminated milk, hair, feathers, or other debris. Manure may be described in different categories as related to solids and moisture content, such as dry manure and liquid manure.
" Manure storage pond " means a structure used for impounding or storing manure, wastewater, and contaminated runoff as a component of an agricultural manure management system. Manure is stored for a specified period of time, one year or less, and then the pond is emptied. This definition does not include tanks or other similar vessels.
" Manure utilization area " means land on which animal manure (including swine manure) is spread as a fertilizer and is synonymous with land application site or land application area.
" mg/l " means milligrams per liter.
" NRCS " is the Natural Resources Conservation Service of the United States Department of Agriculture.
" NRCS-CPS " is the Natural Resources Conservation Service's Conservation Practice Standards as given in the USDA-NRCS, SC Handbook of Conservation Practices.
" Normal production animal live weight at any one time " means the maximum number of animals at the facility at any one time multiplied by the average animal live weight of those animals.
" Nuisance " means a condition causing danger or annoyance to a limited number of persons or to the general public.
" Other wastes " means garbage, refuse, decayed wood, sawdust, shavings, bark, sand, clay, lime, cinders, ashes, offal, oil, gasoline, other petroleum products or byproducts, tar, dye stuffs, acids, chemicals, dead animals, heated substances and all other products, by-products or substances not sewage or industrial waste.
" Pasture " is land on which animals feed directly on feed crops including, but not limited to, legumes, grasses, grain stubble, or stover.
" Person " means any individual, public or private corporation, political subdivision, association, partnership, corporation, municipality, State or Federal agency, industry, copartnership, firm, trust, estate, any other legal entity whatsoever, or an agent or employee thereof.
" Potable water well " means any well designed and/or constructed to produce potable water for consumption by humans or animals.
" Producer " is a person who grows or confines animals; a person responsible for the manure produced at an animal facility; a person processing manure; and/or a person responsible for the land application of manure.
" Professional Engineer " or "Engineer" is a person who, by reason of his special knowledge of the mathematical and physical sciences and the principles and methods of engineering analysis and design, acquired by professional education and practical experience, is qualified to practice engineering, all as attested by his legal registration as a professional engineer in this State.
" Range land " is open land with indigenous vegetation.
" Residence " means a permanent inhabited dwelling, any existing church, school, hospital, or any other structure which is routinely occupied by the same person or persons more than twelve hours per day or by the same person or persons under the age of eighteen for more than two hours per day, except those owned by the applicant.
" Runoff " is rainwater or other liquid that drains overland on any part of a land surface and runs off of the land surface.
" Seasonal High Water Table " is the surface between the zone of saturation and the zone of aeration, where the pore water pressure is equal to atmospheric pressure, and which exhibits the shallowest average water depth in relation to the surface during the wettest season.
" Sewage " means the water-carried human or animal wastes from residences, buildings, industrial establishments or other places, together with such groundwater infiltration and surface water as may be present and the admixture with sewage of industrial wastes or other wastes shall also be considered "sewage."
" Small Animal Facility " means an animal facility (other than swine) that has a capacity for 500,000 pounds of normal production animal live weight or less at any one time.
" Small Swine Facility " means a swine facility with a capacity for 500,000 pounds of normal production animal live weight or less at any one time.
" Source Water Protection Area " means an area either above and/or below ground that is the source of water for a public drinking water system via a surface water intake or a water supply well that is designated by the State for increased protection.
" State " means the State of South Carolina.
" Swine " means a domesticated animal belonging to the porcine species.
" Swine by-product " means a secondary or incidental product of swine production that may include bedding, spilled feed, water or soil, milking center washwater, contaminated milk, hair, feathers, dead swine or other debris. This definition may also refer to dead swine or swine manure compost.
" Swine facility " means an agricultural facility where swine are confined and fed or maintained for a total of forty‑five days or more in a twelve‑month period and crops, vegetative, forage growth, or post‑harvest residues are not sustained in the normal growing season over any portion of the lot or facility. Structures used for the storage of swine manure from swine in the operation also are part of the swine facility. Two or more swine facilities under common ownership or management are considered to be a single swine facility if they are adjacent or utilize a common system for swine manure treatment and/or storage. For any new or expanding swine facility, the combined normal production of all swine facilities owned by the producer, and of all swine facilities owned by corporations having a common majority shareholder in common with the producer, within twenty five miles of the new or expanding facility shall be used to determine the normal production of the new or expanding facility. For example, when a new facility has a proposed capacity of 300,000 pounds of normal production and the producer owns two other swine facilities within twenty-five miles of the new or expanding swine facility and the normal production of each facility is 400,000 pounds, the proposed swine facility's normal production is 1,100,000 (300,000 + 400,000 + 400,000) pounds.
" Swine manure " means swine excreta or other commonly associated organic animal manures including, but not limited to, bedding, litter, feed losses, or water mixed with the manure.
" µg/l " means microgram per liter.
" Vector " means a carrier that is capable of transmitting a pathogen from one organism to another including, but not limited to, flies and other insects, rodents, birds, and vermin.
" Wastewater " means any water which during the confinement of animals or the handling, storage, or treatment of manure, dead animals, litter, etc. comes into contact with the animals, manure, litter, spilled feed, etc. Wastewater includes, but is not limited to, wash waters, contaminated milk, and stormwater (except stormwater runoff from land application areas where the application of manure has been properly applied) that comes into contact with manure.
" Watershed " means a drainage area contributing to a river, lake, or stream.
" Waters of the State " means lakes, bays, sounds, ponds, impounding reservoirs, springs, artesian wells, rivers, perennial and navigable streams, creeks, estuaries, marshes, inlets, canals, the Atlantic Ocean within the territorial limits of the State, and all other bodies of water, natural or artificial, public or private, inland or coastal, fresh or salt, which are wholly or partially within or bordering the State or within its jurisdiction. This definition does not include ephemeral or intermittent streams. This definition includes wetlands as defined in this section.
" Wetlands " means lands that have a predominance of hydric soil, are inundated or saturated by water or groundwater at a frequency and duration sufficient to support a prevalence of hydrophytic vegetation typically adapted for life in saturated soil conditions, and, under normal circumstances, do support a prevalence of hydrophytic vegetation. Normal circumstances refer to the soil and hydrologic conditions that are normally present without regard to whether the vegetation has been removed. Wetlands shall be identified through the confirmation of the three wetlands criteria: hydric soil, hydrology, and hydrophytic vegetation. All three criteria shall be met for an area to be identified as wetlands. Wetlands generally include swamps, marshes, and bogs.