North Carolina Regulatory Programs To Protect Groundwater

Groundwater Standards and Classifications

Groundwater Classifications

Water Quality Standards

GA waters must meet quality standards for all 74 substances. GSA waters must meet quality standards for all parameters except chloride and dissolved solids. GC waters contain substances which do not meet quality criteria and which cannot be restored to meet the quality standards. Although GC waters do not meet certain quality standards they are not permitted to decline any further in quality. Steps must also be taken to prevent GC waters from contributing to the decline in quality of adjacent waters. Currently, there are no GC waters in the state (as of 12/89): In other words, the Groundwater Section considers it feasible to restore the quality of the current groundwater contamination incidents to within the allowable standards.

Figure 2. Groundwater Standards: Agricultural Chemicals Included in North Carolina Groundwater Standards (15 NCAC 2L .0202) (1989)
Common Name	Trade Name	Use	Standard (mg/l)
Alachlor	Lasso	Herbicide	0.00015
Aldicarb	Ternik	Insecticide	0.009
Carbofuran	Furadan	Insecticide	0.036
Carbon tetrachloride	various	Insecticide	0.0003
Chlordane	various	Insecticide	0.000027
Various Copper formulations	various	Fungicide	1.0
Endrin	various	Insecticide	0.0002
Ethylene dibromide	various	Insecticide	0.0000005
Heptachlor	various	Insecticide	0.000076
Hexachlorobenzene	various	Seed Protectant	0.00002
Lindane	various	Insecticide	0.0000265
Methoxychlor	Marlate	Insecticide	0.1
Nitrate (as N)	various	Fertilizer	10.0
Nitrite (as N)	various	Fertilizer	1.0
Oxamyl	Vydate L	Fungicide	0.175
Pentachlorophenol	Wood Treatment TC	Insecticide	0.22
Toxaphene	various	Insecticide	0.000031
Various sulfur formulations	various	Inst./Fung.	250.0
1,2-dibromo-3-chloropropane	various	Nematicide	0.000025
2,SD	various	Herbicide	0.07
2,45-TP (Silvex)	various	Herbicide	0.01
Allowable pH levels: 65 - 8.5
(Source for trade names and use: 1989 North Carolina Agricultural Chemicals Manual. NCSU, College of Agriculture and Life Sciences.)

The issue of how best to protect groundwater has not been without debate. There are three types of policies: (1) non-degradation (not allowing concentrations of any substances in groundwater to increase); (2) limited degradation (allowing concentrations of substances to increase to a certain standard); and (3) differential protection (protecting certain groundwater, such as sources of drinking water, more than other groundwater).

The US EPA and many states have adopted differential groundwater protection policies which provide greatest protection and program assistance to recharge areas around public groundwater wells (commonly referred to as "wellhead protection" areas) to protect important drinking water supplies. North Carolina policy makers believe that all groundwater should be protected equally without regard to present or potential use.

Also, the debate has focussed on whether groundwater should be allowed to be degraded to a certain standard, or not at all. North Carolina groundwater quality regulations do not allow detectable concentrations of nonnatural substances which do not have quality standards to occur in GA and GSA groundwaters. State regulations do allow however, for limited degradation of substances with quality standards to occur in designated areas around facilities which discharge possible groundwater pollutants. When permits are issued for these facilities, a compliance boundary is established (varies depending on the facility) and a review boundary is established around disposal systems at the mid-point between the compliance boundary and the waste boundary. Monitoring must be put in place at the review boundary, and any increase over the groundwater standards for a particular substance will require corrective action by the property owner to insure that groundwater quality beyond the property will not degrade.

Who is Affected?

While farm owners are not required to restore the quality of contaminated groundwater or to monitor the groundwater resource, groundwater contamination attributed to farm use may engender regulatory action. The regulations state that "(w)here groundwater qualiq standards are exceeded as a result of the application of pesticides or other agricultural chemicals... the Director (of the Division of Environmental Management) sha21 request the Pesticide Board to take appropriate regulatory action to control the use of the chemical or chemicals responsible for, or contributing to, such violations, or to discontinue their use." (15 NCAC 2L .0106 (g)) Current groundwater standards include 17 agrichemicals, nitrate and nitrite concentrations, and a range for allowable pH levels (see figure 2).

Under the rules established by the groundwater classifications and standards, owners of permitted facilities who "cause, permit or have control over any discharge of waste" (1S NCAC 2L .0110) are expected to monitor groundwater and to comply with the new groundwater standards. Permitted facilities which must monitor for groundwater pollution include: waste lagoon systems, surface impoundments, spray irrigation of waste, large septic tank systems (usually industrial, or owned by units of government, utilities), rotary distribution systems (used in the outer banks for tertiary water treatment), and the land application of wastes. "Treatment works and disposal systems which serve facilities raising and feeding animals..." are not required to monitor for groundwater quality (15 NCAC 2H .0217). Landfills and hazardous waste facilities and sites are required to monitor for groundwater quality under different regulatory programs. Owners of facilities required to monitor groundwater must take corrective action to restore contaminated groundwaters to concentrations below the standards.

See figure 6 for a list of state agencies which can help with groundwater related problems, responsibilities, regulations and permits.

Agricultural Regulatory Programs to Protect Groundwater Quality

The Pesticide Section in the Department of Agriculture administers regulations on the use, storage and disposal of pesticides as well as regulations regarding restricted use pesticides, pesticide applicators, and pesticide dealers. The Pesticide Board is the rule-making body which promulgates regulations regarding pesticides. Also, the Pesticide Board has the authority (G.S. 143 461) to designate any pesticide a restricted use pesticide and limit its use, its time and conditions of sale, its distribution, and may prohibit the use of any restricted use pesticide for designated purposes or at designated times.

The 1989 General Assembly authorized a study of the potential impact of pesticide use on groundwater in North Carolina. The study, which will begin during the summer of 1990, will monitor pesticides and metabolites the EPA considers to be highly leachable (see figure 4). Approximately 100 monitoring wells throughout the state will be specially constructed for the study. Also included in the study are 100 existing wells from the Department of Environment, Health and Natural Resources' ambient groundwater monitoring network. The sites are being selected to be representative of (a) the major hydrogeological areas in the state, and (b) the most vulnerable areas which might be affected by the agricultural use of pesticides. The Pesticide Board will consider the findings of the study and could establish new restrictions on pesticides which are problematic to North Carolina's groundwater quality.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture, Soil Conservation Service has developed a pesticide management program which indudes potential pesticide loss to leaching. Pesticide leaching potential is matched with the site-specific soil leaching potential to determine the overall leaching potential. This methodology, along with best management practices (including Integrated Pest Management (IPM) methods), are being used for recommendations to farm operators by Agricultural Extension agents and Soil Conservation Service specialists.

Underground Storage Tank Regulation

There are an estimated 220,000 underground storage tanks in North Carolina, 36 percent of which are estimated by the US EPA to be at risk of failing. 84,000 USTs are registered in the North Carolina regualtory program. Of these registered tanks, more than half are 15 years or older (see figure 5). Underground storage tanks are the main source of reported groundwater contamination incidents in North Carolina. The Groundwater Section has received notification of 854 leaking tanks, and groundwater contamination has been found at 419 of these sites. (Information provided to the 1990 Groundwater Protection Legislative Research Commission by the Division of Environmental Management.)

Figure 5 not shown.

The regulatory program requires that new USTs which contain petroleum must follow installation guidelines, be equipped for spill and overfill protection, protected from corrosion, and equipped with leak detection systems. Existing petroleum USTs must meet corrosion protection standards and must contain spill and overfill devices by 1998. USTs containing chemicals must meet even stricter standards induding double-walled systems, placing the UST in a concrete vault, and the installation of liners around the tank.

The following tanks are excluded from federal and state regulation and registration requirements:

1. Farm or residential tanks of 1,100 gallons or less used for storage of motor fuel for noncommercial purposes;

2. Tanks storing heating oil used on the premises where it is stored;

3. Tanks on or above the floor of underground areas such as basements;

4. Septic tanks and systems for collecting storm and wastewater;

5. Flow-through process tanks;

6. Tanks holding 110 gallons or less; and

7. Emergency spill and overfill tanks.

Despite registration and regulatory exemptions, all tanks owners are responsible for any contamination they may cause to groundwater which violates groundwater quality standards as well as for subsequent clean up efforts imposed by the N.C. Groundwater Section.

Trust funds (one commercial and one noncommercial) have been established to help pay for cleanup costs associated with leaking tanks. According to a newly ratified bill by the N.C. General Assembly (1989), the trust funds cover those costs associated with a leaking tank which exceed S50,000 for cleanup of environmental damage, and $100,000 for compensation of third parties for bodily injury, and property damage up to an aggregate maximum of $1,000,000. (NC GS 143-215.94A et seq.)

Protection of Drinking Water

Public Water Systems

Requirements to monitor drinking water vary depending on the type of public water system. The communiq water system has the highest require- ments for monitoring, it must be tested periodically for the following contaminants: microbiological or- ganisms, certain organic chemicals, certain inorganic chemicals (includes nitrate), radium, man-made radionuclides, trihalomethanes, corrosiviqw source fluoride, and volatile organic compounds. (10 NCAC 10D)

In addition, the Public Water Supply Section (Division of Environmental Health) investigates spills of hazardous substances that may affect public water supplies.

Private Wells

Some counties charge a nominal fee for testing a resident's water for bacteriological, inorganic and organic contaminants. (The State Health Lab charges counties for the containers used for the samples: S1.00 per bacteria bottle, and $9.00 per sample kit. But the actual cost to the Division of Epidemiology for providing this service is estimated at $7.00 per bacteria sample, S112.00 per inorganic chemical sample, and S672.00 per organic chemical sample.) (Information provided to the 1990 Groundwater Protection Legislative Research Commission by the Division of Environmental Health.)