[HISTORY: Article I adopted by the Township Committee (now Township Council) of the Township of Pohatcong as indicated in the article history. Subsequent articles adopted by the Township Council of the Township of Pohatcong as indicated in article histories. Amendments noted where applicable.]
GENERAL REFERENCES
Sewers and sewage — See Ch. 220 and Ch. 303.
Public health nuisances — See Ch. 296.
Water supply — See Ch. 310.
[Adopted 10-14-1986]
The general purpose of this article is to promote the public health, safety and general welfare of the Township of Pohatcong through controlled and monitored methods of residuals application, which constitutes a method of resource recovery and in which certain residual materials are used for their capability to fertilize and enhance the characteristics of soils. The specific purpose of this article is to require adequate provisions for:
A. 
Enhancing and maintaining the chemical, physical and biological integrity of groundwater and surface water in the Township of Pohatcong.
B. 
Protecting public health and safety.
C. 
Protecting potable water supplies and enhancing the recreational uses of surface water systems.
D. 
Safeguarding aquatic and water-based life forms and enhancing scenic ecological values.
E. 
Preventing, controlling and abating water pollution.
The following words, terms and phrases shall have the meanings set forth below, essentially identical with the meanings set forth in N.J.A.C. 7:14A, except when and as the context shall state otherwise:
APPLICANT
A person requesting the issuance of a permit to land-apply residuals.
APPLICATION
A submission filed by an applicant, which meets the requirements, hereinafter defined, of completion.
APPROVED PERMIT
A permit for which an application has been duly received, acknowledged as complete and reviewed and approved by the Township Committee[1] with the advice of such other bodies, including but not limited to the Environmental Commission, as the Township Committee shall see fit to consult.
DEWATERED RESIDUALS
Residual materials which are not pumpable with conventional pumping equipment, but which can be handled using solids-handling equipment.
GRAZING
Feeding or foraging on vegetation by domestic animals.
INDUSTRIAL WASTEWATER SLUDGE
Residual material resulting from physical, chemical or biological treatment of wastewater produced in an industrial process and processed in an industrial treatment facility.
LAND APPLICATION
The controlled discharge of materials into the soil in such a manner that the materials become incorporated into and blended with the soil.
NONHAZARDOUS BULK LIQUID MATERIALS
The liquids and associated suspended solids resulting from physical, chemical or biological manufacturing or waste-treatment processes, when such materials are not defined as hazardous in N.J.A.C. 7:26 or in other authoritative lists of hazardous materials, and whose application to land would benefit plant growth because of plant nutrients and other beneficial materials contained in it.
RESIDUALS
Solids and liquids which are by-products of a physical, chemical, biological or mechanical process; the term "residuals" includes sewage sludge and bulk liquid materials.
SEPTAGE
Unprocessed and untreated material pumped from septic waste systems.
SEWAGE SLUDGE
Sludge resulting from physical, chemical and biological treatment of wastewater or septage in a sewage treatment facility.
SLUDGE
Residual material resulting from treatment of wastewater. The term "sludge" includes, but is not limited to, sewage sludge and industrial wastewater sludge.
WATERCOURSE
Any lake, pond, inlet, cove, river, stream, pool, swamp, wetland bog, seasonal stream or ditch which carries water or which has the capability of carrying water.
[1]
Editor's Note: Now Township Council.
No septage shall be land-applied within the Township of Pohatcong unless a sample from each and every source of such septage shall have been analyzed by an approved method and analysis results approved by the Environmental Commission or Township Engineer.
Septage conforming to § 235-3 of this article, industrial sludges conforming to § 235-5 of this article and stabilized sewage sludge may be land-applied as a permitted practice. The Township Committee[1] may, through the Township Clerk and with the advice of the Environmental Commission, grant municipal permits for land application.
[1]
Editor's Note: Now Township Council.
A. 
Persons wishing to land-apply permitted residuals to lands within the Township of Pohatcong shall apply to the Township Clerk for a permit. The permit application shall include all, but shall not be limited to, the same information contained in the application to the State for a New Jersey Pollutant Discharge Elimination System permit.
B. 
The application shall first be reviewed by the Warren County Soil Conservation District to determine the acceptability of its soil conservation plan element. Warren County Soil Conservation District approval is required before the Township Clerk may acknowledge the application as complete. The application must be acknowledged as complete by the office of the Clerk before it is considered to be accepted.
C. 
When a permit is acknowledged as complete by the Township Clerk, it will be forwarded forthwith to the Environmental Commission, which shall review the application and, within 45 days of the date on which said application is accepted as complete and after consultation as necessary with the Warren County Board of Agriculture Extension Service and Soil Conservation District, shall report to the Township Committee[1] whether or not, in the Commission's judgment, the permitted procedure will adversely affect the water resources of the township or of the State of New Jersey, the air quality beyond the buffer zones designated in the application or any sensitive environmental area or habitat of threatened or endangered species. The Commission shall also regularly review the analysis results of sludges which are land-applied under the terms of lawful permits and crop records of tracts of land on which residuals are being lawfully land-applied, so as to track loading characteristics of soils, and shall report to the Township Committee annually concerning probable impacts of permitted land-application procedures.
[1]
Editor's Note: Now Township Council.
D. 
The fee for review of an application for a permit to land-apply residuals shall be $250.
E. 
The fee for annual renewal of the permit shall be $250.
F. 
Permits to land-apply residuals shall be nontransferable.
G. 
The issuance of the municipal permit to land-apply residuals is contingent upon the issuance of the New Jersey Pollutant Discharge Elimination System permit. Should the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection deny or refuse to issue such New Jersey Pollutant Discharge Elimination System permit, the municipal permit shall not be issued.
Resale of residuals or redistribution of residuals to any permittee, applicator or other person by the permittee to whom it was first delivered within the Township of Pohatcong is prohibited, except as permitted specifically in each and every case by action of the Township Committee.[1]
[1]
Editor's Note: Now Township Council.
No sewage sludge or septage shall be land-applied within the Township of Pohatcong, except as an accepted agricultural practice. Land application as a waste disposal procedure is expressly prohibited.
A. 
The Township Committee, with the advice of the Environmental Commission, shall annually review each permit to determine whether or not any land-application practice is in fact being implemented as an accepted agricultural practice or a waste disposal practice and shall, upon consultation with the Warren County Soil Conservation District and the Warren County Board of Agriculture, refuse to reissue a land-application permit if the land-application practice is proved to be a water disposal procedure.
B. 
Denial of a permit or refusal to reissue a permit may be appealed by the permittee. The appeal shall be subject to public hearing.
Each land-application permit issued by the Township Committee[1] through the Township Clerk shall incorporate either directly or by reference any and all provisions of relevant permits issued by the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection under current regulations. Each such permit shall also incorporate the following provisions:
A. 
Buffer areas. Application of residuals shall not take place:
(1) 
Within 500 feet of nonpublic and public noncommunity water supply wells.
(2) 
Within 500 feet of occupied residential and commercial buildings.
(3) 
Within 1,500 feet of public community water supply wells.
(4) 
Within 300 feet of property boundaries and watercourses.
(5) 
Within 100 feet of actively grazed areas or animal pens or yards.
(6) 
On slopes more steeply inclined than 8%.
B. 
Permanent perimeter staking or other means for clear demarcation of residuals-application areas shall be provided prior to commencing land-application operations and shall be maintained for the duration of the permit, plus two years.
C. 
Residuals shall not be applied during precipitation. Application rates shall be such that moisture in the plow layer, zero to 10 inches below the local surface, will not exceed field capacity after sludge application. In moderately coarse and coarse-textured soils in which the transmission rate through the plow layer and into subsoils is moderately rapid to rapid, the application rate shall be such that excess moisture shall not percolate below the plow layer. If land-applied residuals pool or pond during application, the applicator shall immediately cease application.
D. 
Residuals shall not be applied to frozen ground in any case, and application shall be limited to the period beginning March 15 in any year and ending September 15 of that year.
E. 
Residuals shall not be applied to fallow fields or to any field more than 30 days prior to sowing an approved crop.
F. 
All residuals shall be land-applied by subsurface injection to a minimum depth of three inches below the local soil surface.
G. 
Additional mechanical means shall be employed as needed to ensure the incorporation of land-applied residuals into the soil within six hours.
H. 
Soil samples shall be collected before sowing and after harvesting and analyzed for: plant-available phosphorus in pounds per acre; plant available potassium in pounds per acre; total organic nitrogen; total calcium, copper, lead, nickel and zinc in mg/kg; and pH. Samples shall be analyzed by a state-licensed laboratory with soil-analysis capability. Analysis results shall be forwarded within four weeks of sampling to the Township Clerk's Office for review by the Environmental Commission and the Township Committee.[2]
[2]
Editor's Note: Now Township Council.
[1]
Editor's Note: Now Township Council.
After an application for a permit to land-apply residuals is approved and before the permit is issued, the applicant shall furnish the township with a performance guaranty in the amount of $10,000 per acre of land, not to exceed a total of $50,000. The performance bond shall be released to the applicant two years after land application of residuals has ceased on the affected site.
Land application of septage or sludge without a municipal permit or in violation of the terms of the municipal permit or of any other permit incorporated either directly or by reference within the municipal permit shall constitute a violation of this article.
A. 
Action may be brought in the Municipal Court upon sworn complaint of any citizen or by the Township Board of Health or by the Environmental Commission. Upon conviction, fines of up to $500 daily may be imposed until the offense is corrected.
B. 
Conviction under this section shall constitute reasonable cause for summary revocation of a land-application permit by the Township Committee.[1] Such revocation shall take place only after reasonable notice to the permittee and after public hearing.
[1]
Editor's Note: Now Township Council.
C. 
Land application of residuals shall cease during any appeal process or notice period following conviction under the terms of this section.
The Township Committee, the Township Board of Health or any designee of the Township Committee shall have unrestricted access to the areas of any property on which land application of residuals is permitted under the provisions of this article for the express purpose of inspecting the property and the soils to ensure compliance with the terms of this article and relevant state or federal laws and regulations and shall be permitted to collect reasonable samples of soils to which residuals are being or have been applied or of underlying waters or nearby waters or of the residual materials being applied.
Animal manures may be land-applied for fertilization of crops, using acceptable agricultural procedures and practices, without a municipal permit. Animal manures shall not be commingled at any time with septage, sludges of any kind or rendering plant wastes. Bone material and other acceptable rendering plant wastes shall be separately applied.
The permanent storage of all sludge and residuals is prohibited in Pohatcong Township. The application of sludge on any property in Pohatcong Township shall be made by portable equipment, which equipment can be removed from the township immediately after the application.
Notice of an application for an initial permit shall be served on all adjoining land owners of the property to be treated, either personally or by certified mail, return receipt requested. This notice is only to be served before the initial permit is issued and is not essential for any renewals of the permit.
In addition to an application fee of $250, the applicant shall be liable to the township for all of the costs incurred by the township to review such application, including engineer's fees, attorney's fees, clerical and all other fees and costs.