SITE INFORMATION AND CORRESPONDENCE_1988-1991

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ARARs and TBCs for Superfund Sites -4- 17 May 1991 Boards' obligation to promulgate water quality standards pursuant to §303 of the federal Clean Water Act (CWA). In California,water quality standards are identified in the Basin Plans and consist of designated beneficial uses for particular surface and ground water bodies and water quality objectives to ensure the reasonable protection of those beneficial uses. SARA considers "state standards" as potential ARARs.' Unlike water quality standards as defined by the CWA,Porter-Cologne does not restrict water quality standards to surface waters or point sources and does not impose a particular type or level of control technology on chemicals being discharged. Porter- Cologne requires the promulgation of water quality standards in Basin Plans which are applicable to ground water and nonpoint sources, as well. Cleanup activities subject to the Basin Plans and their water quality standards could be chemical-specific, action- specific, and/or location-specific. TOXIC PITS CLEANUP ACT OF 1984 (TPCA) The Toxic Pits Cleanup Act (California Health and Safety Code, §§25208 et seq.) authorized the Regional Boards to regulate surface impoundments containing liquid hazardous waste. This act prohibits the discharge of liquid hazardous waste or hazardous waste containing free liquids after 30 June 1988 to surface impoundments not meeting specific siting and design standards. Persons owning or discharging to surface impoundments found to be containing hazardous waste are required to file a hydrogeologic assessment report (HAR) with the Regional Board upon notification. Closure of these impoundments is regulated under TPCA as well as other programs under Porter-Cologne and Title 23 of the California Code of Regulations (CCR). Some cleanup activities at CERCLA sites may be subject to TPCA and this statute would be action-specific and location-specific. Since the hazardous waste identification criteria contained in Title 22 CCR, Division 4, Chapter 30, Article 11 are cited as defining "hazardous waste" under TPCA, these regulatory criteria would also be chemical-specific ARARs. Since this ARAR requires compliance during the site characterization phase, it is important to inform the responsible party of TPCA applicability in an early stage of the remedial investigation, so that HAR requirements can be met within the CERCLA process. THE SAFE DRINKING WATER AND TOXIC ENFORCEMENT ACT OF 1986 (PROPOSITION 65) Found in Division 20 of the California Health and Safety Code, Proposition 65 prohibits the discharge of a significant amount of a known human carcinogen or reproductive toxin into any source of drinking water or onto or into land where it may pass into a source of drinking water. The State Department of Health Services (DHS) is the lead agency under ' U.S. Environmental Protection Agency,Office of Solid Waste and Emergency Response, "CERCLA Compliance with Other Laws Manual",September 1989.