Land Disposal Program
Implementation of SWRCB Resolution No. 93-62
This page is an adaptation of July 19, 1993, memorandum from the SWRCB Executive Director Walt Pettit to the Regional Water Quality Control Board (RWQCB) Executive Officers, regarding implementation of the SWRCB Resolution No. 93-62.
This is to provide assistance to you in implementing SWRCB Resolution No. 93-62--entitled Policy For Regulation Of Discharges Of Municipal Solid Waste (Policy), adopted June 17, 1993. The Policy directs each RWQCB to revise the waste discharge requirements (WDRs) for each discharger in its region who owns or operates a municipal solid waste landfill (MSW landfill) that received waste after October 9, 1991. The RWQCBs had to bring these discharges into compliance both with the SWRCB's Title 27 regulations and with the federal MSW regulations.
The Policy and its timely implementation were necessary for California to receive program approval by USEPA. Program approval allowed the State some latitude in implementing certain provisions of the federal MSW regulations. Although the Policy requires implementing these provisions, it provides more specific direction only in the areas of deadlines and liner system design. Due to the complex nature of the federal MSW regulations, and their interface with corresponding Title 27 regulations, RWQCBs will more easily achieve timely compliance with the Policy if provided with additional information.
The first four attached Word documents contain important information previously prepared and discussed with your staff. They represent a significant effort and you may find them very useful. The Word documents are:
Attachment I -- A sample RWQCB order implementing the Policy (sample Super Order);
Attachment II -- A discussion of rarely-applicable federal provisions;
Attachment III -- An explanation of how the sample Super Order interfaces Chapter 15 and the federal MSW regulations; and
Attachment IV -- A handout, copies of which you can provide to dischargers, that describes how they can document their landfill's "Existing Footprint" with photographs and topographic map, as required by the sample Super Order.
Issuance of WDRs for new facilities is subject to the normal regulatory process, including CEQA. For existing sites, you may (a) issue site-specific WDRs, (b) issue a "Super Order", such as Attachment I, which amends the individual orders of all sites subject to the federal MSW regulations, or (c) issue several Super Orders, each of which amends the individual orders of a group of dischargers needing similar requirements.
Our approach is to issue a Super Order (Attachment I) which amends, rather than replaces, existing WDRs for sites listed in the order. It contains all necessary changes to bring WDRs into full compliance with the federal MSW regulations and with Title 27. However, the sample Super Order requires a number of submittals. Therefore, compliance will generate the need, at a later time, to revise WDRs for some individual sites named in the Super Order.
The sample Super Order is designed such that your staff can list, in Section 1 of the order, all landfills to which the Policy applies, following each named landfill with a listing of the other sections of the order that apply to that landfill. It is written to allow for some site-specific specifications, such as an alternative liner design. It is also feasible for you to list in this order MSW landfills that are not subject to the federal MSW regulations (i.e., that stopped receiving waste prior to October 9, 1991), to bring them into compliance with Title 27 by applying the order's monitoring requirements.
In 1995, the Office of the Chief Counsel made a determination that the liner standards of SWRCB Resolution No. 93-62 do not apply to those very small rural landfills (VSRLFs) that meet the requirements of 40CFR258.1(f). The reason is that Resolution No. 93-62 is worded to apply to a given landfill on the landfill's "federal deadline" (the date when the federal requirements begin to apply to the Unit). For VSRLFs that meet 40CFR258.1(f), there is no federal deadline for applying the federal liner requirements; therefore, Resolution No. 93-62 does not require qualifying VSRLFs to meet the composite liner requirement.
If you have any questions regarding these attachments, and would like to obtain hardcopy of the other attachments, please contact Ed Wosika (916) 341-5813 of Land Disposal Unit.
