Ohio Revised Code
Chapter 6111 | Water Pollution Control
Section 6111.01 | Water Pollution Control Definitions.

Effective: July 21, 2022
Latest Legislation: House Bill 175 - 134th General Assembly
As used in this chapter:
(A) "Pollution" means the placing of any sewage, sludge, sludge materials, industrial waste, or other wastes in any waters of the state.
(B) "Sewage" means any liquid waste containing sludge, sludge materials, or animal or vegetable matter in suspension or solution, and may include household wastes as commonly discharged from residences and from commercial, institutional, or similar facilities.
(C) "Industrial waste" means any liquid, gaseous, or solid waste substance resulting from any process of industry, manufacture, trade, or business, or from the development, processing, or recovery of any natural resource, together with such sewage as is present.
(D) "Other wastes" means garbage, refuse, decayed wood, sawdust, shavings, bark, and other wood debris, lime, sand, ashes, offal, night soil, oil, tar, coal dust, dredged or fill material, or silt, other substances that are not sewage, sludge, sludge materials, or industrial waste, and any other "pollutants" or "toxic pollutants" as defined in the Federal Water Pollution Control Act that are not sewage, sludge, sludge materials, or industrial waste.
(E) "Sewerage system" means pipelines or conduits, pumping stations, and force mains, and all other constructions, devices, appurtenances, and facilities used for collecting or conducting water-borne sewage, industrial waste, or other wastes to a point of disposal or treatment, but does not include plumbing fixtures, building drains and subdrains, building sewers, and building storm sewers.
(F) "Treatment works" means any plant, disposal field, lagoon, dam, pumping station, building sewer connected directly to treatment works, incinerator, or other works used for the purpose of treating, stabilizing, blending, composting, or holding sewage, sludge, sludge materials, industrial waste, or other wastes, except as otherwise defined.
(G) "Disposal system" means a system for disposing of sewage, sludge, sludge materials, industrial waste, or other wastes and includes sewerage systems and treatment works.
(H) "Waters of the state" means all streams, lakes, ponds, marshes, watercourses, waterways, wells, springs, irrigation systems, drainage systems, and other bodies or accumulations of water, surface and underground, natural or artificial, regardless of the depth of the strata in which underground water is located, that are situated wholly or partly within, or border upon, this state, or are within its jurisdiction, except those private waters that do not combine or effect a junction with natural surface or underground waters. "Waters of the state" does not include an ephemeral feature for which the United States army corps of engineers lacks the authority to issue a permit under 33 U.S.C. 1344.
(I) "Person" means the state, any municipal corporation, any other political subdivision of the state, any person as defined in section 1.59 of the Revised Code, any interstate body created by compact, or the federal government or any department, agency, or instrumentality thereof.
(J) "Industrial water pollution control facility" means any disposal system or any treatment works, pretreatment works, appliance, equipment, machinery, pipeline or conduit, pumping station, force main, or installation constructed, used, or placed in operation primarily for the purpose of collecting or conducting industrial waste to a point of disposal or treatment; reducing, controlling, or eliminating water pollution caused by industrial waste; or reducing, controlling, or eliminating the discharge into a disposal system of industrial waste or what would be industrial waste if discharged into the waters of the state.
(K) "Schedule of compliance" means a schedule of remedial measures including an enforceable sequence of actions or operations leading to compliance with standards and rules adopted under sections 6111.041 and 6111.042 of the Revised Code or compliance with terms and conditions of permits set under division (J) of section 6111.03 of the Revised Code.
(L) "Federal Water Pollution Control Act" means the "Federal Water Pollution Control Act Amendments of 1972," 86 Stat. 886, 33 U.S.C.A. 1251, as amended by the "Clean Water Act of 1977," 91 Stat. 1566, 33 U.S.C.A. 1251, and all other amendments to that act.
(M) "Historically channelized watercourse" means the portion of a watercourse on which an improvement, as defined in divisions (C)(2) to (4) of section 6131.01 of the Revised Code, was constructed pursuant to Chapter 940., 6131., or 6133. of the Revised Code or a similar state law that preceded any of those chapters and authorized such an improvement.
(N) "Sludge" means sewage sludge and a solid, semi-solid, or liquid residue that is generated from an industrial wastewater treatment process and that is applied to land for agronomic benefit. "Sludge" does not include ash generated during the firing of sludge in a sludge incinerator, grit and screening generated during preliminary treatment of sewage in a treatment works, animal manure, residue generated during treatment of animal manure, or domestic septage.
(O) "Sludge materials" means solid, semi-solid, or liquid materials derived from sludge and includes products from a treatment works that result from the treatment, blending, or composting of sludge.
(P) "Storage of sludge" means the placement of sludge on land on which the sludge remains for not longer than two years, but does not include the placement of sludge on land for treatment.
(Q) "Sludge disposal program" means any program used by an entity that begins with the generation of sludge and includes treatment or disposal of the sludge, as "treatment" and "disposal" are defined in division (Y) of section 3745.11 of the Revised Code.
(R) "Agronomic benefit" means any process that promotes or enhances plant growth and includes, but is not limited to, a process that increases soil fertility and moisture retention.
(S) "Sludge management" means the use, storage, treatment, or disposal of, and management practices related to, sludge and sludge materials.
(T) "Sludge management permit" means a permit for sludge management that is issued under division (J) of section 6111.03 of the Revised Code.
(U) "Sewage sludge" has the same meaning as in division (Y) of section 3745.11 of the Revised Code.
(V) "Ephemeral feature" means surface water flowing or pooling only in direct response to precipitation, such as rain or snow. "Ephemeral feature" does not include a wetland, as defined in section 6111.02 of the Revised Code.
Last updated May 3, 2022 at 12:40 PM

Structure Ohio Revised Code

Ohio Revised Code

Title 61 | Water Supply-Sanitation-Ditches

Chapter 6111 | Water Pollution Control

Section 6111.01 | Water Pollution Control Definitions.

Section 6111.011 | Environmental Enforcement Authority Over Ephemeral Features.

Section 6111.02 | Isolated Wetland Permit Definitions.

Section 6111.021 | General and Individual Isolated Wetland Permits.

Section 6111.022 | Proposed Filling of Wetland Subject to Level One Review.

Section 6111.023 | Proposed Filling of Wetland Subject to Level Two Review.

Section 6111.024 | Proposed Filling of Wetland Subject to Level Three Review.

Section 6111.025 | Wetland Mitigation Banks.

Section 6111.026 | Application for a General and Individual State Isolated Wetland Permit - Notice and Hearing.

Section 6111.027 | Mitigation for Impacts to Isolated Wetlands.

Section 6111.028 | Discharge of Dredged Material Into Isolated Wetlands.

Section 6111.03 | Water Pollution Control Powers of Director of Environmental Protection.

Section 6111.031 | Modification of Terms and Conditions of Permit.

Section 6111.032 | Primary Authority to Reside in Legislative Authority or Governing Board.

Section 6111.035 | Coal Mining and Reclamation Operations General Permits.

Section 6111.036 | Water Pollution Control Loan Fund.

Section 6111.037 | Nonpoint Source Pollution Management Fund.

Section 6111.038 | Surface Water Protection Fund.

Section 6111.039 | Class B Sludge Rules Requiring the Posting of Notice Regarding the Land Application.

Section 6111.0381 | Water Quality Protection Fund.

Section 6111.0382 | Surface Water Improvement Fund.

Section 6111.04 | Water Pollution and Sludge Management Violations Prohibited.

Section 6111.041 | Standards of Water Quality.

Section 6111.042 | Rules Requiring Compliance With Federal Water Pollution Control Act.

Section 6111.043 | Regulation of the Injection of Sewage, Industrial Waste, Hazardous Waste, and Other Wastes Into Wells.

Section 6111.044 | Injection Well Drilling or Operating Permit.

Section 6111.045 | Waste Minimization and Treatment Plan for Class I Injection Well Facility.

Section 6111.046 | Annual Permit Fee - Underground Injection Control Fund.

Section 6111.047 | Tonnage Fees for Injection of Waste.

Section 6111.048 | Temporary Assistance of State Employees.

Section 6111.049 | Tonnage Fees for Injection of Waste - Exceptions.

Section 6111.05 | Investigation of Alleged Act of Pollution or Failure to Comply.

Section 6111.051 | Use, Management, or Disposal of Structural Products.

Section 6111.052 | Blast Furnace and Steel Slag.

Section 6111.06 | Administrative Procedures - Emergencies.

Section 6111.07 | Prohibited Acts - Prosecutions and Injunction by Attorney General.

Section 6111.08 | Rights in Equity or Under Common Law Not Affected.

Section 6111.09 | Civil Penalties for Water Pollution Control Violations.

Section 6111.10 | Sale of Household Laundry Detergent Containing Phosphorus Above Certain Limits Prohibited in Certain Counties.

Section 6111.11 | Sale of Dishwasher Detergent With Phosphorous Content Above Certain Limits Prohibited.

Section 6111.12 | Antidegradation Policy Applicable to Surface Waters of the State Pursuant to Applicable Federal Laws and Regulations.

Section 6111.13 | Discharge Limit for a Pollutant Less Than the Practical Quantification Level.

Section 6111.14 | Agreement for Review of Plans for Extension of Sewerage System or Increase in Number of Service Connections.

Section 6111.20 | Orders to Secure a Quality Effluent From Water Purification or Sewage Treatment Works.

Section 6111.30 | Application for Federal Water Quality Certification - Hearing.

Section 6111.31 | Interagency Review Team and Mitigation Standards.

Section 6111.311 | Ephemeral Feature Mitigation Calculation Definitions.

Section 6111.312 | Limitations on Additional Requirements.

Section 6111.313 | Mitigation of Impacts to Ephemeral Features.

Section 6111.314 | Reporting and Monitoring Requirements.

Section 6111.315 | Best Management Practices.

Section 6111.316 | Exceptions From Ephemeral Feature Mitigation Requirements.

Section 6111.32 | Dredging Plan.

Section 6111.33 | Dredged Material.

Section 6111.34 | Rules Governing Beneficial Use of Dredged Material.

Section 6111.41 | Comprehensive Water Resource Management Planning by Directors of Environmental Protection and Natural Resources.

Section 6111.42 | Water Quality Powers of Director of Environmental Protection.

Section 6111.44 | Plans for Installation or Changes to Sewerage Systems to Be Submitted to Director of Environmental Protection.

Section 6111.441 | Sewage Treatment Systems Regulated by Board of Health Exempt From Chapter.

Section 6111.45 | Plans for the Disposal of the Waste to Be Submitted to Director of Environmental Protection.

Section 6111.451 | Sewage Construction Activities Not Requiring Plan Approval.

Section 6111.46 | Environmental Protection Agency General Supervision of Treatment and Disposal of Sewage and Industrial Wastes and Operation and Means Therefor.

Section 6111.50 | Credible Data Definitions.

Section 6111.51 | Criteria for Three Levels of Credible Data Related to Surface Water Monitoring and Assessment.

Section 6111.52 | Level Three Credible Data Activities.

Section 6111.53 | Water Quality Monitoring Program to Collect Levels One, Two, and Three Credible Data for Surface Water Monitoring and Assessment.

Section 6111.54 | Submission of Surface Water Quality Data.

Section 6111.55 | Computerized Database or Databases Composed of All Credible Data.

Section 6111.56 | Determining Source or Sources of Water Impairment.

Section 6111.561 | Development and Establishment of Total Maximum Daily Load.

Section 6111.562 | Notice and Opportunity for Input From Stakeholders.

Section 6111.563 | Official Draft.

Section 6111.564 | Final Tmdl; Appeal.

Section 6111.60 | Issuance of Npdes Permits.

Section 6111.99 | Penalties.