| and other air contaminants, the operator shall include any necessary additional abatement measures in the odor control plan and implement those measures to control and reduce these contaminants within the time period specified by the executive director. (3) Wastewater treatment. Operators of AFOs that produce process-generated wastewater (excluding water trough overflow in open lots and wastewater from boiler operations) shall design and operate RCSs to minimize odors in accordance with accepted engineering practices. Each system shall be operated in accordance with the design and an operation and maintenance plan that minimizes odors. (A) Accepted engineering practices to minimize odors include anaerobic treatment lagoons, aerobic treatment lagoons, or other equivalent technology. The retention control structures shall also meet the design criteria specified for water quality in this subchapter. (B) Accepted design standards and requirements for each of these methods of treatment are: (i) an anaerobic treatment lagoon shall be designed in accordance with American National Standards Institute/American Society of Agricultural Engineers EP403.3 July 1999 (or subsequent updates); Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), Field Office Technical Guidance, Practice Standard 359, Waste Treatment Lagoon, or the equivalent for the control of odors. The primary lagoon in a multi-stage lagoon system shall be designed with a minimum treatment volume so that the lagoon maintains a constant level at all times unless prohibited by climatic conditions. A multi-stage lagoon system shall be designed to minimize the amount of contaminated storm water runoff entering the primary lagoon by routing the contaminated storm water runoff into a secondary RCS; (ii) aerobic treatment lagoons shall be designed in accordance with NRCS, Field Office Technical Guidance, Practice Standard 359, Waste Treatment Lagoon; or technical requirements for sizing the aeration portion of the system located in Chapter 317 of this title (relating to Design Criteria for Sewerage Systems); and (iii) equivalent technology or design standards shall indicate how the design of the AFO minimizes odors equivalent to an aerobic or anaerobic lagoon. These designs shall be developed and certified by a licensed Texas professional engineer. An "as-built" certification in letter form shall be completed by a licensed Texas professional engineer before operation of the AFO. These documents shall be maintained on site and made available within the time period specified by the executive director. (4) Dust control. To minimize dust emissions, the AFO shall be operated and maintained as follows. (A) Fugitive emissions from all grain receiving pits, where a pit is used, shall be minimized through the use of "choke feeding" or through an equivalent method of control. If choke feeding is used, operation of conveyors associated with receiving shall not commence until the receiving pits are full. (B) As necessary, emissions from all in-plant roads, truck loading and unloading areas, parking areas, and other traffic areas shall be controlled with one or more of the following methods to minimize nuisance conditions and maintain compliance with all applicable commission requirements: (i) sprinkled with water; (ii) treated with effective dust suppressant(s); or (iii) paved with a cohesive hard surface and cleaned. (C) All non-vehicular external conveyors or other external conveying systems associated with the feedmill shall be enclosed. (D) On-site feed milling operations with processing equipment using a pneumatic conveying system (which may include, but are not limited to, pellet mill/pellet cooler systems, flaker systems, grinders, and roller-mills) shall vent the exhaust air through a properly-sized high efficiency cyclone collector or an equivalent control device before releasing the exhaust air to the atmosphere. This requirement does not include cyclones used as product separators. (E) If the executive director determines that the implementation and employment of these practices is not effective in controlling dust, the operator shall implement any necessary additional abatement measures to control and minimize this contaminant within the time period specified by the executive director. (5) Maintenance and housekeeping. The AFO operator shall comply with the following to help prevent nuisance conditions. (A) The premises shall be maintained to prevent the occurrence of nuisance conditions from odors and dust. Spillage of any raw products or waste products causing a nuisance condition shall be picked up and properly disposed of daily. (B) Proper pen drainage shall be maintained at all times. Earthen pen areas shall be maintained by scraping uncompacted manure and shaping pen surfaces as necessary to minimize odors and ponding. |
| Source Note: The provisions of this §321.43 adopted to be effective July 9, 1990, 15 TexReg 3639; amended to be effective September 18, 1998, 23 TexReg 9354; amended to be effective July 15, 2004, 29 TexReg 6652; amended to be effective March 15, 2007, 32 TexReg 1325 |
