Proposed Rule Revision - 15A NCAC 2H .0800

North Carolina Administrative Code, 15A NCAC 2H .0800, is the rule that governs the North Carolina Wastewater/Groundwater Laboratory Certification (NC WW/GW LC) program. This Rule defines certification criteria for laboratory facilities which perform any tests, analyses, measurements or monitoring required under Article 21 of G.S. 143 or any rules adopted thereunder. These laboratories include (but may not be limited to) field, municipal, industrial, commercial and other laboratories engaged in surface water monitoring, groundwater monitoring, waste not discharged to surface waters, point source discharge monitoring, local pretreatment monitoring, reclaimed water monitoring and underground storage tank testing.

We are proposing various amendments, repeals and adoptions to this Rule and are encouraging stakeholders to provide comments. The proposed Rule revision would result in:

• modifications to the fee schedule (the program is fee-funded and the proposed amendments to fee structure are required to ensure that fees generated by the program are sufficient to operate and support the compliance efforts of the Division of Water Quality and the Division of Waste Management, Underground Storage Tank section).
• appending the list of certifiable parameters (to aid in the compliance efforts of the Division of Water Quality and the Division of Waste Management, Underground Storage Tank section), and
• clarifying existing legislative Rule or providing additional quality control requirements where a Rule does not exist (to aid laboratories' efforts to produce valid and court defensible data, by establishing baseline quality assurance requirements).

We Want Your Comments

If you would like to provide comments to the proposed Rule, you may offer verbal and/or written comments, data or other relevant information to this office. When submitting written comments, please list the section,  page and line number of the Rule your comment is in reference to, followed by your comment (e.g., Section .0805 page 2 line 10 - Comment). Written comments may be emailed to dana.satterwhite@ncdenr.gov or gary.francies@ncdenr.gov. Please enter Rule Revision Comments in the subject line. Hard copy comments can be mailed to:

Mr. Kent Wiggins

DENR DWQ Laboratory Section

1623 Mail Service Center

Raleigh, NC 27699-1623

Proposed Rule Revisions

The Rule has been broken out into sections. Only the sections that were changed (i.e., .0802 through .0810) are up for revision. Adoptions and text added to the Rule are underlined. Amendments and repeals are stricken with a single line (e.g., rule). To view the proposed revision, click here.

Stakeholders Meetings

We are planning to have several external stakeholders' meetings at locations across the state. Notifications will be sent to all certified laboratories (and other interested parties) and a schedule posted below.  These meetings are not intended to be a substitute for Public Hearing (Public Hearings are legal proceedings and will be held much later in the Rule revision process), but instead, an opportunity for the laboratory community to provide input before the more formal process begins.

Each meeting will have a brief presentation (click here for a copy) highlighting the major proposed changes to the Rules and the greater part of the meeting will be dedicated to receiving stakeholder feedback. Please bring your own copy of the Proposed Rule Revision to the meetings. Only limited copies will be available during the meeting. We would like to encourage you to review the proposed changes prior to these meetings and submit, with your comments, any data or other relevant information for consideration.

To help us plan for these meetings, we request that you let us know which meeting you will be attending and if you require any special aid or assistance by emailing David Livingston at david.livingston@ncdenr.gov. A RSVP is not mandatory to attend, but would be appreciated.

Proposed Rules Information and Tracking

The link above will take you to the Department of Environment and Natural Resources Division of Water Quality Proposed Rules website.This searchable database includes the following information:

· The text of the proposed rule

· An explanation of the rule and why it is being proposed

· Any required federal certification

· Instructions on how and where to submit oral or written comments on the rule

· Any fiscal note that has been prepared for the proposed rule

Please click on the Rules Citation number for additional information.