62-528.200. Underground Injection Control: Definitions

When used in this chapter, the following words shall have the indicated meanings unless the context clearly indicates otherwise:

(1) “Abandoned well” means a well the use of which has been permanently discontinued or which is in a state of disrepair such that it cannot be used for its intended purpose or for observation purposes.

(2) “Acidizing” means the injection of acid through the borehole or “well” into a “formation” to increase permeability and porosity.

(3) “Allowable stress” means the allowable stress for a material is the maximum stress that may be safely applied, which equals the yield-point stress divided by an appropriate factor of safety.

(4) “Annular monitor well” means any pipe or tubing which is permanently placed in the annulus of an injection well to monitor a discrete zone.

(5) “Annulus” or “Annular space” means any artificially created void existing between a well casing or liner pipe and a borehole wall or between two casings or between tubing and casing or liner pipe.

(6) “Aquifer” means a geological formation, group of formations or part of a formation that is capable of yielding a significant amount of water to a well or spring.

(7) “Area of review” means the area surrounding an “injection well” described according to the criteria set forth in subsection 62-528.300(4), F.A.C., or in the case of a well field permit, the project area plus a circumscribing area with a fixed width of not less than one mile.

(8) “Casing” means a pipe or tubing of appropriate material, of varying diameter and weight, lowered into a borehole during or after drilling in order to support the sides of the hole and thus prevent the walls from caving, to prevent loss of drilling mud into porous ground, or to prevent water, gas, or other fluid from entering or leaving the hole.

(9) “Catastrophic collapse” means the sudden and utter failure of adjacent or overlying strata which has been caused by removal of underlying materials.

(10) “Cementing” means the operation whereby a cement slurry is pumped into a drilled hole or forced behind the casing.

(11) “Centralizer” means a casing accessory used to properly align a casing within the open hole, or to properly align one casing within another casing, or to properly align a tubing within a casing.

(12) “Cesspool” means a “drywell” that receives untreated sanitary waste containing human excreta, and which sometimes has an open bottom and perforated sides.

(13) “Cluster well” means a well where two or more monitor tubes of different lengths are placed within a single borehole to monitor two or more discrete zones.

(14) “Confining bed” means a layer of impermeable or distinctly less permeable material stratigraphically adjacent to one or more aquifers.

(15) “Confining zone” means a geological formation, group of formations, or part of a formation that is capable of limiting fluid movement from an injection zone.

(16) “Contaminant” means any substance which is harmful to plant, animal or human life.

(17) “Conventional mine” means an open pit or underground excavation for the production of minerals.

(18) “Department” means the Department of Environmental Protection or its successor agency or agencies.

(19) “Disposal well” means a well used for the disposal of waste into a subsurface stratum.

(20) “Drywell” means a well, other than an improved sinkhole or subsurface fluid distribution system, completed above the water table so that its bottom and sides are typically dry except when receiving fluids.

(21) “Earth-coupled heat pump system” means any space heating/cooling system in which fluid is circulated through a continuous section of buried pipe such that the earth is utilized as a thermal exchange medium, but no fluid is either extracted from or injected into any underground formation.

(22) “Emergency disposal method” is an effluent disposal method that, after prior Department approval and receipt of all appropriate authorizations or permits, is available for short term discharges under emergency conditions when the primary disposal method is inoperable.

(23) “Exempted aquifer” means an aquifer or its portion that meets the criteria in the definition of “underground source of drinking water” but which has been exempted according to the procedures of subsection 62-528.300(3), F.A.C.

(24) “Experimental technology” means a technology which has not been proven feasible under the conditions in which it is being tested.

(25) “Exploratory pilot hole” means a hole drilled for the purpose of obtaining subsurface information or as a guide for the drill bit to follow when drilling the final hole.

(26) “Exploratory well” means a cased well drilled in an area in which there is limited hydrologic and geologic data, to obtain sufficient data to determine feasibility of using an injection well at the site.

(27) “Facility or activity” means any installation as defined by Section 403.031(4), F.S., that is subject to regulation under the Underground Injection Control Program. These terms shall include federal facilities and activities.

(28) “Factor of safety” means the ultimate load divided by the safe load, or the ultimate strength divided by the allowable stress.

(29) “Fault” means a surface or zone of rock fracture along which there has been displacement.

(30) “Flow rate” means the volume per unit time of the flow of fluids which emerge from an orifice, pump, turbine or which pass along a conduit or channel.

(31) “Fluid” means material or substance which flows or moves, whether in a semisolid, liquid, sludge, gas, or any other form or state.

(32) “Formation” means a body of rock characterized by a degree of lithologic homogeneity or similarity which is prevailingly, but not necessarily, tabular and is mappable on the earth’s surface or traceable in the subsurface.

(33) “Formation fluid” means fluid present in a formation under natural conditions as opposed to introduced fluids, such as drilling mud, injected fluids or dilute products of injected fluids.

(34) “Ground water” means water below the land surface in a zone wherein all of the interstices are filled with water.

(35) “Hazardous waste” means a hazardous waste as defined in Rule 62-730.030, F.A.C.

(36) “Hydrogeology” means the branch of hydrology that deals with ground water, its occurrence and movements, its replenishment and depletion, the properties of rocks that control the ground water movement and storage, and the methods of investigation and use of ground water.

(37) “Improved sinkhole” means a naturally occurring karst depression or other natural crevice found in volcanic terrain and other geologic settings that has been modified by humans for the purpose of directing and emplacing fluids into the subsurface.

(38) “Injection pressure” means the pressure required to inject fluid, as measured at the wellhead.

(39) “Injection well” means a well into which fluids are being or will be injected, by gravity flow or under pressure.

(40) “Injection well system” means that portion of the disposal system from the effluent side or pressure side of the injection pump to the bottom of the injection well.

(41) “Injection zone” means a geological formation, group of formations, or part of a formation receiving fluids directly through a well.

(42) “Lithology” means the description of rocks on the basis of their physical and chemical characteristics.

(43) “Major Class V well” means any Class V, Group 3 well used to inject fluids into or above the lowermost formation containing, within one-quarter mile of the well bore, an underground source of drinking water, any Class V, Group 1 well used to inject fluids through an open loop system or containing additives, or any Class V, Group 2, 4, 5, 7, 8, or 9 well as defined in paragraph 62-528.300(1)(e), F.A.C., except swimming pool drainage wells.

(44) “Multihorizon monitor well” means any well which is used to monitor in each of two or more discrete zones.

(45) “Municipal injection well” means an injection well, publicly or privately owned, which is used to inject only fluids that have passed through the head of a permitted domestic wastewater treatment facility and received at least secondary treatment pursuant to Rule 62-600.420, F.A.C.

(46) “New injection well” means a well for which a final construction permit has been issued by the Department and which began injection after April 1, 1982.

(47) “On-site monitor well” means a well associated with an injection well or facility, that is used primarily to monitor fluid movement adjacent to the wellbore or to monitor the effectiveness of the confining beds overlying the injection zone.

(48) “Overdrill” means the amount by which the nominal diameter of the open hole exceeds the diameter of the casing to be set in the hole.

(49) “Owner” means the person, entity, or corporation with legal title to the property on which an injection well exists.

(50) “Packer” means a device lowered into a well to produce a fluid-tight seal.

(51) “Permittee” means the person or entity to which a permit for an injection well or injection well system is issued by the Department. Upon transfer of ownership of the facility, the permittee shall comply with Rule 62-4.120, F.A.C.

(52) “Plugging” means the act or process of stopping the flow of water, oil, or gas into or out of a formation through a borehole or well penetrating that formation.

(53) “Point of injection” means the last accessible sampling point prior to waste fluids being released into the subsurface environment through a Class V injection well. For example, the point of injection of a Class V septic system might be the distribution box, which is the last accessible sampling point before the waste fluids drain into the underlying soils. For a drywell, it is likely to be the well bore itself.

(54) “Radioactive waste” means any waste which contains radioactive material in concentrations which exceed those listed in 10 C.F.R. pt. 20, Appendix B, Table II, Column 2 (1994).

(55) “Regional monitor well” means a well used primarily to monitor the distant effects of injection from one or more injection facilities.

(56) “Sanitary waste” means liquid or solid wastes originating solely from humans and human activities, such as wastes collected from toilets, showers, wash basins, sinks used for cleaning domestic areas, sinks used for food preparation, clothes washing operations, and sinks or washing machines where food and beverage serving dishes, glasses, and utensils are cleaned. Sources of these wastes include single or multiple residences, hotels and motels, restaurants, bunkhouses, schools, ranger stations, crew quarters, guard stations, campgrounds, picnic grounds, day-use recreation areas, other commercial facilities, and industrial facilities provided the waste is not mixed with industrial waste.

(57) “Satellite monitor well” means a well associated with an injection facility that is used primarily to monitor the effects of injection from a single injection well or facility.

(58) “Secretary” means the Secretary of the Department of Environmental Protection.

(59) “Septic system” means a “well” that is used to emplace sanitary waste below the surface and is typically comprised of a septic tank and subsurface fluid distribution system or disposal system.

(60) “Subsidence” means the lowering of the natural land surface in response to: earth movements; lowering of fluid pressure; removal of underlying supporting material by mining or solution of solids, either artificially or from natural causes; compaction due to wetting (hydrocompaction); oxidation of organic matter in soils; or added load on the land surface.

(61) “Subsurface fluid distribution system” means an assemblage of perforated pipes, drain tiles, or other similar mechanisms intended to distribute fluids below the surface of the ground.

(62) “Surface casing” means the first string of well casing to be installed in the well.

(63) “Technical Advisory Committee” means a group of professionals knowledgeable in underground injection control requirements, geology, ground water hydrology, well drilling, geophysical logging, and pollution control, assembled for the purposes of advising the permitting authority on underground injection projects. The composition of the Technical Advisory Committee is specified in subsection 62-528.100(2), F.A.C.

(64) “Test injection well” means the first injection well constructed in a well field, which is used for specific formation testing and to verify the feasibility of the injection well system. This well is designed and constructed to be used as an injection well, if injection is proven feasible and environmentally acceptable.

(65) “Tubing” means piping material placed inside the final string of casing to protect the casing and to convey the injected fluid to the injection zone.

(66) “Underground source of drinking water” means an “aquifer” or its portion:

(a) Which supplies drinking water for human consumption, is classified by subsection 62-520.410(1), F.A.C., as Class F-I, G-I or G-II ground water, or contains a total dissolved solids concentration of less than 10,000 mg/L; and

(b) Which is not an “exempted aquifer.”

(67) “Well” means a bored, drilled or driven shaft, or a dug hole, which has a depth greater than the diameter of the largest surface dimension; or, an improved sinkhole; or, a subsurface fluid distribution system.

(68) “Well casing” means a metallic or non-metallic pipe installed in a borehole to prevent caving, provide structural strength, seal off subsurface zones, or prevent the interchange of waters between aquifers.

(69) “Well injection” means the subsurface emplacement of fluids through a well by gravity flow or under pressure.

(70) “Well log” means a record obtained from a well that provides data on the formations penetrated or well construction.

(71) “Well monitoring” means the measurement, by on-site instruments or laboratory methods, of the physical, chemical, or biological parameters required to evaluate the performance of an injection well system.

(72) “Well plug” means a watertight and gastight seal installed in a borehole or well to prevent movement of fluids.

(73) “Well record” means a concise statement of the available data regarding a well.

(74) “Well stimulation” means any of several processes used to clean the well bore, enlarge channels, and increase pore space in the interval to be injected thus making it possible for injected fluids to move more readily into the formation, and includes surging, jetting, blasting, acidizing, and hydraulic fracturing, or other method approved by the Department. The approval process is described in subsection 62-528.100(2), F.A.C.

Specific Authority 373.309, 403.061, 403.087, 403.704, 403.721 FS. Law Implemented 373.308, 403.021, 403.031, 403.061, 403.062, 403.087, 403.702, 403.721 FS. History–New 4-1-82, Amended 8-30-82, 5-8-85, Formerly 17-28.12, 17-28.120, 62-28.120, Amended 8-10-95, 6-24-97, 11-20-02, 10-9-08.