AAC R18-9-E301: Lift Station Permits

The permit applies to new systems and expansions: "A 4.01 General Permit allows for construction and operation of a new sewage collection system or expansion of an existing sewage collection system involving new construction." The rule lists three triggers, and any one is enough:

• Flow. A system or part of one "that serves downstream from the point where the daily design flow is 3000 gallons per day," except "a gravity sewer line conveying sewage from a single building drain" straight to a public sewer.
• Manholes. "A sewage collection system that includes a manhole."
• Pumping for homes. "A sewage collection system that includes a force main or lift station serving more than one dwelling."

That third trigger says dwelling, not building. A commercial station serving several buildings is usually caught by the other two: the private sewer feeding it has manholes, or the combined flow passes 3,000 gallons a day. Note the single-building exception covers only a gravity line. A large single building that pumps past the 3,000 gallon point can still fall under 4.01.

Two approvals bracket the job. Under R18-9-A301, "A person shall not begin facility construction until the Director issues a Construction Authorization," and a Type 4 facility needs "a written Discharge Authorization from the Director before the facility discharges." ADEQ's own summary is short: "The permit is required for almost any expansion of the sewage collection system. This permit is valid for the life of the facility."

The lift station rules, section by section:

• Two pumps minimum. "Equip a lift station wet well with at least two pumps," and the station must run "at design flow with any one pump out of service."
• Alarms. High or low wet well levels must "trigger an audible or visible alarm at the wet well site and at the system control center."
• Standby power over 10,000 gallons per day. Stations averaging more than that need "a standby power source and redundant wastewater level controls."
• Odor. Sewage can't sit in the wet well more than 30 minutes unless it's aerated, chemically treated for hydrogen sulfide, or ventilated, and odor can't leave the site.
• Flood protection. No lift station in a floodway, and protection from a 100-year flood.
• Security and signs. The station is secured against tampering, with a warning sign showing the owner's 24-hour emergency number.
• Pumps and wet well. Pumps pass a 2.5-inch sphere or are grinders; the wet well gets corrosion protection for at least 20 years.
• Force mains. 3 to 7 feet per second, air release valves at high points, and a pressure test 50 psi over working pressure for two hours.

• Lift station. A wet well with pumps that lifts sewage to a higher sewer when gravity can't get it there. Our FAQ on what a sewage lift station is covers the parts.
• Force main. The pressurized pipe from the pumps to the gravity sewer.
• Wet well. The tank that collects sewage between pump cycles.
• Construction Authorization / Discharge Authorization. Permission to build, then permission to start sending sewage through it.
• Engineer's Certificate of Completion. The sealed statement, with as-builts and test results, that starts ADEQ's post-construction review.
• Operation and maintenance manual. Required for every 4.01 system, whatever the flow. The owner certifies it exists and then operates the system by it.

Developers, property owners and HOAs building or expanding a sewer system that has a manhole, carries flow past the 3,000 gallon per day point, or pumps for more than one dwelling. That includes private stations at apartment complexes, business parks and shopping centers. Design documents must be "signed, dated, and sealed by an Arizona-registered professional engineer."

This does not apply to:

• A small sewage ejector inside one building. A pump for a basement or a below-grade restroom is building plumbing, reviewed under the city's plumbing code. The single-building exception is written for gravity lines, though, so a big building that pumps its whole flow past the 3,000 gallon point should ask ADEQ.
• Repairs. "A Notice of Intent to Discharge is not required for sewage collection system repairs." Changing the pipe's vertical or horizontal alignment isn't a repair, though.

A Goodyear distribution center. The site sits lower than the city sewer, so the engineer designs a duplex lift station and force main for three buildings. Plans go in with the Notice of Intent, construction waits for the Construction Authorization, and the owner can't turn it on until the Discharge Authorization arrives.

An existing apartment complex station fails. A pump burns out. Swapping it is a repair, so no new NOI. The complex still has to run the station by its O&M manual and keep the alarm working.

A second phase connects. The owner adds two buildings to the same station. The answer flips: new construction that expands the system needs a new 4.01, and the downstream system owner signs off that it can take the flow.

1. 1Have an Arizona-registered civil engineer design the system to R18-9-E301 and the MAG specifications it references.
2. 2Get the downstream capacity statement signed by the owner of the sewer and treatment plant you'll discharge to.
3. 3File the Notice of Intent. In Maricopa County, the county's Environmental Services Department reviews collection lines, lift stations and force mains and issues the Approval to Construct.
4. 4Build within two years of the Construction Authorization (R18-9-A301).
5. 5Submit the Engineer's Certificate of Completion, as-builts and test results, and wait for the Discharge Authorization.
6. 6Keep the O&M manual and records for the life of the facility, and follow confined space rules for anyone entering the wet well.

• "Private systems are exempt." ADEQ's rule covers public and private systems alike.
• "One pump is fine if it's big enough." The rule says at least two, with full design flow on one.
• "Standby power is always required." Only above 10,000 gallons per day average flow; below that, the alarm and two pumps still apply.
• "The O&M manual is only for big stations." Every 4.01 system certifies one.
• "Replacing the force main is a repair." Not if it moves. Realignment needs a permit.

R18-9-A301 is blunt: no construction before the Construction Authorization, and no discharge before the written Discharge Authorization. A station built or started out of order is operating outside the permit, and the Notice of Intent can't be completed at all without the downstream sewer owner's signed capacity statement. For how Valley cities treat private lift stations, see private lift station and ejector rules by city.

Read R18-9-E301 and R18-9-A301 on the Cornell LII mirror of the Arizona Administrative Code, and ADEQ's 4.01 permit page. This page explains the rule; the official text governs.